Snowstorm causing problems from Rockies to Midwest

In Nebraska, officials have closed parts of Interstate 80 in the western and south central parts of the state. Nebraska State Patrol Deb Collins said one vehicle fatality was reported near North Platte and there were reports of numerous car accidents and slide offs.

The moisture is also a relief after an extended wildfire season in Colorado. Drought conditions persist especially in the mainly agricultural eastern half of the state.

Farmer Fred Midcap welcomed the snow even though 25 mph winds were blowing some of it away from his land near Hudson in northeastern Colorado.

"The snowflakes are mostly going sideways," he said.

Midcap doesn't plow his land, a move intended to help improve the soil, and said the stubble leftover from this year's weak millet crop will help hold some of the snow in place, hopefully setting up for a better growing season next year. If the snow keeps coming, it will also provide some welcome insulation to his winter wheat crop before the coldest weather of the season.

In Arizona, two recent storms had combined to blanket the mountains north of Flagstaff with 2 feet of snow, and about 20 inches in Flagstaff and along the Mogollon Rim.

The storm is also expected to hit Wisconsin and Michigan, where up to a foot of snow was forecast in the north by Friday.

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Associated Press writers Felicia Fonseca, in Flagstaff, Ariz., Brady McCombs, in Salt Lake City, David Runk, in Detroit, Bob Christie, in Phoenix, and Barbara Rodriguez in Des Moines, Iowa, also contributed to this report.