DENVER - Stranded travelers lined up at ticket counters at snowbound Denver International Airport on Thursday, hoping to get out of town amid a powerful snowstorm that paralyzed Colorado's biggest cities with up to 2 feet of snow.

The news wasn't comforting: While some flight updates still said "on time," airport spokesman Steve Snyder said the runways likely wouldn't open before noon today.

The airport crews simply can't keep up with the falling and drifting snow, Snyder said. They plow the runways, but within 30 minutes, the tarmacs are covered again.

"It feels like I'm a refugee," said Lisa Maurer, a University of Wyoming student who was stuck at the Denver airport as she tried to make her way home to Germany. Some 4,700 people hunkered down with her overnight after all flights there were canceled - more than 1,000 of them Wednesday and Thursday morning alone.

The Denver shutdown also paralyzed connecting flights from Wyoming airports, creating major disruptions for holiday travelers.

Cathy Stuart, 44, a sales representative from Dallas, spent the night on the airport's stone floor after her flight home was canceled.

"I don't feel bad, but I just want to get out of here," she said.

More than 30 inches of snow fell in the Colorado mountains, and up to 2 feet fell in the Denver metro area Wednesday and early Thursday.

Gov. Bill Owens declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard, which assisted dozens of motorists on the highways around Denver and delivered diapers, formula and bottled water to Denver's airport.

Weather Service program manager Byron Louis said it was the most powerful storm to hit Colorado since March 2003, when a massive blizzard dumped up to 11 feet of snow in the mountains over several days and was blamed for at least six deaths.

At Denver International Airport, a major hub for United Airlines, United canceled more than 670 inbound flights, plus 160 that had been scheduled leave before noon Thursday. Frontier Airlines canceled up to 190 flights.

"It's the wind and blowing and drifting snow that is causing the main problems," Snyder said.

Some airport monitors tantalized travelers by listing "on time" beside arrivals and departures, but Snyder said that was probably caused by a computer glitch.

"I'm just happy to be alive. It was a terrifying drive," Sara Kelton said of the two-hour crawl over slick, snow-clogged roads to reach the airport.

On Wednesday night, airport authorities provided a few hundred cots for the estimated 4,700 stranded travelers and doled out scratchy Red Cross blankets, along with diapers and baby formula. But there wasn't nearly enough bedding to go around.

Hundreds of travelers slept in lines at ticket counters. Others huddled on bench seats, or sought shelter against walls and counters, covering themselves with clothing, luggage and newspapers. The baggage pick-up area proved a popular spot - it was dark enough to sleep.

Airport managers tried to persuade travelers to leave. Public-address announcements emphasized there would be no flights for another day, and plows cleared parking lots and worked the 10-mile access road to Interstate 70. Officials organized convoys of 10 buses, led by a snowplow, to take travelers to hotels 25 miles away in downtown Denver, 800 at a time.

One angry passenger, pharmacist Robert Helmer, waited for the first convoy of the day with bags under his eyes.

Helmer managed to get on a United Airlines flight to St. Louis on Wednesday morning, sat for an hour waiting for a late-arriving flight attendant, then three more hours on the tarmac before the flight was finally canceled. He spent the night on the airport floor, covered by what he could find in his carry-on bag.

"There's a lot of very bitter people here, and I'm one of them," Helmer said. "This was major mismanagement."

Dreaming of sunshine, family braves snow

Hawaii is always a welcome luxury, but it will be more of a relief than usual for a Casper family that has braved the blizzard to try to reach Denver International Airport by this morning.

Steve Immel, wife Jackie and daughter Amanda have been planning for months to take a holiday Hawaiian cruise along with son Chris, a student at Virginia Tech, and Jackie's mother, who lives in Phoenix.

When they heard Tuesday night about the big storm gathering strength over the mountains, they decided to leave town Wednesday morning for Fort Collins, to get as close as possible. They made it to their hotel but were snowed in there and ate dinner at the only place open - Quiznos.

Thursday morning they packed up and headed for Interstate 25, which they'd heard was open by then. They'd made reservations a few days ago for a hotel in Denver.

The airlines couldn't tell them much, and they were hoping to still get on a flight today at 11 a.m.

"If we can't, I'm not sure what we're going to do," Immel said.

Immel steered his car through snowdrifts, past buried cars, and tried to figure out the best plan to help his family get to Hawaii.

"I wish I was there now," he said.

- Barbara Nordby

Click here for related story 'Storm kills woman near Cheyenne'.

Click here for related story 'Colo. crews hustle to catch up'.

Click here for related story 'Colo. storm holds up Casper mail'.

Information:

Wyoming Roads - WYDOT

CST Weather Page

Road Cams

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