Moderate to heavy snow rained down on Colorado most of Thursday, dumping feet of it in multiple parts of the state.
The snow continued into the afternoon — and it isn't expected to finish until early Friday — across the central and eastern parts of the state. Forecasters say the region could add up to 10 inches to their snow totals.
In some areas, 1 to 3 feet of snow — or more — is expected. The Denver metro area is likely to get 10 to 18 inches, with up to 24 inches in the western and southern suburbs.
By Thursday afternoon, Aspen Springs had recorded 38.5 inches of snow; Ward, 33; Evergreen, 32; Golden, 23.7; Castle Rock, 18; and Lakewood, 14.
Aurora reported 13.5 inches of snow, and Denver and Boulder each had 8 inches on the ground.
Snowfall estimates of 2 to 3 inches per hour at times was expected Thursday.
More than 80,000 homes and businesses were without power Thursday afternoon, according to poweroutage.com.
The storm also closed numerous schools and government offices Thursday, and Denver schools were closed in advance for Friday.
Denver International Airport was open Thursday, but about 800 flights were canceled, with nearly 200 more delayed, according to FlightAware.com.
Baseball-size hail in the Midwest
Meanwhile, the Midwest was cleaning up from severe weather, including thunderstorms, heavy rain and at least one possible tornado.
A major hailstorm tore through the Kansas City area overnight, prompting the National Weather Service to warn residents to stay inside and stay away from windows, because "this storm has a history of producing softball-sized hail (3.5 inches)."
NBC affiliate KSHB of Kansas City, Missouri, reported that drivers sheltered under a bridge on Interstate 70 to avoid baseball-size hail, which smashed windshields.
Video showed what appeared to be a huge tornado moving through northwest Kansas on Wednesday night.
More than 36 million people remain in the risk zone of severe weather Thursday, which covers areas from Texas to Ohio.
A tornado watch was in effect until 6 p.m. CT for parts of eastern Oklahoma and northeast Texas, where a few tornadoes will be possible, as well as large hail — measuring up to 3 inches in diameter — and damaging winds up to 70 mph.
Cities that could be affected by the severe weather include Tulsa, Oklahoma; Little Rock, Arkansas; Dallas; Memphis, Tennessee; St. Louis; Indianapolis; and Fort Smith, Arkansas.
The extreme weather is expected to push southward from the eastern central Plains into Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas on Friday before it reaches southeastern Texas early Saturday.
Elsewhere, the weather service said to expect "an extended period of very warm and pleasant weather," with temperatures in mid-Atlantic regions 20 to 25 degrees above seasonal averages, although a cold front from Canada could end it by Saturday.
