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Early storm drops foot of snow in West

BILLINGS, Mont. - Portions of Montana, the Dakotas and Wyoming were hit by a slow-moving snowstorm that knocked out power, closed roads and dumped up to 13 inches by Wednesday.

Thousands of power outages were reported and some schools were closed by the storm, which began Tuesday. Drifting snow contributed to road closings and the National Guard was called out to rescue stranded motorists in southwestern North Dakota.

"It's really treacherous - heavy, deep snow. Visibility is just really poor. It's so heavy that vehicles just can't push through it," North Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Mark Bethke said.

As much as 11 inches of snow had fallen in southeastern Montana by early Wednesday. Billings had received 10.8 inches and set a record for snowfall Tuesday with 9.9 inches, National Weather Service meteorologist Tom Humphrey said.

At least 11,000 customers throughout the region lost power due to the storm, officials said.

The storm, which moved in from the Rockies overnight, dropped more than a foot of wet snow in parts of western and central North Dakota, and winds up to 50 mph created blizzard conditions in some areas.

"It is, on our records, probably one of the earliest ones, as far as our recorded history goes, in 126, 130 years," said Sam Walker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck, N.D.

[Last modified October 6, 2005, 01:15:08]