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Heavy Snow Causes More Than 50 Car Pile-Up In Colorado Mountains

Snow Causes More Than 50 Car Pile-Up In Colorado Mountains
Reuters
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By Keith Coffman

DENVER, March 4 (Reuters) - Whiteout conditions from heavy snow and high winds caused two major traffic pile-ups on Monday involving more than 50 vehicles in total in the Colorado mountains near the ski resort of Vail, authorities said.

Three people were hospitalized from a 25-vehicle chain- reaction crash that closed a stretch of Interstate 70, the Summit County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. "None of the injuries were reported to be serious," the statement said.

A second pile-up about 17 miles (27 km) away on the same interstate involved 29 vehicles, with no reported injuries, the sheriff's office said.

The Colorado Department of Transportation said several portions of the interstate along the mountain corridor about 100 miles (160 km) west of Denver were closed for several hours on Monday afternoon following the accidents. The highway was reopened in both directions by 5:30 p.m. local time.

The snow was part of a fast-moving storm that swept through Colorado, dumping up to foot (30 cm) of white stuff in the north-central mountains, and dusting the ground in the Denver metropolitan area.

The National Weather issued a winter snow advisory in effect until early Monday evening for the north-central Colorado mountains, warning that blowing snow was limiting visibility and making travel in the high country hazardous.

On average, March is Colorado's snowiest month, the weather service said. (Editing by Steve Gorman, Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)

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Winter Weather
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Snow covered berries stand out against a background in a park in the Belarus capital Minsk, on December 10, 2012. Snow fell today across Minsk as the temperatures dropped to -5 C (23 F). VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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Tourists climb the Great Wall after a snow in Luanping, in northern China's Hebei province, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan) (credit:AP)
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Icicles cling to oranges in a small grove just after sunrise Wednesday Jan. 4, 2012, in Seffner, Fla. Temperatures in central Florida dipped into the 20's overnight. Farmers spray water on their crops to help keep them around 32 degrees, protecting them from possible freeze damage. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) (credit:AP)
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Icicles hang from an avacado as a farmer uses water in an effort to keep the fruit from being damaged by freezing temperatures on December 15, 2010 in Homestead, Florida. South Florida is enduring a weather system that pushed the temperature into the 30s Fahrenheit. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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Lenin's statue is covered with snow during heavy snowfall over Kiev, on December 11, 2012. SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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Japanese macaque, commonly referred to as 'snow monkeys', take an open-air hot spring bath, or 'onsen' at the Jigokudani (Hell's Valley) Monkey Park in the town of Yamanouchi, Nagano prefecture on December 10, 2012. Some 160 of the monkeys inhabit the area and are a popular tourist draw. KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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A tulip is covered in wet snow during a spring snowstorm in Akron, N.Y., Monday, April 23, 2012. A spring nor'easter dumped up to six inches of snow east of Lake Ontario on Monday, and parts of western New York could see more than a foot of snow before the late-season storm moves on. (AP Photo/David Duprey) (credit:AP)
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A cyclist is framed by icicles hanging from Christmas lights on a tree in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada on Wednesday Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck) (credit:AP)
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A bike covered by snow is seen in front of the Duomo gothic cathedral in downtown Milan, Italy, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) (credit:AP)
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Icicles hang from trees next to the lighthouse and pier on Lake Erie, in Port Dover, Ontario, Canada on Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Dave Chidley) (credit:AP)
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A man walks on a snow covered road after snowfall in the northern hill town of Shimla on December 14, 2012. A weather official said that there were intensifying cold wave conditions in Himachal Pradesh and there were reports of moderate snowfall in higher reaches of Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur, Kullu, Shimla and Chamba districts. STR/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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In this March 8, 2011 file photo, Cim Smyth from Big Lake, Alaska, comes into the Nikolai, Alaska, checkpoint during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The 2012 race has its ceremonial start in Anchorage on Saturday, Mar. 3. A winter of heavy snow in Alaska is keeping trail breakers busy clearing the route of the 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, but no one can remove other weather-related challenges like jumbled ice along the western coast and the heightened possibility of run-ins with grouchy moose. (AP Photo/The Anchorage Daily News, Bob Hallinen) (credit:AP)
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A man runs on the Ondarreta beach covered by snow in the northern Spanish Basque city of San Sebastian, on February 2, 2012. A cold snap kept Europe in its icy grip, pushing the death toll to 160 as countries from Italy to Ukraine struggled to cope with temperatures that plunged to record lows in some places. ANDER GILLENEA/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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A man sheltered himself with a blue umbrella as he walks under snowfalls in a park on December 14, 2012 in Milan. TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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Icicles hang from a bush as a farmer uses water in an effort to keep his crops from being damaged by freezing temperatures on December 15, 2010 in Homestead, Florida. South Florida is enduring a weather system that pushed the temperature into the 30s Fahrenheit. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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In this photo taken March 15, 2012 cars are buried by snow near a residential area of Nome, Alaska. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen) (credit:AP)
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Two women walk along a snow-covered street in Beijing early on December 14, 2012. Overnight snowfall continued with workers mobilised to clear roads and walkways as the weather threatened to top a record set last month for rainfall in the city over a 24-hour period between November and March. Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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A man does pull-ups in a snow-covered park in Minsk on December 12, 2012. VIKTOR DRACHEV/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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Icicles hang from a jetty that juts out into Lake Michigan just south of the Shoop Park Golf Course in Racine, Wis. on Friday, February 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Journal Times, Scott Anderson) (credit:AP)
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A moose grazes along the roadway leading into Kincaid Park in Anchorage, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. Anchorage residents woke Wednesday to a storm that dropped up to 9 inches on Alaska's largest city. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen) (credit:AP)
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A man walks through snow covered landscape in Munich, southern Germany, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. Weather forecasts predict cold temperatures and snow for southern Germany during the upcoming days. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader) (credit:AP)
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Snow clings to the branches of a tree on the High Line after a snowfall Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/CX Matiash) (credit:AP)
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Don Buckley takes his dog Gracie for a walk during a spring snowstorm in Akron, N.Y., Monday, April 23, 2012. A spring nor'easter dumped up to six inches of snow east of Lake Ontario on Monday, and parts of western New York could see more than a foot of snow before the late-season storm moves on. (AP Photo/David Duprey) (credit:AP)
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This general view from the Confucius Temple in Jingshan Park shows snowfall in Beijing early on December 14, 2012. Overnight snowfall continued with workers mobilised to clear roads and walkways as the weather threatened to top a record set last month for rainfall in the city over a 24-hour period between November and March. Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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In this Nov. 25, 2005 file photo, Vidal grapes hang on the vine covered in snow waiting to be harvested and pressed for ice wine in Branchport, N.Y. Winery and vineyard operators from Michigan to New York and parts of Canada have waited nervously for temperatures to get low enough to harvest the tender fruit. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File) (credit:AP)
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Icicles hang from a drinking water pipe at Shopian some 65kms south of Srinagar on January 5, 2012. A cold wave further tightened its grip in Jammu and Kashmir with most places in the state recording sub-zero temperatures. The sub-zero temperatures has frozen many water bodies in Kashmir and even drinking water taps have frozen at some places. TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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Reagan Gagnon of Kenneunkport, Maine, skis on a snow-covered sidewalk at Gooch's Beach during a winter storm, Thursday, March 1, 2012, in Kennebunk, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) (credit:AP)
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA - NOVEMBER 15: Pike, a 30 year old Polar Bear plays in man made snow at the San Francisco Zoo on November 15, 2012 in San Francisco, California. Two San Francisco Zoo Polar Bears, Pike (30) and Ulu (32)celebrated their birthdays with 10 tons of man made snow and special treats. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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Outdoor Halloween decorations get covered with snow as it falls Saturday Oct. 29, 2011 in New York. A classic nor'easter is moving along the East Coast and is expected to dump anywhere from a dusting of snow to about 10 inches throughout the region starting Saturday, a decidedly unseasonal date for a type of storm more associated with midwinter. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg) (credit:AP)
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Dark clouds move over the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. The National Weather Service says that by late morning Thursday 1 inch of rain had fallen in several hours across the western side of the county. Much of Northern California is under a variety of warnings and advisories for rain, snow and high winds. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) (credit:AP)
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Snow blankets the ski lift chairs at the Soda Springs Ski Resort near Soda Springs, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011. An early October storm swept through Northern California bringing rain to the lower levels and up to six inches of snow to the Sierra Nevada. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) (credit:AP)
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An aerial view taken on September 5, 2012 shows the Kerguelen archipelago which forms one of the five districts of the territory of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF). SOPHIE LAUTIER/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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A great gray owl perches on a branch in a neighborhood park on Friday, March 9, 2012, in south Anchorage, Alaska. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says the owl's distinctive facial disk and its feathers help direct sounds toward its ear openings, and that it can hear mice and other rodents under two feet of snow. Bird watchers have reported repeated sightings of the normally reclusive great gray owl in Anchorage throughout the winter. (AP Photo/Dan Joling) (credit:AP)
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People enjoy an uncommon view of the city from the Gianicolo hill overlooking Trastevere in Rome, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012, the day after a rare snowstorm hit the city. Romans bewildered by a rare snowstorm borrowed children's beach pails and trowels or used government-issued shovels to dig their cars and sidewalks out from a few inches of slush and snow, which kept many buses off streets and tourists locked out of the Colosseum and other monuments. (AP Photo/Alberto Pellaschiar) (credit:AP)
A picture taken on December 2, 2010 in A(35 of39)
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A picture taken on December 2, 2010 in Ambleteuse, northern France shows the seaside snowed up after heavy snow. Snow and ice in France forced hundreds of drivers to abandon their cars, caused major disruption to flights at Paris airports and shut down half of Eurostar trains to London. PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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Icicles hang in front of a window on December 7, 2012 in Hermsdorf, Germany. A low pressure system dumped snow on the south and east of the country before heading west. (Photo by Joern Haufe/Getty Images) (credit:Getty Images)
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A man shovels snow near the giant icicles on a rock in central Tbilisi, on February 9, 2012. The temperatures in the Georgia's capital dropped today to -6 C. VANO SHLAMOV/AFP/Getty Images (credit:Getty Images)
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Icicles can be seen on the wing of a Delta Air Lines plane as it is sprayed with de-icing fluid prior to take-off at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, in Seattle. On the heels of heavy snow that fell Wednesday, the Western Washington region was hit with an ice storm Thursday that closed runways at the airport and stranded hundreds of travelers as flights were delayed or canceled. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) (credit:AP)
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A man walks through a frozen fountain during a snowfall in Milan, Italy, Friday, Dec. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) (credit:AP)
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