Saturday's High Winds Cause Accidents, Road Closures, Avalanche in Colorado

High winds blew into Denver late Saturday afternoon, causing drifts of snow from the city's three snowstorms in the past three weeks to swirl over sections of highway, creating whiteout conditions and icy patches of road.

On one section of Pena Boulevard, the road leading into Denver International Airport, a combination of the high winds, blowing snow and icy road caused a private charter bus to be blown off the highway and down an embankment, resulting in injuries to 18 of the Florida tourists on board. The bus was returning from a ski trip in the mountains. Six of the people were injuried seriously enough that they were taken to area hospitals by ambulances. The other twelve less seriously injured passengers were taken to hospitals by bus.

The Highway Patrol and Colorado Department of Transportation closed other roads similarly affected by the high winds and "flash blizzards" of blowing snow that whipped up without warning across sections of highway during the day. Hwy 93, south of Boulder, was closed Saturday morning due to whipping winds and icy roads and near-zero visibility. Four miles of the Boulder Turnpike was closed after multiple accidents were reported involving as many as 40 vehicles. Similar conditions along a four-mile stretch of Interstate 25 in southern Colorado's Huerfano County also resulted in a road closure.

In other weather-related news in Colorado on Saturday, a large avalanche at Berthoud Pass on U.S. 40 near the ski resort of Winter Park pushed two cars off the highway and closed the road for several hours. At least one of the cars was part of a church group convoy from Ames, Iowa, returning from a ski trip. The cars were pushed 30 feet or more down the side of the mountain, one landing on its side and the other on its top. The fact that none of the injuries were serious was most likely the result of all passengers wearing their seat belts. The avalanche occurred about 10:30 am, which reduced the number of cars on the road and possibly saved lives. Had it occurred several ours earlier, when traffic to the ski resort was heavy, many more cars would have been involved in the accident and many more serious injuries could have occurred.

The very large avalanche, which traveled more than 2,000 feet down three separate gullies, was deemed a "category 4" avalanche by the Avalanche Information Center, which ranks avalanches from 1-5. Characteristics of a category 4 avalanche include the potential to push cars off highways, destroy wood frame houses and knock down trees.

Highway crews had the road reopened by 7:45 pm Saturday night.

Denver Post and CBS News 4 sources used in this story are cited in the "Resources" section below.