DENVER, the United States, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Residents throughout the western U.S. state of Colorado took advantage of a small window in the weather to travel and celebrate the traditional holiday of Thanksgiving.
Thousands of families braved dense fog throughout the Denver area in Colorado Thursday night to join family members in gatherings where the annual dinner included turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetables and pumpkin pie.
On Tuesday, a historic blizzard with snowfalls up to 33 inches (83.82 centimeters) fell in Drake, Colorado, while the university towns of Boulder and Fort Collins got respectively 17.6 and 15.5 inches, both the second biggest November totals in history, according to The Weather Channel.
Meanwhile, Denver International Airport reported seven inches of snow with "hundreds of canceled flights on this busy Thanksgiving week travel day," CBS4 Denver reported, calling the blizzard the "fifth snowiest storm in the last three years."
Schools were closed throughout the Denver area Tuesday and Wednesday, numerous vehicle accidents were reported on roadways, and the major highway between Denver and Utah, I-70, was closed most of the day Tuesday due to a rock slide.
As the storm moved into Nebraska on Wednesday, CBS Denver noted that Thanksgiving's high temperatures in the 30-degree range were "at least 10 degrees below" the holiday's normal high of 49 degrees Fahrenheit (9.4 degrees Celsius).
With the virtually unrelenting cold weather and more expected after the Thanksgiving holiday, grocery stores reported shelves being bare by shoppers desperate to stock up on food and supplies.
"It's hectic -- the store is sold out of everything," shopper Lori Neal told CBS4 news.
Another storm hit the region Friday, with heavy snow fall concentrated in the mountains, while record high winds are predicted across Colorado's vast front range.
"A high wind watch has been posted for the foothills and mountains west of Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins for gusts up to 80 mph from late Friday to Saturday. That's hurricane force wind!" CBS4 Denver reported Thursday.
World renowned ski area Aspen was predicted to get 18 inches of snow Friday, with "up to five feet (1.5 meters) of accumulation for south facing slopes above 10,000 feet expected," CBS4 weatherman Ashton Altieri reported late Thursday.
