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winds from the system, making it easier for wildfires to spread in the dry areas.
• A 33-mile stretch of I-40 in northern Arizona was closed because of strong winds and reduced visibility.
• In southwest Colorado, the La Plata Electric Association said blustery winds and downed trees were believed to have caused power outages affecting hundreds of customers Tuesday.
• April is typically the second-snowiest month for Colorado and wet spring snows help boost the mountain snowpack that provides most of the water supply. It also helps delay lawn watering in Denver and along the rest of the populated Front Range region, where many water districts have limited watering after two years of drought conditions.
• "It doesn't stick around as long, but it gives that soil moisture heading into the drier months," National Weather Service forecaster Jeff Colton said of spring snow.
• The heavy blanket of snow does squash daffodils and other plants that have started to bloom, but any precipitation will be welcomed by dryland farmers on the Plains.
• The snowpack in both Colorado and Wyoming is below average but has risen in the last week to 77 percent of average in both states.
• Most of Colorado's ski areas are already closed for the season, but Vail, Breckenridge and Copper Mountain resorts announced Tuesday that they would open for a bonus three-day weekend this week because of all the new snow. Aspen Highlands, which is still open, plans to open for an extra weekend next week.
• The storm system is expected to pick up speed as it moves east into the Great Lakes on Friday. It should move off the East Coast on Saturday, Colton said.
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• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- South Dakota is bracing for yet another spring snowstorm.
• The National Weather Service posted winter storm warnings for southwestern and central South Dakota through Wednesday night. The bad weather is expected to move east and north through the state.
• Forecasters say the storm could dump up to 15 inches of snow in the southwest, with lesser but still significant amounts in the other areas.
• A storm that hit the state last week dropped as much as 2 ½ feet of snow on some areas and brought freezing rain to the east, coating trees and power lines and knocking out power to nearly 100,000 people.

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