COLORADO, USA — The trip home after Christmas always feels longer, and on Sunday it was for many people around Colorado. Drivers who didn't head out early got stuck in snow squalls and dust storms that forced highways to close for hours.
U.S. 40 between Steamboat Springs and Kremmling was shut down for a bit on Sunday. A snow squall warning was in effect, and Kremmling Airport reported 46 mph winds. The visibility there was less than a quarter of a mile at one point.
A driver with East and West Towing LLC in Kremmling said he went on at least 10 calls Sunday afternoon to help people who slid their cars off the road. He said all of the calls were on U.S. 40.
"When that closes everyone gets stuck on whatever side they are on," said Julie Munoz. She helps out at her family's business The Canyon Motel in Hot Sulphur Springs.
"There's not a ton of hotels or motels so everything just fills up super quickly," she said.
Rooms were booking up in Kremmling so people head to Hot Sulphur Springs. Motels there filled up fast too.
"There's only about 14 rooms at our motel so it is small," said Munoz. "We had three or four rooms booked this morning and now we are completely booked."
Up in Steamboat Springs, wind and snow ripped through the mountain town. Shannon Lukens is the news director at Steamboat Radio. She said the first waring about the snow squall came in around 1 p.m. on Sunday.
"Hopefully everyone stayed inside and pulled over to the side," she said. "Visibility was just awful."
Interstate 70 was closed in both directions between Peoria Road and Byers due to a crash on Sunday afternoon, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT).
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