CNN
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About 100 vehicles were stranded after a semi-truck suffered a blowout on a rural New Mexico highway as a powerful winter storm devastated northern parts of the state and Colorado on Thursday, authorities said.

More than 5.8 million people in Colorado and New Mexico were issued winter storm warnings as heavy snow created “difficult or impossible travel conditions” in parts of the states, according to the National Weather Service office in Albuquerque. The accumulation of snow has led to road closures and caused several accidents during what the weather service has described as a powerful early-season snowstorm.

More than 10 inches of snow has fallen in parts of the state and more snow continues to fall, an NWS spokesperson told CNN. In addition, wind speeds of 30 km/h contribute to a perceived temperature of approximately 17 degrees. Wind gusts up to 40 mph have created near blizzard conditions and snow drifts of more than 8 feet.

Dozens of motorists in northeastern New Mexico’s Union County, one of five counties under a blizzard warning, were stuck on US Highway 64/87 after a semi-truck with a jackknife blocked traffic and snow covered the road , said Union County Supervisor Kristopher Lawrence. emergency manager.

“Almost everyone here is in some kind of small car, and (it’s) almost impossible without moving large amounts of snow to get them loose, but we’re trying,” Lawrence told CNN Thursday afternoon.

Officials have asked drivers to stay off the roads as the New Mexico National Guard tries to reach stranded drivers.

The traffic backup occurred in a rural part of the state near Des Moines, New Mexico, where resources are limited, he said.

“That semi-knifted semi is already out of here, and that’s how we were able to move 30 to 40 cars, but now we’re just waiting for our bulldozers and our snow plows to get back here to help open up more ways to get these. at least people were moving in some direction,” Lawrence said.

According to Lawrence, efforts to get all drivers moving again could take several hours in subzero temperatures.

“What we instruct them to do is to let their vehicles run for about 10 to 15 minutes and then turn them off, wait another 15 to 20 minutes or until they can no longer tolerate the cold, and then turn them back on,” said Laurens. “We can do it this way to save gas and also to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.”

Meanwhile, more than 30,000 customers have lost power in New Mexico, according to PowerOutage.us.

According to the weather service, snowstorms have made visibility virtually non-existent due to blowing snow.

Clayton and Des Moines, New Mexico, are expected to get another 12 to 20 inches of snow by late Friday, the weather service said.

The Albuquerque Weather Bureau has issued a blizzard warning for New Mexico’s San Miguel, Highlands, Harding and Union counties until 8 p.m. local time on Thursday.

Severe weather conditions are expected to persist over Colfax, Union, San Miguel and Harding counties through Friday night, according to the weather service.

Clayton Municipal Airpark in Union County saw wind gusts above 20 miles per hour for most of Thursday, with some gusts reaching 45 miles per hour earlier Thursday.

Conditions aren’t much better in southeastern Colorado. The weather bureau in Pueblo has issued a winter storm warning for much of the southeastern corner of the state until 5 a.m. local time on Saturday.

Northern New Mexico and southern Colorado have accumulated 12 inches of snow in many areas, while some locations in Colorado are estimated to have received as much as 14 inches over the past three days.

The 2 feet of snow that fell in Las Vegas, the seat of New Mexico’s San Miguel County, ties the November snowfall record as the storm continues to dump snow on the region.

Extreme snowfall is still forecast by the Weather Prediction Center in northeastern New Mexico and eastern Colorado, with broad swathes likely to receive an additional 3 to 2 feet of snow.