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The news wasn't comforting: While some flight updates still said "on time," airport spokesman Steve Snyder said the runways likely wouldn't open before noon Friday.
The airport crews simply can't keep up with the falling and drifting snow, Snyder said. They plow the runways, but within 30 minutes, the tarmacs are covered again.
"It feels like I'm a refugee," said Lisa Maurer, a University of Wyoming student who was stuck at the Denver airport as she tried to make her way home to Germany. About 4,700 people hunkered down with her overnight after all flights there were canceled -- more than 1,000 of them Wednesday and Thursday morning alone.
Denver's streets were empty, and long stretches of highway in the eastern Colorado were so impassable, even the mail couldn't get through. Bus and light rail service in a six-county region was suspended.
The Colorado Avalanche postponed Thursday night's hockey game against the Calgary Flames. Wednesday night's basketball game between the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns was also called off.
Cathy Stuart, 44, a sales representative from Dallas, spent the night on the airport's stone floor after her flight home was canceled.
"I don't feel bad, but I just want to get out of here," she said.
More than 3 feet of snow had fallen in some mountain areas since Wednesday morning, and up to 25 inches fell in the Denver metro area, including 2 more inches on Thursday.
A snowstorm also dumped up to 18 inches on New Mexico, icing roads and closing schools, and the National Weather Service warned that another storm was heading for New Mexico.
Heavy snow also fell on southeastern Wyoming on Wednesday closing interstate highways, stranding travelers and sending government workers home early in Cheyenne.
The amount of snow was hard to measure because it wasn't evenly distributed. "We have drifts up to 6 feet high in some locations, and in other areas, it is completely dry on the asphalt and concrete," said Mike Sowko, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Cheyenne.
In Denver, Colorado Springs and other cities along the Rocky Mountain Front Range, workers slipped and slid their way home on Wednesday and stayed there, leaving the cities virtual ghost towns Thursday, typically a busy shopping day. A few pedestrians trudging down the middle of unplowed streets as the snow continued.
Three more inches of wind-whipped snow was expected Thursday before tapering off in the afternoon. Parts of Nebraska and Kansas were also getting snow and ice, but farther east, warmer temperatures meant even Chicago was only forecast to get heavy rain as the storm moved through.
Colorado Gov. Bill Owens declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard, which assisted dozens of motorists on the highways around Denver and delivered diapers, formula and bottled water to Denver's airport.
Long stretches of Interstates 70, 25 and 76, major east-west and north-south routes through the Mountain West, were closed.
National Guard and sheriff's deputies rescued about 50 people overnight from snowbound vehicles in Weld County, where up to 22 inches of snow fell. About 18 others were still stuck in their cars Thursday morning, said Weld County emergency management director Roy Rudisill. In the Denver suburb of Broomfield, police rescued nearly 100 people stranded in cars along U.S. 36, the main route between Denver and Boulder.
"It's just amazing how many people are still out there," said Robert Thompson, spokesman for a local American Red Cross chapter.
"They pulled everyone off the highway," said Leon Medina, manager of a truck stop on Interstate 25 in Walsenburg, about 130 miles south of Denver. "Cars are all around the building. Trucks are all over, trucks and cars pulled into ditches."
Weather Service program manager Byron Louis said it was the most powerful storm to hit Colorado since March 2003, when a blizzard dumped up to 11 feet of snow in the mountains over several days and was blamed for at least six deaths.
Mail service was canceled in the eastern half of the state because mail carriers and trucks delivering mail four days before Christmas couldn't get through.
"We don't want to take the risk of clogging up the system just by being out there," said Al DeSarro, a U.S. Postal Service spokesman in Denver. "We're considering delivering on Sunday to make up for what's sure to be a backlog of mail."
At Denver International Airport, a major hub for United Airlines, United canceled more than 670 inbound flights, plus 160 that had been scheduled leave before noon Thursday. Frontier Airlines canceled up to 190 flights.
"It's the wind and blowing and drifting snow that is causing the main problems," Snyder said.
Some airport monitors tantalized travelers by listing "on time" beside arrivals and departures, but Snyder said that was probably caused by a computer glitch.
"I'm just happy to be alive. It was a terrifying drive," Sara Kelton said of the two-hour crawl over slick, snow-clogged roads to reach the airport.
Public transit service was not expected to resume until late Thursday at the earliest.
"It was comical for a while," said bus rider Matt Notter of Boulder. "Then we realized, this is an all-night thing."
丹佛，科罗拉多－－星期四，在被大雪围困的丹佛国际机场，被困的旅客在售票的柜台前排着队，希望能在这场把科罗拉多最大的城市瘫痪掉的，厚达两英尺的暴风雪中离开这座城市。
新闻并不让人乐观：虽然一些航班更新的信息仍然说“准时”，机场发言人Steve Snyder说跑道可能到星期五中午之前不会开放。
Snyder说机场工作人员跟不上雪下的速度。他们铲了跑道上的雪，但３０分钟不到，跑道上就又被雪覆盖了。
“感觉我就是个难民，”怀俄明大学学生Lisa Maurer说。她在回德国老家的路上被困在了丹佛机场。大约４７００人同她一样在所有航班被取消后不得不留在这里－－星期三和星期四早上就超过１０００人。
丹佛的街道上空空的，科罗拉多东部绵延的公路是如此的无法逾越，即便是邮车也无法通过。６个郡的公共汽车和轻轨都暂时停运了。
科罗拉多雪崩队推迟了星期四晚和卡尔加里火焰队的冰球比赛。星期三晚上丹佛掘金队同凤凰城太阳队的篮球比赛也被取消了。
４４岁的达拉斯销售代表Cathy Stuart在她回家的航班被取消后在机场的石头地板上过了一夜。
“我倒不觉得糟糕，但就是想离开这里，”她说。
从星期三早上开始在一些山区有超过３英尺的降雪，在大丹佛地区有超过２５英寸的降雪，其中包括星期四又下的２英寸。
在新墨西哥州一场暴风雪也下了１８英寸，造成了冰滑的路面和学校关闭。而且国家气象局警告说又一场风暴正向新墨西哥移动。
星期三大量的雪也落在怀俄明州东南部，造成了州际高速公路的关闭和旅客的滞留。在夏延，政府部门也早早把人们打发回家。
降雪量很难测量，因为降雪分布不均匀。“我们的降雪量在一些地方达到６英尺，然而在另一些地方，沥青上和水泥上竟然干干的，”夏延国家气象局的一位预报员Mike Sowko说。
在丹佛，科泉市，和其它一些沿着落基山的城市，上班的人在星期三跌跌撞撞地回了家就再也不出来了。所以星期四这些城市实际上就像是鬼城一样。按往常说这应该是一个繁忙的购物日。寥寥几个行人在没有铲过的街道中央蹒跚地走着，而雪仍然下着。
在星期四下午雪停之前，仍然会有３英寸的伴随着风的降雪。内布拉斯加和堪萨斯的部分地区也会有雪和冰，但是再往东，温暖的气候意味着当风暴经过时甚至芝加哥也只是会有暴雨。
科罗拉多州州长Bill Owens宣布进入紧急壮状态而且动员了国民警卫队。国民警卫队帮助了丹佛周围几十位路边的开车人，并且给丹佛机场送去了尿布，婴儿食品和瓶装水。
州际公路７０，２５，和７６大范围的关闭，经过西部山区的东西向和南北向的主要道路也关闭了。
在Weld郡国民警卫队和警察局救助了被雪围困在车里的５０人，那里降了２２英寸的雪。Weld郡危机处理主任Roy Rudisill说星期四早上仍然有１８人被困在他们的车里。在丹佛市郊的Broomfield，警察救助了１００个在连接丹佛和Boulder的主要道路U.S.36号上被困在车里的人。
“真是奇怪那么多的人仍然在那里，”一位当地美国红十字会发言人Robert Thompson说。
“他们把每一个人带出了公路，”丹佛南面１３０迈的Walsenburg的一个卡车休息站的经理Leon Median说。“楼周围全是小车，卡车也到处都是，卡车和小车都开到沟里去了。
气象局节目主管Byron Louis说这是２００３年３月以来科罗拉多最大的降雪，那次的风暴几天当中在山区降了１１英尺的雪，造成了至少６人死亡。
科州东部半个州的邮政服务被取消，因为在圣诞节前四天送邮件的卡车没法通过。
“我们不想冒把这系统阻塞的危险，”一位美国邮政局在丹佛的发言人Al DeSarro说。 “我们在考虑星期天来送肯定是已经积压的邮件。”
在丹佛国际机场，这里是联航的一个主要的枢纽，联航取消了６７０个以上进港航班， 以及１６０个计划星期四中午离港的航班。Frontier取消了１９０个以上的航班。
“造成麻烦主要是风和飘落的雪，”Snyder说。
一些机场的显示器挑逗乘客似地在进港和出港航班旁列出“准时”。但是Snyder说那可能是计算机的小故障。
“我只是高兴我还活着。这车开得真是很可怕，”Sara Kelton在谈到那往机场开的两个小时的在又滑又开不动的路上的爬行时说。
公共交通预计最早星期四晚些时候才会恢复。
“有一阵我还觉得很好笑，”Boulder的公共汽车乘客Matt Notter说。“后来我发现这会持续一晚上。”