RENO -- A winter storm with winds gusting to more than 80 mph Friday knocked out power for thousands of people in Northern Nevada, grounded flights and kicked up dust storms that contributed to a fatal pileup that shut down a stretch of U.S. Interstate 80.
The storm had dumped several inches of snow on the Sierra by Friday afternoon and was expected to bring as much as a foot to the mountains by Saturday. But the high winds postponed scheduled openings Friday at several ski resorts before next week's Thanksgiving holiday.
One gust of 104 mph was recorded near the Mount Rose Ski Resort between Reno and Lake Tahoe, where winds were sustained between 35 mph and 50 mph.
The howling winds reduced visibility to near zero with blowing dust and dirt in the middle of the day on I-80 about 60 miles east of Reno where the eight-vehicle wreck killed one, seriously injured six and shut down both westbound lanes for several hours.
"I believe it was weather related," Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Chuck Allen said about the crash that backed up westbound traffic for miles.
The wreck about 1 p.m. involved four semitrailer trucks and three pickups, including one in which the person who died had been a passenger, Allen said. The storm also brought rain and snow flurries to the valley floors in the Reno area, where power lines were toppled, fences knocked down and small trees uprooted.
The Washoe County Courthouse lost power in downtown Reno at one point Friday along with 3,100 customers of NV Energy in neighborhoods north of town, company spokesman Karl Walquist said.
Fire crews had to douse a small blaze near Truckee Meadows Community College in north Reno apparently caused by wind whipping power lines. Travel on U.S. Highway 95 north of Fallon came to a halt at one point because of a downed power line on the road.
Most flights were grounded beginning at 1 p.m. at Reno-Tahoe International Airport where winds gusted up to 67 mph, but the flights were expected to resume Friday evening, airport spokesman Brian Kulpin said.
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