Snow Colorado

A storm blowing through the Rockies clogged mountain passes in Colorado, Montana and Wyoming with up to 7 inches of snow Friday, closing a highway that crosses the Continental Divide through Glacier National Park. "It's snowing like crazy," park spokeswoman Michelle Rotter said in Montana. She said Going to the Sun Highway, which crosses the Continental Divide through the park at 6,646 feet, was closed.

Autumn arrived with a shiver and a coat of snow in the northern Rockies and Plains today as a fast-moving storm skated southward from Canada, while the East Coast braced for a tropical storm, a weather system fueled by heat. On the first full day of fall, Colorado's higher mountains made the transition from summer with a new accumulation of six inches of snow. Colorado's Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuous paved road in North America, was closed during the weekend by four-foot snowdrifts.

The nation's midsection received a blast of winter as a storm dumped up to 14 inches of snow on Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska and spread record cold through the region. Five persons died in traffic accidents on slippery roads in Nebraska and Kansas. The storm stranded some travelers, and travelers' advisories were posted in parts of Colorado and Kansas. In Denver, where 8.

Winds clocked at 65 m.p.h. pushed a construction crane onto a temporary building next to the Comanche Peak nuclear plant in Glen Falls, Tex., killing two people and injuring eight others, authorities said. Thunderstorms triggered hail the size of golf balls and winds of up to 69 m.p.h. at Oklahoma City, Okla., and winds of 70 m.p.h. at Sedan, Kan. In Nebraska, winds of 70 m.p.h. were reported at Fremont and 65 m.p.h. at Fairfield.

Snow fell Wednesday as far south as Texas, while a powerful Atlantic storm kept East Coast fishermen in port and hurled 10-foot waves at sandbagged Brooklyn homes. A storm dumped so much snow on Colorado that Aspen Mountain planned to open its slopes to skiers on Saturday--the earliest opening date in the resort's 45-year history. Light snow fell on the Texas Panhandle, and forecasters said that up to four inches could fall by today.

Ayrton Senna posted his fourth Formula One championship victory of the season Sunday when he won the British Grand Prix in the rain at Silverstone, England. World championship leader Alain Prost of France, whose modified McLaren Honda had steering problems all week, went out of the race on the 26th lap. Prost's advantage in the standings over teammate Senna was cut to 54-48. It was Senna's third victory in his last four races.

Seeking its own network-defining program a la MTV's "Beavis and Butt-head," cable's Comedy Central introduces "South Park"--an animated series whose characters look like something out of "Peanuts" but swear like Joe Pesci in a Martin Scorsese film. Blatantly designed to tickle the funny bones of teenage boys and those who think like them, the show delivers plenty of lowbrow laughs, at the same time indulging in excesses seemingly calculated to shock the sensibilities of TV watchdogs.

Freezing rain, sleet and snow made highway travel miserable Friday from Indiana to Colorado, causing scores of auto accidents, closing schools, downing power lines and delaying flights at the world's busiest airport. "We've got major accidents all over," said Illinois State Police Sgt. George Michel, whose district covers the Chicago area. Freezing rain contributed to a 20-vehicle pile-up on the Edens Expressway north of Chicago.