RENO, Nev. (AP) -- A winter storm packing wind gusts more than 80 mph knocked out power to thousands of northern Nevadans, grounded flights and contributed to a fatal pile-up that shut down a stretch of U.S. Interstate 80.
The storm had dumped several inches of snow on the Sierra by Friday afternoon. But the high winds postponed scheduled openings at several ski resorts before next week's big Thanksgiving holiday. One gust of 104 mph was recorded near the Mount Rose Ski Resort between Reno and Lake Tahoe.
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, critically injured four and shut down both westbound lanes for several hours.
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