A winter weather storm continued to blast parts of New Mexico on Thursday and Friday. While some areas like Albuquerque caught a break from the snow, Las Vegas got pummeled with 21.2 to 31.7 inches in some areas.

Several feet of snow were expected to fall in parts of New Mexico and Colorado over the next three days in what meteorologists said could be the worst blizzard to hit the region in decades, as the authorities warned of dangerous road conditions and power outages.

Tens of thousands of people in New Mexico were without power Thursday as the first major winter storm of the season rolled across the northern two-thirds of the state and into Colorado, bringing with it snow and fierce winds that forced schools and government offices to close.