CNN
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About 100 vehicles were stranded after a tractor-trailer crashed on a rural New Mexico road Thursday as a fierce winter storm devastated northern parts of the state and Colorado, authorities said.

According to the National Weather Service office in Albuquerque, more than 5.8 million people in Colorado and New Mexico were under winter storm warnings as heavy snow created “difficult or impossible travel conditions” in parts of the states. The accumulating snow has led to road closures and sparked several accidents, while the weather service has described it as a severe early-season snowstorm.

More than 10 inches (25 cm) of snow has fallen in parts of the state and it continues to snow, an NWS spokesman told CNN. Additionally, winds of 20 miles per hour contribute to a wind chill of about 17 degrees. Wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour have created blizzard conditions and snow drifts more than 8 feet high.

Dozens of drivers in northeastern New Mexico’s Union County, one of five counties under a blizzard warning, became stuck on U.S. Highway 64/87 after a tractor-trailer blocked traffic and snow drifts formed on the road, said Kristopher Lawrence of the Union County Emergency Manager.

“Almost everyone who’s out here is in some kind of small car, and it’s almost impossible to get them out without moving significant amounts of snow, but we’re trying,” Lawrence told CNN Thursday afternoon.

Officials have asked motorists to stay off the roads as the New Mexico National Guard works to reach stranded motorists.

The traffic jams occurred in a rural part of the state near Des Moines, New Mexico, where resources are limited, he said.

“That tractor-trailer is already out of here, so we were able to move 30 to 40 cars, but now we’re just waiting for our bulldozers and snow plows to get back here to clear more paths to take those away.” People went into at least one Direction,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence said efforts to get all riders moving again could take several hours in below-freezing temperatures.

“We instruct them to let their vehicles run for about 10 to 15 minutes and then turn them off, wait another 15 to 20 minutes or until they can’t stand the cold anymore, and then start them again,” Lawrence said. “This way we can save gas and prevent carbon monoxide poisoning at the same time.”

Meanwhile, more than 30,000 customers in New Mexico have lost power, according to PowerOutage.us.

According to the weather service, visibility is almost non-existent due to the snowstorms due to the blowing snow.

An additional 12 to 20 inches of snow is expected to fall in Clayton and Des Moines, New Mexico, by the end of Friday, the weather service said.

The Albuquerque Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for San Miguel, Highlands, Harding and Union counties in New Mexico until 8 p.m. local time on Thursday.

Extreme blizzard conditions are expected to continue over Colfax, Union, San Miguel and Harding counties through Friday night, according to the weather service.

Clayton Municipal Airpark in Union County saw wind gusts above 30 mph for most of Thursday, with some gusts reaching 45 mph early Thursday.

Conditions aren’t much better in southeastern Colorado. The weather service office in Pueblo has issued a winter storm warning for much of the southeastern corner of the state until 5 a.m. local time Saturday.

Northern New Mexico and southern Colorado saw 12 inches of snow accumulation in many areas, with some locations in Colorado receiving an estimated 36 inches of snow over the past three days.

The 24 inches of snow that fell in Las Vegas, the capital of New Mexico’s San Miguel County, ties its record for November snowfall as the storm continues to dump snow across the region.

The Weather Prediction Center is still forecasting extreme amounts of snowfall across northeastern New Mexico and eastern Colorado, with an additional 1 to 2 feet of accumulation expected across wide areas.