Frozen fog blankets area

RENO - Dense fog enveloped Northern Nevada in a frozen shawl Tuesday, causing multi-vehicle pileups and numerous flight delays and cancelations for the third day in a row.

Westbound lanes of Interstate 80 in northeastern Nevada were closed for more than five hours Tuesday when six tractor-trailer rigs and six other vehicles collided in thick fog near Carlin, Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Rocky Gonzalez said.

One rig carrying two-ton hay bales spilled in the chain-reaction and cleanup was slow.

"One truck towing a horse trailer drove through the back end of an empty horse trailer it was following," Gonzalez said.

"A toppled hay truck landed on a Toyota pickup, and the occupants fled to safety," he said.

"Miraculously, the injuries ... were not life-threatening," he said, though three people were taken to Northeast Nevada Regional Hospital in Elko for treatment of minor injuries.

Outside of Reno, nine vehicles collided in Golden Valley near North Valleys High School, but no serious injuries were reported, Washoe County deputies said.

A freezing-fog advisory was in effect Tuesday for the Reno-Carson City area, the western Great Basin and eastern valleys of the Sierra Nevada until noon.

Meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Reno said without wind or warmer temperatures, the fog was likely to stick around for much of the week.

More than 100 flights at Reno-Tahoe International Airport were canceled or delayed Monday when visibility dropped below aviation safety standards, airport officials said. Delays and cancelations continued Tuesday as the cold blanket of soupy fog held a frosty grip on the region.

Caught in the travel snarl was the McQueen High School band, which was trying to get to Washington, D.C., to march in the Inauguration Day parade Thursday.

Band director Rick Moffit told KOLO-TV by phone before dawn Tuesday that alternate plans were being made when the scheduled flights for some of the band members were canceled.

At midmorning, a receptionist at the school said some of the band members were able to fly out of Reno.

Others - who were booked on different flights that were canceled - were bused to Sacramento, Calif., to catch flights from there.