[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]With more than 20 inches of snow falling over the course of three days, both Madison Metro and the city as a whole shut down this weekend.

Although shutting down the bus system is rare, Saturday's imminent blizzard conditions caused city buses to stop running that night and into the following morning.

"The conditions [Saturday] certainly got to the point where buses would not have been able to safely travel because of the conditions that are out there," said George Twigg, communications director for Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.

In addition to Metro officials, the mayor is also called upon to decide if weather conditions are bad enough to shut down the bus system.

"We really try hard to balance that with the fact that, for many people, Metro is the only means of transportation," Twigg said.

The extreme weather caused utility outages for many residents in the Madison area. We Energies, which supplies electricity to much of southwest Wisconsin, reported power outages to as many as 11,000 people on Saturday afternoon.

"Wind is the key factor for us," said Rick James, spokesperson for We Energies. James said wind can cause tree limbs to break and fall on electrical wires, leading to equipment failure caused by stress.

Charter Communications, which experienced widespread outages two weeks ago when some of their cable lines were cut, experienced minor outages in their service as a result of the storm.

"The outages that we had in Madison were related to high-speed Internet service, not cable television service," said Bob Pinter, government relations administrator for Charter Communications.

When outages occurred Saturday night, Pinter said they affected approximately 150 customers. Outages also occurred Sunday afternoon, with the Internet service of about 280 customers being affected.

"When weather like this gets severe, there's always a chance for outages, no matter what service it is," Pinter added.

Madison Gas and Electric, which provides energy for much of the Madison area, could not be reached for comment as of press time.

Slippery weather conditions also made roads dangerous for drivers this weekend. Statewide, 128 crashes occurred and 791 calls were made for motor assistance, according to Linda Palmer, communication supervisor for the Southwest Region of the Wisconsin State Patrol.

According to The Associated Press, there were also reports of two accident-related deaths Friday night and five more Saturday.

Due to the nature of the snow, Twigg said it is taking longer for plows in the Madison area to clear roads. Plows must take two or three passes down a street in order to fully clear the snow.

"It's a very difficult storm because the snow is extremely heavy and wet," Twigg said. "Everybody's out there working hard."

At the Dane County and Milwaukee airports, workers were on 24-hour snow removal in order to keep runways open. However, most flights were canceled Saturday night and some were canceled or delayed Sunday.

According to the National Weather Service, the snow is expected to continue through the upcoming week.

— Keegan Kyle contributed to this report.