A 2-year-old boy had hypothermia and frostbite after his mother left him alone Friday night in a car parked outside a Thornton strip mall as snow fell and temperatures dipped below zero, police said.

Police officers found the boy about noon Saturday in a green Ford Fusion, piled with snow.

They began looking for the toddler at 10:40 a.m. Saturday after his mother told Westminster police she had been involved in a car accident the night before and left her son in the car, authorities said.

The boy’s mother, 26-year-old Nicole Carmon of Westminster, told officers she couldn’t remember the details of the accident or how she got home, but said she believed her son was still in the car. She also didn’t know the location of the vehicle, only a general area, said Thornton police officer Matt Barnes.

The vehicle showed no sign of having been involved in an accident, Barnes said.

Carmon was arrested on a felony child abuse charge. Her son was taken to a hospital after officers found him in a parking lot in the 900 block of East 120th Avenue.

The boy was “in a state of severe hypothermia” but was conscious, Barnes said. “The car was blanketed with snow,” he said. “There was no way of seeing what was inside.”

Police are trying to determine the circumstances that led to the child being left alone inside the vehicle and how long the boy was there. Anyone with information is asked to call the Thornton Police tip line at 720-977-5069.