March blizzard plains
© Stephen Spillman / Amarillo Globe-NewsThis stretch of Interstate 40 in Amarillo, Texas, was among those shut down Friday by blizzard conditions.

Dallas - A major spring blizzard plodding eastward over the Southern Plains shut down major highways and paralyzed the region as residents braced Friday for up to a foot of snow, freezing 45 mph winds and massive snowdrifts.

Schools and government offices were closed and hundreds of travelers were stranded by the storm, which left some areas in a coat of ice. The snowfall was expected to be unprecedented for this time of year in Oklahoma, and the National Guard was called out in the Texas Panhandle, where snowdrifts as high as 11 feet were predicted before the storm moves on Saturday.

"It's blowing furiously," said Jerry Billington of Faith City Ministries in downtown Amarillo, which was under whiteout conditions. The 200-bed shelter was one of several setting up extra beds and encouraging homeless people to come in off the street.

There were several accidents in the area, including jackknifed tractor-trailers, Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Wayne Williams said in Amarillo, which is about 365 miles northwest of Dallas. Authorities shut down all major highways around Dalhart in the northwest corner of the Panhandle.

Ice built up all over southeast Kansas on Friday, with a quarter-inch coat reported in Arkansas City. Freezing rain pelted the Wichita area, and heavy snow and 40 mph winds created dangerous driving conditions in the Dodge City area.

16 inches of snow in places
The weather service forecast as much as 16 inches of snow in northwest Oklahoma, with about 5 inches predicted in Oklahoma City. Gov. Brad Henry declared a state of emergency Friday for much of the state.

Winds were strongest near the Colorado-Kansas border, said Randy Gray of the National Weather Service in Pueblo, Colo. Sections of three southeast Colorado highways totaling nearly 150 miles were shut down Friday.

Rural electric providers reported about 5,000 homes and businesses without power in Oklahoma, where wind gusts were as high as 50 mph. More than 2,000 Oklahoma Gas and Electric customers in the Norman area were without power Friday.

Earlier in the week the storm dumped nearly a foot and a half of snow in the Denver area, creating havoc at airports and on highways that lingered Friday as a swatch of far southeastern Colorado remained under a blizzard warning. Many schools and offices remained closed because of icy roads and unplowed streets.

Three of four roads into the southeast Colorado town of Springfield were closed when blowing snow reduced visibility to near zero.

"It was awful. Just blowing real bad," said Kelly Mason, a worker at Love's Travel Stop in the town of about 1,400. "Not a lot's moving around here."

Source: Associated Press