Sleet and deep snow made Arkansas roads slippery Tuesday and closed some schools as stormy weather stretched across the region.

At least 11 inches of snow fell at Russellville in west-central Arkansas, state highway department spokesman Randy Ort said. Some 18-wheelers had trouble negotiating roads and the highway department advised motorists to stay home.

"If trips can be delayed until later today conditions should be much improved," Ort said.

Arkansas' weather was part of a band of snow and rain stretching from the southern Plains to northern New England. The National Weather Service posted winter storm warnings across sections of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois, with winter weather advisories along the Great Lakes.

Voting sites in Ohio were busy for Tuesday's presidential primaries despite heavy rain across the state, with some sleet in the Cleveland area. Parts of southern Ohio had received 2 inches of rain in just four hours and flood warnings were posted throughout the state.

Back in Arkansas, Jamie Funes said Marco's Pan Bakery in Russellville would not open Tuesday. Schools also were closed.

"There's a lot of snow -- 10 inches to a foot," Funes said. "No one is going to get from their house today."

Up to 8 inches of snow fell in parts of southwest Missouri, snarling the morning commute in the St. Louis and Springfield areas.

"The closer you get to Springfield, the worse it is," said Bob Edwards of the Missouri Transportation Department. "They have a real snowpack."

Highways were slippery across the eastern half of Oklahoma, and the state Highway Patrol said a stretch of highway near Durant was closed for more than an hour early Tuesday because two tractor-trailer rigs jackknifed.

Thunderstorms spread through the Southeast, and the weather service issued a tornado watch Tuesday for extreme west Georgia and east-central Alabama.

Late Monday, the thunderstorms struck Mississippi and powerful wind damaged a cinderblock barracks at Camp Shelby. Fourteen Arkansas National Guardsmen were treated at a Hattiesburg hospital and returned to duty.

"We want everyone to know that they are all OK," Lt. Col. Doril Sanders, a Camp Shelby spokesman, said Tuesday morning.