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© Charlie Neibergall/Associated PresJose Felix shoveled snow on a sidewalk in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday.
Howling winds on Friday spread snow and freezing rain across the northern Plains, as the stubborn storm that stretched from Texas to North Dakota over the last several days wrapped the upper Midwest in a dangerous and debilitating wintry mix on Christmas Day.

Poor visibility due to blowing snow shut one major highway, Interstate 29, which stretches from Iowa through South and North Dakota up to the Canadian border, according to the North Dakota Department of Transportation Web site.

"We've had the word out here a few days, that if people had to travel for Christmas to stay put," said Kyle Carstens, a meteorologist in Rapid City, S.D. "From a travel standpoint, it's a pretty big impact up here."

The winds near Rapid City were forecast to reach as high as 55 miles an hour, with temperatures in single digits.

In the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, where nearly 10 inches of snow fell, officials of the Minnesota State Patrol said the state had two weather-related deaths from two head-on collisions in the last three days.

"The roads are not in great condition, and the farther west you go, the worse it gets," said Capt. Matt Langer of the patrol.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area had its first white Christmas since 1926. In Nebraska, where blizzard warnings have been posted, Interstate 80 in the central and eastern parts of the state was closed, according to the Nebraska Department of Roads.

Even as travel proved treacherous for motorists on the Plains, the storm did not cripple the nation's air travel like last weekend, when an enormous winter storm struck the Northeast. Delays at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago were averaging 20 minutes on Friday afternoon, with only minor cancellations, according to the Chicago Airport System. Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City reopened Friday with limited service.

But the remnants of last week's storm that brought a foot or more of snow to the Middle Atlantic States could still prove problematic in places into the weekend.

As the lower pressure system was moving eastward, Washington and the Baltimore area were under a flood watch, with one to two inches of rain expected by Saturday morning.

An ice-storm warning was issued for parts of West Virginia, North Carolina and Virginia.