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Season's 1st major snowstorm slams Midwest 
2.4 million lack power in Illinois, Missouri, plane forced off Chicago runway

The season’s first major snowstorm marched across the Plains and Midwest on Friday, slopping up highways, shuttering schools and knocking out power to more than 2 million homes and businesses.

A plane slid off a runway in Chicago, and at least three deaths were blamed on the storm, which was moving northwest through Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin on a path to Canada.

Fifteen inches of snow was reported in Peru, 80 miles west of Chicago, and Kenosha, Wis., had more than 16 inches.

Charles Parker, 38, happily operated his snowblower in Milwaukee.

“I just got this baby, and I’ve been waiting to break it in,” he said. “From the looks of things, it’ll get a lot of use.”

In Missouri, Holly Foster said she was the only employee who had made it in to Gov. Matt Blunt’s office by 8 a.m.

The wintry system struck Thursday from Texas to Michigan, forcing the closure of thousands of schools, colleges and universities and state offices. Snow had moved mostly into Michigan and eastern Wisconsin by early afternoon, leaving behind downed power lines and icy roads and runways.

Trees, power lines snapped
About 2.4 million customers across central and southern Illinois and parts of Missouri were without power early Friday after ice snapped tree limbs and power lines. St. Louis officials opened five warmup centers, and utility officials warned that it would be days before all customers have electricity again.

“A lot of people are going to have to leave their homes,” said Ron Zdellar, Ameren Corp.’s vice president.

A FedEx cargo plane arriving Friday morning at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport slipped off the runway into mud, and crews were working to tow it away. By noon, more than 450 flights were canceled there alone.

Three traffic deaths were reported Thursday, including two in Missouri.

The weather delayed state high school football playoffs in Oklahoma, where snowfall ranged up to a foot.

A gust of up to 50 miles an hour toppled a tree onto a mobile home in Greencastle, Ind., 40 miles west of Indianapolis.

Jennifer Stark with the National Weather Service in Topeka, Kan., said the storm seemed especially impressive because of the unseasonably mild weather that came before it. Temperatures in some places had reached record highs earlier in the week.