Some 500 flights were cancelled at Chicago's O'Hare airport where delays were also averaging 45 to 60 minutes, a spokesman for the airport said.

As the massive storm system made its way slowly eastward, huge swaths of the country prepared to hunker down for a wet weekend of shoveling.

The storm which started Thursday afternoon has already dumped anywhere from six to 12 inches (15 to 30 centimeters) of snow on parts of Illinois and Michigan and a further six to eight inches (15 to 10 centimeters) was expected, said National Weather Service spokesman Pat Slattery.

"These gusty winds are going to cause problems with drifting snow," he told AFP. "It's going to continue up into the northeast states and of course once it gets through Maine it will head out into the Atlantic and up to Canada."

The heavy snowstorm was already socking eastern Canada Friday, snarling traffic and prompting the delay or cancellation of some 200 flights from Toronto's Pearson International.

Snow was falling in Ontario and the storm was expected to move eastward across Quebec dropping between 15 and 30 cm (6-12 in) of snow by Saturday, forecasters said.

There will be some relief from frigid temperatures for the US on Sunday, when much of the midwest and east coast should get back above freezing, Slattery said.

"It'll start melting, but it's not going to be a huge rush," he said, explaining that since the ground was frozen in many places a quick melt could cause problems with flooding.

Over at O'Hare airport, Gregg Cunningham of the city's department of aviation said airlines expected schedules to begin returning to normal.

earlier related report
Britain battered by snow and storms
Heavy snow and storms caused chaos on Britain's seas and roads Friday, prompting a rescue operation to airlift a seriously injured ship's captain from his vessel, officials said.

The skipper of the Horn Cliff, a cargo ship carrying fruit from the Caribbean, sustained spinal injuries and internal bleeding as the vessel hit a force 10 storm 180 miles (290 kilometres) south of Ireland.

The Royal Air Force launched an effort to airlift him and six others from the ship, two of whom were also thought to be injured less seriously, but it said later it had to be called off because conditions were too dangerous.

The vessel is carrying a total of 31 passengers and crew and reportedly lost up to 90 of its containers. It is now sailing to Cork, Ireland, and the injured will be transferred to hospital when it arrives Saturday, the RAF said.

Elsewhere, 14 Spanish seamen were rescued when their trawler, which was registered in Britain, ran into a force nine gale off the remote Western Isles, northern Scotland, coastguards there said.

And overnight, 23 people were winched off a ferry, the Riverdance, which hit difficulties in bad weather in the Irish Sea, running aground off the coast of Blackpool, north-west England.

On Thursday evening, the ship had been listing at 60 degrees, and there were concerns that it would overturn. The vessel, reportedly carrying 150 tonnes of oil, is now being monitored by officials in case of spills.

At least 150 motorists had to be rescued Friday after becoming stuck in heavy snow in County Durham, northern England, local police said.

And 8,000 homes in northern England had their electricity supplies cut off Friday night as snow and high winds disrupted the supply. Of these, 6,000 are still without power, supplier CE Electric said.

Blizzards have swept across large swathes of northern England and Scotland, with depths of snow of up to 15 centimetres recorded.

Weather forecasters the Met Office have issued severe weather warnings for all of Britain apart from the south-east of England.

earlier related report
Millions struggle for tickets as China battles weather
Millions of Chinese workers battled for a precious train ticket home Sunday as authorities flew in emergency food and medical supplies to areas stranded by the worst weather in 50 years.

China's top leaders warned that the country faced a grim relief task as supplies were airlifted to the snowbound southwestern province of Guizhou and neighbouring Hunan where many people have been without power for more than a week, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The warning came after President Hu Jintao chaired a meeting Sunday of top Communist Party leaders to examine the relief effort.

"We have to be clear minded that certain regions in the south will continue to undergo icy weather caused by rain and snow and severe disasters will continue," they said in a statement afterwards, according to Xinhua.

"Relief work will remain very grim, posing a tough task on us," they said, adding that getting stranded people home and ensuring transport and power supplies were the top priorities.

State television showed workers handing out food to travellers along snowed-in highways and at trains stations where millions have been stranded for days with no way to get home ahead of Lunar New Year, China's most important holiday.

The savage winter snows and freezing temperatures that have brought much of the nation to a standstill have transformed transport hubs into seething masses of frustrated humanity.

In the southern city of Guangzhou, 2,000 riot and army police fought to hold back crowds of hundreds of thousands of mainly migrant workers surging forward at the merest hint of an opening to a train platform.

For many, Lunar New Year -- which falls on February 7 this year -- is the only chance to escape to their families from their toil in the factories of southern China.

Premier Wen Jiabao urged people to be brave amid the worst winter in 50 years, as they waited exhausted and desperate amid growing piles of rubbish and human waste.

Li Kuochun, a 28-year-old stuck among the massive crowds trying to leave Guangzhou Railway Station, said people were pushing out of sheer frustration.

"I'm quite worried there will be a stampede," said Li, who was hoping to get home to Hunan province.

"I just try to walk slowly but people keep pushing. You're squeezed between people and can hardly move or breathe.

"But I think it's worth the danger and risking my safety to go home and see my family. They are all back there and I really miss them."

One woman was killed in a stampede at Guangzhou. Police were unable to control a crowd surging to board a train and in the chaos she fell and was trampled to death, Xinhua said.

The blizzards and icy temperatures that have lasted nearly three weeks now have stranded millions of people at airports, railway stations and bus depots in China's south, central and eastern regions.

The weather has destroyed crops, hit industrial production, disrupted coal and food supplies and led to power blackouts, for a bill estimated at around 7.5 billion dollars, according to official figures.

At least 105 million out of the country's 1.3 billion population have been affected and more than 60 have been killed, the government says.

One official in Hunan reportedly collapsed and died of exhaustion after not sleeping for days, a report said.

China's leadership has been working overtime as it tries to project concern for the millions of stranded passengers, and Wen urged courage in the face of the national disaster.

"We have the faith, courage and ability to overcome" the disaster, he said in a radio address from a train in Hunan province, where a usually temperate climate has caught the region unprepared.

The crisis has prompted China to dispatch more than one million troops and 65,500 medical workers to deliver relief. So far, the medics have treated more than 200,000 ill and injured people, the health ministry said.

Army tanks dispatched to clear roads in eastern Anhui province only arrived last Saturday after the fierce weather delayed them for days.

Along the Zhuhai to Beijing expressway, sections of the key north-south artery were reopened Sunday as soldiers and police in armoured vehicles worked to clear the icy road, Xinhua reported.

Many drivers have been stranded for more than a week.

earlier related report
Flights, trains cancelled as snow hits Tokyo
Dozens of flights and trains were cancelled Sunday as snow blanketed Tokyo and its vicinities, with more than 170 people injured in weather-related accidents, officials and news reports said.

Japanese airlines cancelled more than 140 domestic flights, mainly to or from Tokyo's Haneda airport, where one of the three runways was temporarily closed as snow disturbed the guidance system, officials said.

Several train services in the capital were also cancelled, while Shinkansen bullet trains were delayed, train company officials said. Highways were closed at many points in Tokyo and its environs as three centimetres (more than an inch) of snow fell in the capital.

At least 53 people were sent to hospital in snow-related incidents in Tokyo, said a spokesman for the Tokyo Fire Department.

"Most of them were injured after they slipped and fell on snow-covered pavements. Several broke legs or arms," the spokesman said.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the number of injuries totalled 173, including 23 serious casualties, in the capital and its surrounding areas, while 715 car and other snow-related accidents were reported to local police.

Snowfalls, the heaviest in the capital this winter, also hampered weekend sports events.

Organisers of the Oume Marathon, scheduled to take place in Tokyo on Sunday morning, decided to cancel the 59th annual race for the first time in 12 years because the course was covered with snow.

Two rugby matches in the nation's top league were called off, while all the horse races at Tokyo Racecourse were cancelled. Several outside attractions were also cancelled at Tokyo Disney Land.

A further three centimetres of snow is forecast in downtown Tokyo by late Sunday, while much heavier snowfalls are expected in mountain areas north of the capital, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

In Nagano, north of Tokyo, two skiers remained unconscious on Sunday after they were engulfed in an avalanche at a ski resort in central Japan following heavy snow, police said.

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