Some parts of Michigan and Ohio were expected to get as much as several more feet (up to a meter) of snow as the system which has battered the country since Sunday made its way northwards up into Canada.

"This one came roaring through, it came in off the west coast, started really getting put together in Utah and then just blasted across the plains," said Pat Slattery, a spokesman for the National Weather Service.

"As the system moves through, back behind it all this Arctic air came pouring south out of Canada and sweeping across the plains."

High winds were creating blizzard-like conditions even in areas where the snow had stopped falling by pulling snow drifts up off the ground, Slattery told AFP.

Those winds were also adding a bitter bite to the already freezing winter air, complicating efforts to dig out from under the heavy snow.

Wind chills were forecast to range from -15 to -30 Fahrenheit (-26 to -34 Celsius) from Wyoming to Wisconsin and even Iowa and Missouri for the next few days.

The biggest snowfalls -- as much as 59 inches (150 centimeters) -- were recorded in the mountainous areas of Colorado and Utah.

But 17 states from California to New Hampshire saw anywhere from one to four feet of snow (30 to 120 centimeters) and strong winds created drifts as high as 15 feet (4.6 meters).

Schools were closed, hundreds of flights were cancelled and thousands of people lost power to lines brought down by the strong winds.

Major roads were completely blocked by the drifts and blowing snow which defeated snow plows as the icy conditions made driving hazardous.

"Our troopers are running from one accident to the next," said Sergeant Aaron Sweeney, of the Michigan State Police's Rockford office.

"We had rain, then it froze and turned to ice and snowed on top of it. So everything's very slippery."

Cars and even big trucks were sliding off the road and getting stuck in ditches but most of the accidents in his area were not life-threatening.

"Yesterday when the roads were real bad everyone went slower, but when it gets just a little bit better everyone speeds back up," Sweeney said.

Stranded motorists were waiting at least a couple hours to be rescued during the height of the storm in Iowa, where the National Guard was called in to help after the state was blanketed with nine to 16 inches (22 to 41 centimeters) of snow.

While most of the major streets and highways were cleared by Thursday, many rural residents remained trapped in their homes while waiting for the plows to clear back roads.

"It was a lot of snow. So today it's the aftermath, continuing to dig out for a lot of people," said Courtney Green, a spokeswoman for Iowa Department of Public Safety.

"Things are bitterly, bitterly cold. It's like the snow squeaks when you walk on it, it's that cold."

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