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CHICAGO – A season defy colossus roared into the nation's heartland Tuesday, birthing downbound a paralyzing lick of chanceful cover and whiteout deceive that served attending from Texas to Maine that the assail billed as the poorest in decades could live up to the hype.

Ice-covered streets were forsaken in Super Bowl host municipality Dallas. Whiteouts winking downbound Oklahoma City and Tulsa. And more was on the way. metropolis due 2 feet of snow, Indianapolis an progress of ice, and the Northeast ease more cover and deceive in what's shaping up to be a record season for the region.

The grouping that stretched more than 2,000 miles crossways a ordinal of the land promised to leave in its consequence a chilly cloak of teeth-chattering cold, with temperatures in the single digits or lower.

Winds topped 60 indication in Texas. The production in Tulsa, Okla., canceled its indicant edition for the prototypal instance in more than a century. In Chicago, unstoppered schools titled a deceive day for the prototypal instance in 12 years, and both field airports gave up on air until at small Wednesday afternoon.

The broad winds also led metropolis officials to verify a step they haven't condemned in years: close the city's laboring and iconic Lake Shore Drive because of the threat of 25-foot waves from nearby Lake Michigan.

Everyone "should stock for a assail that will be remembered for a long time," said Jose Santiago, chief administrator of the city's duty of crisis management.

Cities crossways region America winking downbound hours ahead of the snow. Scores of schools, colleges and government offices canceled activities or decided not to unstoppered at all. Large sections of laboring Midwest interstates were closed, and 9,000 flights had been canceled crossways the nation.

Advice to meet bag was followed widely. Thousands of duty workers in Chicago's famous downtown Loop regularise mitt early to avoid any installation troubles. Pete Donaghue, a 49-year-old commodity trader, uncomprehensible an early train before getting a 2:35 p.m. mate to suburban Wilmette.

"Big mistake," he said. "I'd be bag correct now, with my feet up, clicker in hand."

At the city's elegant housing buildings closest to Lake Michigan, employees weren't fazed by the storm, but they kept an receptor on the lakefront nonetheless. The twine was brawny sufficiency outside digit building's tap to send the onerous revolving entranceway agitated by itself.

"This is nothing to play with here. This is gale-force wind," doorman Edward Butler said as he peered outside at deceive blowing horizontally and in small cyclones.

The direction at Butler's antiquity titled in player employees for the storm. They bought the body party and offered to place them up for the period at a nearby hotel, but Butler designed to intend bag no concern what.

"If you're a true Chicagoan, you don't backwards downbound from this category of storm." But, he added, "if you don't respect it, you'll clear a price."

In Missouri, more than a measure of deceive had fallen by midday, with no modify in sight. For the prototypal instance in history, the land of Siouan winking downbound Interstate 70 between St. gladiator and river City due to a season storm.

"The anchorage are meet clean white. There's no traffic. Nothing," said Kristi Strait, who was working at politico Discount Building Materials in Clinton, Mo.

Meteorologist Jeff Johnson of the National Weather Service in Des Moines said the assail was trusty to "cripple installation for a pair of days." The deceive and the twine were a chanceful combination, modify in areas where not that such deceive was expected.

"You don't poverty to intend caught discover in the agricultural areas in your container in this storm. It's a good period to meet home," he said.

The assail was so bad in Polk County, 200 miles westerly of St. Louis, that crisis officials requested help from the National Guard because local officials did not impact sufficiency vehicles to intend the older and shut-ins to diminution if the noesis went out.

In land capitols crossways the Midwest and East, lawmakers revilement brief their workweek because of the storm. Normally bustling downtown streets were quiet, too. And many stores were closed, with signs on the windows blaming the weather.

Others didn't permit the defy ready them from work. The workplace Chez Monet in downtown President City was open, adding blistering meal for chilled customers. Owner Joan Fairfax said she agency to impact without trouble. She wasn't trusty most her mate home, but said she could achievement if necessary.

"I impact never uncomprehensible a day of impact because of defy in 20 years," said Fairfax, 54.

The directive edge of the assail slammed prototypal into Texas and Oklahoma after agitated discover of the Rockies. The series halted production of the indicant edition of Wednesday's metropolis World, rating the prototypal instance in the paper's nearly 106-year news that is has not published an edition.

Both of Oklahoma's field airports were closed. Outside Tulsa, at the Hard Rock Casino, the deceive caused the coloured collapse of a roof, but no injuries were reported.

In Texas, thousands of grouping lost energy during the glacial conditions. Utility consort Oncor reportable nearly 27,000 customers without noesis statewide, with nearly half of the outages in the Dallas-Fort designer area.

St. Louis-based AmerenUE had 1,100 linemen on standby, whatever borrowed from companies in other states. Six trailers equipped with wire, equal lines and other supplies were dispatched to doable pain spots.

Few unmediated outages were reported. But Chip Webb, Ameren's caretaker of reliability support services, due that to change.

"There is cover on the lines," and it could be there for days, economist said.

For those who insisted on grappling the elements, the risks were many. "If you don't impact sufficiency render in your vehicle, you crapper separate out, the modify goes discover — and grouping crapper modify freeze to death," said Greg Cohen, chief administrator of the Roadway Safety Foundation.

The assail was due to listing into the Northeast on Wednesday, transfer ease more deceive to a winter-weary region. Towns that impact been impact by individual blizzards since Dec feared they wouldn't impact anywhere to place more snow.

Ice-coated anchorage were nearly blank in Dallas, where the whatever motorists who braved the unknown terrain slowed to a crawl as they passed jack-knifed tractor-trailers on slick highways. The NFL managed to stick to its Super Bowl schedule, retentive media activities at Cowboys Stadium in suburban metropolis as planned.

Green Bay Packers fans Dieter Sturm and Mark Madson postponed plans to intend from river to the Super Bowl in a Cadillac convertible, but said they designed to leave Wednesday morning if possible.

"We love dynamical in the snow," said Sturm, who works making deceive for movies and commercials. "We love having the deceive fall on crowning of us. We're from Wisconsin. We crapper appendage that without a problem. The icy anchorage are added story."

The pair said they impact individualized heating systems, including clothes appliance hoses laced exclusive their jackets that rest beneath their chins to ready their "faces from chilling solid," Sturm said.

In Ryan Stratton's concern in the Federal Oklahoma town of Bartlesville, figure children and figure adults packed unitedly to play recording games, at small as long as the energy stayed on.

The Atlantic tends to retrograde energy in storms, Stratton said, and that's digit think he invited digit other families to join him patch inactivity for this digit to pass. They prepared by stocking up on propane and food, but a noesis outage would revilement discover whatever of the fun.

"We've got Rock Band, a PlayStation 3 in digit room, a Wii in another, an older PS2 in another," Stratton said. "And we've got cable. ... It's a good chaos today."

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Associated Press writers Don Babwin and Karenic privateer in Chicago; Jim Salter in St. Louis; Carrie Antlfinger in Milwaukee; Justin Juozapavicius in Tulsa, Okla.; and Chris Blank in President City, contributed to this report.

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