At least five people died as ice storms cut power in some parts of the country, multiple-car wrecks were reported in Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois and chilly temperatures and blustery winds forced residents to bundle up.

Drivers blinded by blizzard conditions created a 100-vehicle pile-up on Interstate 94 in western Michigan that killed a 31-year-old man, media reports said, while dozens of vehicles tangled in a series of other wrecks nearby.

The fierce weather, which coincided with the official arrival of winter on Sunday, was blamed for the death of two people in a single-vehicle crash on Interstate Highway 80 east of Des Moines, Iowa.

Another weather-related fatality was reported in northwest Iowa when a farm tractor being used for snow removal slipped off the driveway and overturned, killing the driver, the Des Moines Register newspaper reported.

Due to the danger, the nearby state of Minnesota temporarily banned the use of snow plows until the thick of the storm passed.

The ice made roads slick as far south as Texas, where a 44-year-old grandmother was killed in Dallas when her car slid off a road, local reports said.

Travel was also treacherous in the northwestern states of Oregon and Washington, with two to five inches of snow expected until 10:00 am (1800 GMT) Monday, the National Weather Service said in its winter storm warning for the region.

"This is probably one of the worst storms since 1990," weather service meteorologist Dana Felton told AFP by phone from Seattle, adding that the last big storm on this scale was on Christmas day 1996.

"This is definitely a once-in-a-decade type of storm."

Total snow accumulations were forecast from five to 10 inches (13 to 25 centimeters) Monday morning across the northwest, with more than a foot (30 centimeters) in local mountains, it said.

Overnight snow, ice and freezing temperatures led to "treacherous conditions," road closures and downed powerlines throughout the state, the Oregonian newspaper reported.

Washington state saw highway closures and "major problems" at its Seattle-Tacoma airport, with thousands of stranded passengers, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer said.

Temperatures plunged in Canada, with the central province of Saskatchewan reporting four below zero degrees Fahrenheit (negative 38 Celsius) Monday morning, and further east around eight inches (20 centimeters) of snow draped Montreal.

In the northeastern United States, blizzard conditions and strong winds caused frequent whiteouts, with the weather service warning that "travel will be extremely hazardous" through Monday due to a snowstorm sweeping Lake Michigan to the Atlantic Coast.

Bitterly cold temperatures ranged from the single digits (from negative 17 to negative 12 Celsius) in the Midwest's northern plains and northern Rocky Mountains, to 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit (negative seven to one degree below zero Celsius) in the northwestern and northeastern parts of the country.

In Chicago, temperatures plunged to two degrees below zero Fahrenheit (negative 19 Celsius) while blowing snow and strong winds have resulted in thousands of power outages throughout the metropolitan area.

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