February 01, 2011|By the CNN Wire Staff

A vast winter storm on Tuesday blasted much of the nation with nearly horizontal blowing snow, cloaking trees and power lines with ice up to an inch thick, forcing airports to close and complicating the travel plans of fans headed to this weekend's Super Bowl in Texas.

A mix of blizzard, ice, hard freeze and high wind warnings sprang up across most of the Lower 48 states as the system pressed eastward, from New Mexico to Maine. Forecasters said as many as 100 million people in the United States would feel its effects.