WASHINGTON, Dec 22: A massive winter storm blanketed the US West Coast with snow, sleet and ice early on Monday while blizzards and snow squalls struck the Northeast and Midwest, killing at least four people and making travel dangerous.

The storm snarled holiday air traffic across the country, with delays at major airports in San Francisco; Houston, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; New Jersey and New York, officials said.

The fierce weather 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.

Drivers blinded by blizzard conditions created a 30-vehicle pile-up on Interstate 94 in western Michigan on Sunday.

Dozens of the vehicles were also involved in a series of other wrecks nearby, including

one that killed a 31-year-old Illinois man, CNN television reported.

Travel was also treacherous in the northwestern states of Oregon and Washington, with heavy rain, sleet and 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 said, 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 cms) on 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.—AFP