Deadly snowstorm moves through Great Plains

Snowstorm southwest
Snow covered trees make for a scenic view of the east entrance to the Santa Fe New Mexico state capitol as Santa Fe residents deal with the winter storm that hit Monday Dec. 19, 2011. New Mexico state police say a winter storm is shutting highways and causing difficult driving across northern New Mexico. Los Alamos National Laboratory and a number of schools have closed as the storm moves across New Mexico and into the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles and parts of Kansas and Colorado. (AP Photo/The New Mexican, Clyde Mueller)

Fierce winds and snow that caused fatal road accidents and shuttered highways in five states, crawled deeper into the Great Plains early Dec. 20, with forecasters warning that pre-holiday travel would be difficult if not impossible across the region.