Glazed Roads Freeze Midwest Traffic : Storms: Icy weather is blamed for 14 deaths. Hundreds of stranded motorists wait it out in shelters. Even air travel is slowed by slick conditions.

Freezing rain turned the Plains into a skating rink Saturday. Slick roads caused countless traffic accidents, and the National Guard opened armories to house hundreds of stranded travelers.

The storm spread a sheet of ice from Oklahoma to Wisconsin, making driving all but impossible on many roads.

Two people were killed Saturday in weather-related accidents in Missouri. A highway death in Wisconsin and another in Iowa were also blamed on the treacherous conditions. At least 10 deaths in Texas and Oklahoma were blamed on the storm Thursday night and Friday.

One runway at Kansas City International Airport was closed all day Saturday and the other was closed twice for de-icing, delaying planes about an hour. On Friday, two Boeing 737s slid off the runway while taxiing at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, causing no injuries but delaying flights. Fog closed the Oklahoma City airport late Saturday.

A 45-vehicle pileup Saturday in Chicago sent 21 people to hospitals, authorities said. Police blamed the accident on icy roads. Six of the victims were listed in critical or serious condition.

“We were hit four times after we stopped,” said Lynn Colbert of Chicago, who was slightly injured while riding with her sister.

Twenty-two cars piled up on Interstate 35 near Kansas City late Friday, while 35 cars collided on I-35 near Oklahoma City.

No deaths were reported in those accidents.

A 50-mile stretch of I-35 in Kansas, from Ottawa to Emporia, was closed until noon Saturday, and 75 motorists traveling the stretch were housed overnight in the Kansas National Guard armory at Ottawa, officials said.

“We provided blankets, sleeping bags, and we even went out to the store this morning and cooked them eggs and bacon, coffee and juice,” said National Guard Capt. Aaron Bien. “We tried to make them feel as comfortable as possible.”

When lunchtime rolled around and the travelers were still stranded, restaurants donated pizza.

Sgt. Ronald Bolsinger, his wife and three children took refuge in the armory shortly after midnight.

“There was a long line of cars not going anywhere,” he said.

A Red Cross chapter in northern Oklahoma opened a National Guard armory for 96 stranded motorists after full hotels turned them away.

At midday Saturday, temperatures rose above freezing and the ice began to melt. “But there’s so much ice on the ground it’s going to take some time,” said Don Rogers, a meteorologist in Topeka, Kan.

Kavin Marcum, a firefighter in Arkansas City, Kan., near the Oklahoma line, said: “We were hearing about it down in Oklahoma, ‘Everybody off the roads,’ and the next thing we could hear ice pelting the building. . . . By the time we got the (next) fire call, the streets were slick and the firetrucks were sliding. It was terrible.”

In northern Utah, it started snowing shortly before dawn, and by midafternoon, at least two feet had fallen in the northern mountains and up to a foot in the valleys, said Alex Smith, a weather service forecaster.

U.S. 40 was closed for about 20 miles from the resort community of Park City to Heber City. And officials on Saturday evening closed canyons leading to four of the state’s most popular ski resorts, including Snowbird and Alta.

Up until then, motorists were required to have four-wheel-drive vehicles or tire chains.

“It’s extremely awful everywhere,” said a Utah Highway Patrol dispatcher. “Just mucky, mucky, mucky.”

Not everyone agreed.

“It’s snowing the famous stuff we’ve all waited for day after day,” said Robbie Beck, marketing director at the Park City Ski Area.