Blizzard Hits Southern Plains.

A major spring blizzard shut down major highways and paralyzed the Southern Plains as residents of Oklahoma and Texas prepared for up to a foot of snow, freezing 45-mile-an-hour winds and huge snowdrifts. Schools and government offices were closed, and hundreds of travelers were stranded by the storm, which left some areas under a coat of ice. The snowfall was expected to be unprecedented for this time of year in Oklahoma, and the National Guard was called out in the Texas Panhandle, where snowdrifts as high as 11 feet and up to a foot of snowfall were predicted before the storm moves on Saturday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]