ST. LOUIS (AP) – Powdery snow, up to a foot and a half in some places, bombarded much of the nation’s midsection Thursday, impeding travel and shutting down airports, schools and state legislatures.

The widespread winter storm system swirled to the north and east Thursday night, its snow, sleet and freezing rain prompting winter storm warnings in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois.

Corey Mead, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said the winter storm would be centered in the upper Midwest by Friday morning.