9:57 a.m. - BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - About 155 miles of Interstate 94 west from Mandan to the Montana border was closed to traffic Wednesday morning after a major winter storm brought heavy, wet snow and strong winds that snapped trees and power lines, canceled classes and left vehicles in the ditch.

"It's really treacherous - heavy, deep snow. Visibility is just really poor. It's so heavy that vehicles just can't push through it," Highway Patrol Capt. Mark Bethke said.

"I've got semis all over the place, stuck," said Lori Moldenhauer, who works at the Tiger Discount truck stop along Interstate 94 in Dickinson.

"In the parking lot, I've got semi's pulling off the interstate because they can't make it anywhere because its' a whiteout out there," Moldenhauer said early Wednesday. "I've got travelers stuck here in cars - they can't see going down the road."

The Highway Patrol also advised no travel in the Minot and Rolla areas in north central North Dakota. Schools were closed in much of the north central and western parts of the state, including Minot State and Dickinson State universities.

Montana-Dakota Utilities spokesman Dan Sharp said power outages were reported from Miles City, Mont. to Bismarck, after the heavy, wet snow snapped trees and power lines. He said crews had been out all night trying to restore power.

Don Kuntz said it took him 3½ hours to drive from Bismarck to Dickinson on Wednesday morning, and he stopped to help stranded drivers.

"I should have stayed in Bismarck," he said.

"We've got equipment out working, but it's wet, heavy snow and it's going to pack, and it's going to turn to solid ice and we're not going to be able to keep up with it," said Alan Walter, Minot's public works director, in advising no travel in the city.

The National Weather Service said it a report of 12½ inches of snow around Halliday and 10 inches at Fairfield, north of Belfield in Billings County. Minot reported between 8 inches and 10 inches, the weather service said.

The Dickinson area could get about 10 inches of snow by Wednesday night, when the storm was expected to move out, forecasters said.

The state had 90 degree temperatures just a few days earlier. Bismarck reported 92 degrees on Oct. 1, National Weather Service meteorologist Harlyn Wetzel said.

The heavy snow avoided Bismarck, which had rain throughout Tuesday night and light snow the next morning.

In Rugby, street department worker Dan Bolk said he and his co-workers were ready for the snow. They normally prepare in early October, he said.

The city of about 3,000 has about a dozen miles of streets to plow during the winter, Bolk said.

"We're tired mowing grass, raking leaves," he said. By Christmas, he said, they likely would be tired of the snow as well.

Wednesday's storm was expected to taper off Wednesday afternoon and move out of the state by the weekend.

By Friday, the weather service said, high temperatures were expected to range from the lower 50s in the northeast to the mid-60s in the west.