A man clears snow from the sidewalks around Friends University in Wichita, Kan. as heavy snow falls on Wednesday morning, Feb. 20, 2013. A large winter storm moved in over the early morning hours and is expected to last until Thursday evening. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying)
A man clears snow from the sidewalks around Friends University in Wichita, Kan. as heavy snow falls on Wednesday morning, Feb. 20, 2013. A large winter storm moved in over the early morning hours and is expected to last until Thursday evening. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying)
A man clears snow from the sidewalks around Friends University in Wichita, Kan. as heavy snow falls on Wednesday morning, Feb. 20, 2013. A large winter storm moved in over the early morning hours and is expected to last until Thursday evening. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying)
A wrecked car sits in the middle of US Highway 54 near downtown Wichita, Kan. as heavy snow falls on Wednesday morning, Feb. 20, 2013. A large winter storm moved in over the early morning hours and is expected to last until Thursday evening. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying)
A wrecked car sits in the middle of US Highway 54 near downtown Wichita, Kan. as heavy snow falls on Wednesday morning, Feb. 20, 2013. A large winter storm moved in over the early morning hours and is expected to last until Thursday evening. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying)
A student makes her way across the campus of Friends University in Wichita, Kan. as heavy snow falls on Wednesday morning, Feb. 20, 2013. A large winter storm moved in over the early morning hours and is expected to last until Thursday evening. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying)
A student makes her way across the campus of Friends University in Wichita, Kan. as heavy snow falls on Wednesday morning, Feb. 20, 2013. A large winter storm moved in over the early morning hours and is expected to last until Thursday evening. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying)
A woman walks through Central Riverside Park on a snowy Wednesday morning in Wichita, Kan., Feb. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle/Kansas.com, Jaime Green)
A woman walks through Central Riverside Park on a snowy Wednesday morning in Wichita, Kan., Feb. 20, 2013. Hundreds of snow plows and salt spreaders took to the highways of the nation's heartland Wednesday, preparing for a winter storm that could dump up to a foot of snow in some regions and bring dangerous freezing rain and sleet to others. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Jaime Green)
Westlake Ace Hardware employee Kenneth Curiel, right, helps customer Marcus Dunn load six 40-pound bags of ice melt into this van in Wichita, Kan. Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Mike Hutmacher)
Westlake Ace Hardware employee Kenneth Curiel, right, helps customer Marcus Dunn load six 40-pound bags of ice melt into this van in Wichita, Kan. Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Mike Hutmacher)
A wichita driver clears snow from his windshield in Wichita, Kan. Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Mike Hutmacher)
A wichita driver clears snow from his windshield in Wichita, Kan. Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Mike Hutmacher)
A wichita driver clears snow from his windshield in Wichita, Kan. Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Mike Hutmacher)
ST. LOUIS — An armada of snow plows and salt spreaders deployed Wednesday on highways across the nation’s heartland as a winter storm that’s already blamed for one death promised to dump up to a foot of snow in some areas and bring freezing rain …