Airports around the United States were struggling to unclog delays brought on by winter storms in the northwest, northeast and the midwest, including in Chicago where hundreds of travelers left stranded overnight Tuesday were hoping to avoid the same fate on Wednesday.

A treacherous mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain has socked Chicago, home to the country's second busiest airport, leading to the cancellation of hundreds of flights Tuesday.

Agony for holiday travelers was also reported at several other airports as the storms in the Northwest and Midwest caused a ripple effect across much of the rest of the country, snarling holiday air traffic at major airports in San Francisco; Dallas, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; New Jersey and New York, officials said.

Two men died Wednesday in the Rocky Mountain state of Utah when they were caught in an avalanche while snowmobiling, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

At least nine other deaths were also being blamed on the extreme weather of recent days, including a woman and her seven-month-old son killed Wednesday in a car crash in Wisconsin.

The US National Weather Service (NWS) said the northwest region, already battered by near-record snows over the past week, was bracing for a new storm with up to nine inches (22 centimeters) of snow forecast for Portland, Oregon and up to two feet (61 centimeters) of snow in the nearby Cascade mountains.

In nearby Seattle, Washington, 18 passengers and seven Alaska Airlines crew were given medical attention at the airport when a chemical leak during de-icing operations leaked fumes into the cabin shortly before takeoff.

"While the aircraft was being de-iced, some fumes got into the airplane," airport spokeswoman Terri-Ann Betancourt told AFP. The passengers and crew were checked for throat and eye irritation after Flight 528 to Burbank, California, was evacuated, she said.

Nearly 64 million Americans are expected to travel during the end-of-year holiday season, either by road, rail or air, a two-percent decline from the period last year, the American Automobile Association predicts.

Ice storms cut power in some parts of the United States, multiple-car wrecks were reported in several northern states and chilly temperatures and blustery winds forced residents to bundle up.

In Canada, meteorologists are predicting the first coast-to-coast white Christmas since 1971.

The holiday was rapidly turning into a nightmare for thousands of travelers as Air Canada cancelled its short and medium-range flights in and out of Vancouver Wednesday on account of snowy weather, national broadcaster CBC reported.

The city was blanketed in up to four inches (10 centimeters) of new snow Wednesday as the airport worked to unclog its backlog of stranded passengers after an artic blast pummeled the west coast city two days earlier.

But a Canadian family was celebrating Wednesday after a woman was rescued following three days trapped in the snow in a field in Ontario. Donna Molnar, 55, stepped out Friday to do some shopping and disappeared as a storm hit the region. A search volunteer and his dog found her Monday.

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