With the start of winter just hours away, much of the nation is already getting a taste of its harsh and dangerous weather.

Snow, ice and arctic blasts of wind are frustrating holiday travel plans from coast to coast and leaving thousands of people in the dark.

Heavy snow in Iowa is being accompanied by 35-mile-an-hour winds. People are being told to stay off the roads.

The temperature plunged to 18 below in Spokane, Washington, today. The region has had more than two feet of snow over the past three days with more on the way. And it's being whipped around by hurricane-force winds. Parts of Washington could get 90-mile-an-hour gusts.

More snow is also expected in parts of the Northeast, where people have been digging out from snow that fell yesterday.

One person who's kind of liking the weather is hardware store manager Megan Zarbano in Valley City, North Dakota. She says they haven't had a blizzard in nearly 10 years and it's helping clear out the inventory.