A plane carrying 129 people skidded from a slick Chicago runway and a plow driver was killed when his truck rolled over outside Kansas City on Saturday, following a winter storm that covered many parts of the US midwest in snow and ice.

No injuries were reported on the United Airlines flight at O’Hare International Airport as it arrived from Phoenix, Chicago fire officials said. The massive storm which dumped 10in of snow on some areas prompted the cancellation of nearly 1,000 flights at Chicago airports. The average delay at O’Hare was nearly an hour.

Kansas Department of Transportation snowplow Stephen Windler, 25, died at about 6am on Highway 69, according to the Wichita Eagle. A police crash report said his truck “traveled to the right, traversing the shoulder and drove into the grass” before it rolled over. Windler was thrown from the vehicle which landed on top of him.

The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings or advisories for part or all of at least 15 states on Sunday stretching from southeast Missouri to the northern tip of Maine.

A 15-vehicle crash blocked a section of Interstate 55 in south-eastern Missouri and drivers were urged to find an alternative route. In Detroit, many motorists were moving well below posted speed limits along freeways due to slushy conditions.

Amtrak canceled some trains from Chicago to Washington and New York and between New York and Boston and Pennsylvania on Sunday.

In Nebraska, authorities closed Omaha’s Eppley Airfield on Friday afternoon after a Southwest Airlines plane slid off an ice-slicked runway. No one was injured. The airfield later reopened.

The snow was part of a wall of hazardous weather that moved from the Dakotas across the Great Lakes states. The storm brought snow, ice and strong winds, followed by deep cold. The highest snowfall totals were expected in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Further east, the National Weather Service in Albany, New York, said snow could fall at a rate of 1in to 3in an hour, creating “difficult to impossible travel conditions” in areas.

The storm prompted the cancellation of a Special Olympics competition in upstate New York. Nearly 200 athletes from around the state were expected to compete in snowshoeing, snowboarding, cross country and Nordic and Alpine skiing at West Mountain, just outside Glens Falls.

In New York City on Sunday morning, temperatures are expected to plunge from about 40 degrees to single digits in the evening, with wind gusts of up to 30 mph. On Monday, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, meteorologists predict the sun will appear, but with high temperatures around only 15 (-9C). Strong wind gusts beginning Sunday afternoon could bring down snow- or ice-burdened tree limbs and power lines.

Following the storm system, some areas of the midwest were expecting high winds and bitter cold. In Iowa, temperatures in the teens on Saturday were expected to drop below 0F (-17C) overnight, producing wind chills as low as -20F (-29C) by Sunday morning.