Atlanta (CNN) -- A sprawling winter storm system spread an ugly mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain from the Deep South to the upper Plains states Thursday, snarling traffic in the air and on the ground.
The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings and advisories for more than a dozen states. The brunt of the system is poised to hit Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia, but several inches of snow are forecast for portions of Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee and North Carolina, as well as Minnesota and North and South Dakota.
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The low pressure system laid down an icy path across north Georgia Wednesday night, causing scores of traffic accidents around metro Atlanta.
"I personally slid through two intersections," one traveler said in Cherokee County northwest of Atlanta. "I spun out a couple of times."
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Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport reported delays that rippled across the country.
"Winter weather in the Midwest & Southeast has impacted travel to, from, and through Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky," said an advisory on the website for Delta Airlines, the largest carrier in Atlanta.
AirTran Airways warned that the wintry weather could result in flight delays and cancellations, according to a company statement.
AirTran passengers scheduled to travel either to or from Atlanta between 7 p.m. Wednesday and noon Thursday will be permitted to change their reservation without penalty as long as the travel is completed within three days of the originally scheduled departure date, the statement said.
Up to half an inch of ice was expected to accumulate across Kentucky and Tennessee and possibly into northern Mississippi and Alabama, raising the risk of downed power lines for residents across the region, the National Weather Service said.
"It's going to be a mixed bag" of snow, sleet, and freezing rain, meteorologist Ted Funk said. "That's going to provide some very hazardous driving conditions ... into Thursday morning."
There have been dozens of accidents in Mississippi and Alabama because of an ice storm, according to emergency management officials in both states.
Two people died in a wreck on an icy bridge in Alabama on Wednesday, officials said, and another died in a car accident in Mississippi.
Areas from Minnesota to Ohio to New York have seen more than a foot of snow in the past several days.
The harsh weather stranded about 300 people in Canada Tuesday after what a local official called the most brutal storm to hit the Ontario region in more than two decades.
Some people had been stuck in their vehicles for more than 24 hours after blinding snow piled up so high that opening vehicle doors proved nearly impossible.
By Wednesday, officials said everyone had been rescued.
On Tuesday, record lows were set from Virginia to Florida. High temperatures were 30 degrees below average for this time of year.
The cold air lingered again Thursday morning, with freeze warnings posted as far as south as Boca Raton, Florida.
But Florida's winter fruit and vegetable crops have so far survived the freezing temperatures without too much damage, industry officials said Tuesday.
"We've had reports of frozen fruit scattered around the state," said Andrew Meadows, spokesman for the Florida Citrus Mutual, cautioning that the situation could have been worse. Some growers are cutting some slush ice, but overall, we're getting fairly favorable reports."
Meadows said the ridge region, which is southern Polk County, came through in decent shape while in the Indian River region -- known for its grapefruit production -- there have been additional reports of iced fruit.
"We do have damage reports, but we can't quantify it right now," he said. "To what extent the damage is, we're still analyzing that."
CNN Radio's Richard Benson, CNN meteorologists Chad Meyers, Angela Fritz and Rob Marciano and CNN's John Couwels and Vivian Kuo contributed to this report.
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