Posted Tuesday, December 20, 2011 --- 7:40 a.m.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Forecasters are warning that pre-holiday travel could be nearly impossible in the Great Plains as heavy snow and fierce winds crawl deeper into the region.

The National Weather Service said Tuesday that about 10 inches of snow had fallen before dawn in western Kansas, and several more inches are expected as the storm continues east.

The storm has shuttered highways and filled hotels from northern New Mexico to Kansas, and the conditions are being blamed for at least six deaths. Two people died in an accident Monday along an icy road in eastern Colorado, while four people were killed in a head-on crash in New Mexico.

And nearly 100 rescue calls came in from motorists in the Texas Panhandle as blizzard-like conditions forced closed part of Interstate 40 late Monday.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.