As a wintry blast makes its way across the nation, Texas prepared for what one hardware store manager called “Ice Friday.”

Schools canceled Friday classes and airlines canceled hundreds of Friday flights one day after shoppers by the thousands jammed store aisles for supplies.

Forecasters issued winter storm and ice warnings for much of Friday for parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Areas of the Midwest could see several inches of snow.

The system has already dumped 1 to 2 feet of snow in parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

North Texans, who saw temperatures in the 80s earlier this week, are still haunted by the fiasco of a frozen Super Bowl week two years ago. The inadequate response to a winter storm then crippled