Sun shines on Oklahomans digging out from storm

"It's just snow. That's all we can see," Wickware said Tuesday from her home at Woodward in northwest Oklahoma, which received 15 inches of snow during a blizzard on Monday. "We've been trying to melt snow and drinking that. And we've been just trying to keep the fire going."

The sun poked out Tuesday across northwestern Oklahoma, which was among several areas across the Southern Plains and Midwest to receive a foot of snow from a winter storm the pulled out of the Rocky Mountains on Sunday. The weight of the snow collapsed a roof at a Woodward home, killing a 71-year-old man.

Wickware's husband, a firefighter, had spent part of the storm trying to help others, including firefighters who had gotten stuck in the bad weather, but the windy storm built a wall of snow he and his wife's brother-in-law couldn't breach.

"They didn't even make it down our county road before they got stuck and had to walk back," Wickware said.

Widespread power outages, particularly around Woodward and Enid, were a persistent obstacle into Tuesday for residents digging themselves out.