Snow blanketed eastern Canada Tuesday, sparking airport delays and trouble on the roads as the season's first major winter storm hit the region following an unusually mild start to December.

The weather is linked to a deadly system that created chaos in Texas over the weekend, meteorologists said.

At least 11 people were killed as tornadoes struck the heavily populated Dallas area, with heavy rain and snowfall also hitting the state.

"An intense low pressure system from Texas is affecting the Great Lakes area today. A warm front associated with this low is producing freezing rain this morning" in southern Ontario and snow further to the east, experts at Environment Canada said.

The wintry mix disrupted air travel and caused dangerous conditions on the roads.

Toronto's Pearson International Airport urged travelers to check the status of their flights with the airlines.

"Winter weather along (the) US Eastern Seaboard and in Montreal and Ottawa causing some delays and cancellations," it said.

At Montreal's airport, about 20 flights had been canceled by mid-morning while others saw major delays.

In the Toronto area, about 300 road accidents have been reported since Monday evening, with motorists trying to maneuver in icy conditions.

Environment Canada officials urged the public in Quebec province to leave their cars at home, warning that 30 to 40 centimeters (11 to 16 inches) of snow were expected by day's end.

The storm arrives more than a month later than normal, with the lack of snow leading to a drop in activity at ski resorts over the Christmas holidays.

Kazakhstan snowstorms disrupt transport
Astana, Kazakhstan (AFP) Dec 29, 2015 - Kazakhstan was hit by violent snowstorms on Tuesday, grounding planes and disrupting traffic in the capital Astana and other parts of the vast Central Asian country.

The emergency situations committee said that a bus travelling from the Russian city of Omsk to Astana turned onto its side outside the Kazakh capital but no serious injuries were reported.

In what authorities called an "incredible blizzard", Christmas trees in the city of more than 800,000 were felled by the gales.

Airport officials told AFP that several domestic and international flights had been delayed.

Local media reported that some 26 vehicles had collided on a bridge in the city of Karaganda, some 200 kilometres (120 miles) southeast of Astana.

Astana is one of the world's coldest capitals, with temperatures currently hovering around minus 7 degrees Celsius (19 Fahrenheit).

But city officials told a local newspaper last week that warmer than usual temperatures had complicated the construction of an "ice town" in Astana's centre.

Kazakhstan has portrayed itself as a winter sports hub in recent years, hosting the Asian Winter Games in 2011 and bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics, which it lost to Beijing.