A major winter storm blanketed the US this weekend with heavy snow and ice, threatening nearly 180 million Americans from the Southwest to New England.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said there were widespread travel disruptions due to the storm. Over 10,000 flights were canceled over the weekend, the most since the pandemic, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics firm. Nearly 2,000 are already canceled on Monday morning, and authorities are urging many Americans to skip the morning commute.
Take a look at the impact of the potentially historic storm below.
States across the South, Midwest, and Northeast were blanketed in snow and ice by Sunday night.
Snow turned to ice in many affected states as the storm moved from the Southwest to the Northeast.
The heavy snowfall is disrupting traffic on roadways and highways.
The Departments of Transportation in several states, including New York and Texas, have urged residents to avoid roadways during the winter storm and through Monday.
As a result of the snow, people are getting creative.
Some Americans ventured into the frosty weather with skis, including folks in Indianapolis and Washington, D.C.
Thousands of flights are being canceled as a winter storm moves across the US.
Aviation analytics company Cirium said over 10,000 flights were canceled over the weekend. Nearly 2,000 flights have been canceled so far on Monday. Over 50% of American Airlines flights were canceled on Sunday and over 75% of JetBlue flights.
Ice is a major concern during the winter storm.
Ice and sleet are other factors at play during the winter storm. On Sunday, the National Service Prediction Center said parts of the country have received over 0.5 inches of ice.
Ice storm warnings remained in effect for much of the storm’s path.
The freezing weather is causing power outages.
The power was out for nearly a million Americans by Sunday night, according to poweroutage.us, an analytics firm tracking electricity outages across the United States.
Texas and other states were seeing the most outages as of Sunday evening.
Grocery store shelves were cleared out ahead of the storm.
Shoppers across multiple states emptied grocery shelves on Friday and Saturday as they prepared to hunker down for the winter storm.
Consumers have been known to panic-buy during emergencies. During the pandemic, panic-buying across the US led to a short-term shortage of toilet paper and other essential items.
City workers are spreading salt to prevent ice.
Salt is spread on roadways to improve traction and make plowing easier.
In Louisville, city workers used a mixture of salt and calcium chloride.
“Calcium chloride helps salt remain effective in extremely cold temperatures,” the city said on its website.
Crews across the country as clearing snow.
While many Americans stayed inside, swaths of workers across the country braved the weather to help clear snow and perform other storm-related tasks.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani praised city workers in an X post on Sunday, writing, “Thank you to all of the city workers who have been working around the clock this weekend to keep us safe. No job is too small, no storm is too big.”
Many cities are canceling school for students on Monday.
New York City’s public schools have canceled in-person classes on Monday due to the “extreme cold.” Instead, students will do remote learning. Boston Public Schools and Baltimore City Public Schools issued similar announcements on their websites.
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