Thousands of flights canceled as major winter storm moves across the US

(AP) — Thousands of flights across the United States set to take off over the weekend were cancelled as a monster storm started to wreak havoc Saturday across much of the country. It has knocked out power in many areas and covered major roadways with dangerous ice.

Roughly 140 million people, or more than 40% of the US population, were under a winter storm warning from New Mexico to New England.

The US National Weather Service forecast widespread heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain from Saturday to Monday, stretching from the southern Rocky Mountains to New England. It warned people to brace for a string of frigid days.

“The snow and the ice will be very, very slow to melt and won’t be going away anytime soon, and that’s going to hinder any recovery efforts,” said Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

President Donald Trump had approved emergency declarations for at least a dozen states by Saturday with more expected to come. The Federal Emergency Management Agency pre-positioned commodities, staff and search and rescue teams in numerous states, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.

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“We just ask that everyone would be smart – stay home if possible,” Noem said.

Forecasters say the damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival that of a hurricane.

Around 120,000 power outages were reported in the path of the winter storm Saturday, including about 50,000 each in Texas and Louisiana, according to poweroutage.us.

About 13,000 flights were canceled Saturday and Sunday across the US, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.

All Saturday flights were canceled at Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City, and all Sunday morning flights also were called off, as officials aimed to restart service Sunday afternoon at Oklahoma’s biggest airport.

Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport, a major hub, saw more than 700 departing flights canceled on Saturday and nearly as many arriving flights called off. Disruptions were also piling up at airports in Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, and Charlotte, North Carolina.

By late Saturday afternoon, nearly all departing flights scheduled to leave Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Sunday had already been canceled.

After sweeping through the South, the storm was expected to move into the Northeast, dumping about 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 centimeters) of snow from Washington through New York and Boston, the weather service predicted.

Churches moved Sunday services online, and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, decided to hold its Saturday night radio performance without fans. Mardi Gras parades in Louisiana were canceled or rescheduled.

Schools superintendents in Philadelphia and Houston announced that schools would be closed Monday.

Some universities in the South cancelled classes for Monday, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Mississippi’s main campus in Oxford.

Around the southeast, people used the cancellations to have some fun. On a hill outside the Capitol building in Nashville, adult sledders on green discs and inflatable pool animals giggled with joy as they slid in the snow.

Weather forecasters said the winter storm was unusual.

“I think there are two parts of this storm that make it unique. One is just a broad expanse of spatial coverage of this event ... You’ve got 2,000 miles of country that’s being impacted by the storm with snow, sleet, and freezing rain,” said Josh Weiss, a meteorologist at NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center. “The other part of this storm that’s really impressive is what’s going to happen right afterward. We’re looking at extreme cold, record cold.”