A massive winter storm was moving east across the U.S. on Wednesday, causing blizzard conditions in North Dakota and snowy highways in Colorado and Kansas. More than 20 states from the Rocky Mountains to New England — and as far south as Texas — were under winter storm warnings, watches or both.
By Wednesday nightt, much of Chicago had already seen over 5 inches of snow, with some areas getting at least a foot as the snowfall was expected to continue, CBS Chicago reports.
In the South, the big concern is ice. In Texas, officials hope to avoid a repeat of last year’s devastating power outages.
“Last year, we lost power in this neighborhood for three days,” Cindy Harty of McKinney told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth.
This storm isn’t forecast to be as severe, but Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the state’s power grid was ready.
The storm was changing travel plans for many, with nearly 8,000 flights canceled for Wednesday and Thursday, according to FlightAware. Southwest Airlines announced it’s suspending most of its operations at its Dallas hub Thursday.
Forecasters said the storm will keep pushing east through the week, bringing more snow and ice to New York and Boston, which were just hit by a nor’easter.
