Thousands of flights grounded as storms bring heavy snow, tornado risks to U.S. East, Midwest

disorderly brave coast to coast in the U.S. — from unusual hot up in calif. To prejudicious winds around Washington, D.C. — put more than 100 million people in the path of extreme conditions on Monday.

Storms across the nation's eastern half forced airlines to cancel more than 4,000 flights nationwide by noon ET on Monday, according to FlightAware, with another 5,000 facing delays, as air travel was already facing slowdowns due to the effects of a partial federal government shutdown.

Many schools closed early in the mid-Atlantic states, where high winds and tornadoes were in the forecast.

Blizzards buried parts of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, while torrential rains flooded homes and washed out roads in Hawaii.

In Washington, the House of Representatives postponed votes because of difficulty travelling with inclement weather.

Airport delays and cancellations could pile up Monday in some of the nation's largest airports —including those in Washington, New York and Chicago.

"This is what happens in March and April," said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

"It's a clash in the air masses. Winter, not wanting to let go from the North, and then obviously the sun's getting a little stronger, it's warming up in the South."

The storm system that dropped snow by the foot in the Midwest is barrelling toward the East Coast with dangerously high winds and potential for "producing strong and long-track tornadoes," the weather service warned on Monday.

"Today, it's the wind that's really the threat," said Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini.

A stretch from parts of South Carolina to Maryland appeared most likely to experience the greatest damaging winds Monday afternoon, the weather service said.

That could include Raleigh, N.C., Richmond, Va., and the nation's capital.

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein urged residents to enable emergency alerts on their phones ahead of expected wind gusts topping 112 km/h.

Beyond the threat to lives and property, "whether it's wind gusts from a squall line, blizzard or snow, or just wind because of the storm, you're looking at several major airports being impacted," said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tyler Roys.

Some Sudbury side streets nearly impassible amid winter storm

Blizzard conditions persisted Monday in parts of Wisconsin and Michigan, where the storm brought as much as 60 cm of snow by morning.

Additional snowfall of 30 to 50 cm was expected in upper Michigan, along with gusty winds, on Monday, the National Weather Service said.

Lower snow accumulations in places such as Chicago and Milwaukee were expected to create trouble for commuters on Monday, Roys said.

Jim Allen, 45, who lives on the Upper Peninsula, said his family stocked up on necessities.

"We're basically prepared to just kind of hunker down for a few days if we need to," he said.

The thousands of flights cancelled nationwide early Monday included more than 350 at Chicago O'Hare International and another 200 at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International, according to FlightAware, which tracks flight disruptions.

Those disruptions came after more than 3,200 cancellations on Sunday.

Forecasters said the East Coast storms were expected leave sharply colder weather in its wake.

By Tuesday morning, wind chills below freezing were expected to reach the Gulf Coast and the Florida Panhandle, with warnings in effect across the Southeast and in parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas, forecasters warned.

To the north, rain was expected to change over to snow behind the cold front with heavy snow possible in the central Appalachians of West Virginia.

Caution urged as rain, snow, wind warnings blanket B.C.

Unrelenting rains triggered landslides and flooded homes and farmland in Hawaii over the weekend.

Some areas of Maui received more than 50 cm of rain, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said in a social media post.

Resident and real estate broker Jesse Wald, who recorded video of a coastal road's collapse, said parts of the road were flooded by mud and sediment.

"In the 20 years I've been here, I've never seen this much rain," he said.

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