Major winter storm bears down on much of U.S.

Nearly 12,000 flights are canceled as forecasters warn of heavy snow and ice.

- By THOMAS PEIPERT, JEFF AMY AND DAVE COLLINS

A PLOW WORKS to clear Markham Street in Little Rock, Ark., which was covered with sleet and snow.

(WILL NEWTON Getty Images)

Almost 12,000 flights across the U.S. set to take off over the weekend were canceled as a monster storm started to wreak havoc Saturday across much of the country and threatened to knock out power for days and snarl major roadways with dangerous ice.

Roughly 140 million people, or more than 40% of the U.S. population, were under a winter storm warning from New Mexico to New England. The National Weather Service forecast warned of widespread heavy snow and a band of catastrophic ice stretching from east Texas to North Carolina. By midday Saturday, a quarter of an inch of ice was reported in parts of southeastern Oklahoma, eastern Texas and portions of Louisiana.

“What really makes this storm unique is, just following this storm, it’s just going to get so cold,” said Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “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.”

Governors in more than a dozen states sounded the alarm about the turbulent weather ahead, declaring emergencies or urging people to stay home.

“Please use these final hours to be prepared, to make sure that you have blankets and warmth and food to make it through this storm,” Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger said Saturday at a news conference. “And every Virginian should stay off the road as of this evening, all day Sunday, and at least into the morning on Monday.”

Snow covered mostly empty highways in the suburbs north of Dallas. Ice and sleet that hit northern Texas overnight moved toward the central part of the state on Saturday. By midmorning Saturday, ice had formed on roads and bridges in a third of Mississippi’s counties.