Storm leads to 1,000 canceled flights in Texas as more snow heads east
By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) - Stormy weather coated parts of Texas and Oklahoma with ice on Saturday, canceling nearly 1,000 flights at the Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport, while more snow headed toward the already winter-weary Midwest and Northeast. Meteorologists said a storm moving east across the plains will bring a wide swath of 1-3 inches of snow into the Midwest, including Illinois and Kentucky, on Saturday night. The snow follows extreme cold, with Chicago hitting -10 F (-23 C) Saturday morning, an all-time record for the day. Snow was already falling Saturday afternoon in areas that do not usually see it, such as Arkansas and Oklahoma, said Alan Reppert, senior meteorologist for Accuweather.com. Heavier snow of about 6 inches to a foot is predicted for western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio on Sunday, Reppert said. New York could get up to 3 inches, while Boston, which has already suffered through more than 100 inches of snow this winter, could get another 7 inches, according to the National Weather Service. "The hits just keep coming there," Reppert said. Part of the snow-covered roof of a Massachusetts skating rink collapsed on Saturday as a youth hockey team was practicing, but no one was hurt, authorities said. Snow and freezing rain overnight made roads treacherous in the Dallas area on Saturday morning, but conditions were improving in the afternoon as temperatures rose, according to NWS meteorologist Jamie Gudmestad. Close to 1,000 incoming and outgoing flights were canceled at the Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport on Saturday, the most cancellations in the country, according to the flightaware.com website. Southern Illinois and Indiana also could see freezing rain on Saturday night. Reppert blamed the harsh late-winter weather on a strong jet stream bringing the storms into the Rocky Mountains and pushing them over the plains. (Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Bernard Orr)
