Schools closed as Arctic blast slams South with snow, over 2,000 flights canceled

(NEW YORK) — Over 2,000 flights have been canceled Monday, with airports in Denver, Dallas, Houston and Chicago hit the hardest, as a major winter storm unleashes heavy snow and ice across the South.

Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama have already gotten 4 to 6 inches of snowfall, and more is on the way.

Major cities in the snowstorm’s path for Monday include San Antonio; Little Rock, Arkansas; Memphis, Tennessee; and Nashville, Tennessee.

Near Houston, an 18-wheeler overturned due to ice on a freeway, shutting down traffic in both directions, according to ABC Houston station KTRK.

Schools will be closed Tuesday in Little Rock and Nashville due to the weather.

The snow will keep falling in the South throughout Monday, with an icy mix moving into southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and northern Georgia at night. Drivers should be on the lookout for slick roads through Tuesday morning.

Record cold settles into Texas, much of the Heartland

Meanwhile, the Heartland is seeing record-low temperatures. All-time-lows could be recorded Monday in Sioux City, Iowa; Kansas City, Missouri; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Waco, Texas; Austin, Texas; and Dallas.

Winds are expected to make the already chilly temperatures feel even colder on Monday. The National Weather Service has issued wind chill alerts for 26 states, from the U.S.-Canada border in Montana to the Rio Grande in Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The record cold is forecast to linger over the next couple days for the central U.S. and the Deep South, from Nebraska to Texas and east to Mississippi.

Then, after a brief moderation in wind chills, another cold blast is expected to hit the nation at the end of the week. The wind chill — what the temperature feels like — is forecast to drop below zero degrees in Chicago by Thursday and Friday.

The cold blast is moving into the Northeast on Monday. Temperatures are in the teens and lower 20s, marking the chilliest day of the season from Washington, D.C., to New York to Boston.

Snow on the way for the Northeast, including Philadelphia and New York City

Snow and some ice is forecast from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia, New York City and Boston Monday night into Tuesday. Some areas could see 1 to 3 inches of snow.

The frigid air is also helping produce lake-effect snow in western New York.

So far, up to 27 inches of snow fell just south of Buffalo, New York, with up to a foot of snow accumulating in the city.

The Buffalo Bills were set to host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, but the game was pushed to 4:30 p.m. Monday because Sunday’s intense snowfall made driving nearly impossible.

On Monday morning, the Bills were still looking for volunteers to help shovel snow from the stadium.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz warned that many seats may still be covered in snow by game time.

The heaviest snow is ending in Buffalo, but the National Weather Service has issued another winter storm watch for the city for Tuesday night into Thursday, with the possibility of 2 to 3 feet of snowfall.

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