DALLAS – Freezing rain coated parts of Texas with ice on Monday, leading to hundreds of cancelled flights and a delay in the “American Sniper” murder trial.
Elsewhere, arctic air and snow in parts of New England and New York made for a cold, dangerous commute. More broadly, temperatures are expected to be 25 to 30 degrees below normal across much of the country, said National Weather Service forecaster Jim Hayes.
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Here’s what’s happening:
SLIPPERY SOUTH
Up to an inch of ice was possible in parts of North Texas, where more than 900 flights in and out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport were cancelled Monday morning. The weather also prompted at least a daylong delay in the trial of the former Marine accused of fatally shooting former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, whose memoir, “American Sniper,” was the basis for the Oscar-nominated movie.
Winter storm warnings and advisories also have been posted in parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
CHILL IN THE AIR
Wind chills are forecast to dive below zero in northern parts of the U.S. starting Monday afternoon. The weather service says the wind chill in Bennington, Vermont, could drop to 17 below zero, while Lake Placid, New York, could see minus 30.
In Michigan, actual temperatures dipped to 10 degrees below zero in Saginaw, Bay City and Midland, breaking the area’s record of minus 2.
Meanwhile, the Great Lakes are going the way of Niagara Falls: They’re freezing over. Lake Erie is nearly totally frozen, and Lakes Huron and Superior are nearly 80 percent frozen, the New York Daily News reports.
ALL ABOARD
Boston’s transit agency is slowly returning to normal after a series of crippling snowstorms and low temperatures. Most subway and trolley branches had service restored Sunday just in time for the Monday morning commute and buses were running on a regular weekday schedule, though riders may see delays. Commuter rail passengers also were told to expect delays and cancellations.
WINTER DANGERS
A man was killed Sunday when he fell through a snow-covered skylight on the roof of a building in Canton, Massachusetts. In rural western Pennsylvania, a man and a woman were found dead in the snow outside their home Sunday afternoon, but their causes of death weren’t immediately clear. In Texas, a 31-year-old Amarillo man died Sunday when he lost control of his car on icy Interstate 27.
No one was injured when chunks of ice described as the size of end tables slid off the roof of a five-story building in Portland, Maine, and crashed through the front and rear windows of an unoccupied car Sunday.
The cold also is leaving some homes without running water. Numerous water main breaks and leaks have been reported in suburban Washington, D.C., with 75 broken mains needing repair on Sunday alone.
MESSY COMMUTES
Snow made for difficult driving conditions Monday along numerous highways in northern and eastern New Mexico, while Colorado’s lawmakers were told to stay at home.
A much-needed winter soaking flooded some Southern California streets and dampened the red carpet at the Academy Awards on Sunday. The rain let up around sunrise on Monday, but more showers were expected.
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