Huge System Stretches From Gulf To Northeast

A sprawling winter weather system streching from the Gulf of Mexico north and east to the Great Lakes and New England is wreaking havoc with US air travel on Tuesday.

Storms across southern Louisianna spawned at least one tornado near New Orleans overnight Monday, while the central plains states and Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and parts of Kentucky and Ohio were hit Monday and Tuesday with a good old-fashioned snow storm.

Bob Oravec with the US National Weather Service's Hydrometeorological Prediction Center in Camp Springs, MD told Bloomberg, "We expect a pretty broad area of heavy snow. By tomorrow, the storm will spread out across from the mid- Mississippi Valley into the Midwest and then into part of the northeastern states -- Pennsylvania and upstate New York."

Marshall, KS on the Nebraska border was reporting 12 inces of snow through 02:00 local, while parts of Iowa and Illinois were showing two inches.

Forecasters say northern and central Illinois and Indiana may get as much as seven inches overall today. American Airlines and United Airlines have already cancelled hundreds of flights at O'Hare on Tuesday. Delta and Comair were already cancelling flights Monday in Cincinnati and expect to cancel up to 130 flights today. Dozens of flight were cancelled in Saint Louis as well, although the runways remain open.

Airports east of the storm are already gearing up for the weather and coming flight delays and cancellations.

A band of ice at the southern edge of the storm could generate significant accumulations snapping trees and downing powerlines throughout Virginia and into southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey according to the National Weather Service.

The storm has sparked weather warnings in 20 states.

Unfortunately, the system is also expected to bring more snow to an already innundated upstate New York still buried under as much as 146 inches of lake-effect snow that's fallen since February 3.

All in all, unless you live out west, the next couple of days look like good ones to spend inside next to the fire with a glass of brandy. Certainly if you intend to do any flying get a thorough preflight weather briefing.

FMI: www.nws.noaa.gov