More than 2,000 flights were canceled, with about 10,000 others delayed, and two airports in Houston, Texas, suspended flight operations.
A rare winter storm that hit Mexico and the southern United States led to the closure of highways, the suspension of flights and the cancellation of classes for millions of students.
Heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain are expected as a blast of arctic air plunges much of the Midwest and Eastern United States into bitter cold.
The storm triggered the first blizzard warnings for several coastal counties near the Texas-Louisiana border.
More than 2,000 flights were canceled, with about 10,000 others delayed, and two airports in Houston, Texas, suspended flight operations.
Nearly all flights were canceled at New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport, although officials said the airport would remain open “as long as conditions are safe.”
Most airlines plan to resume normal operations on Wednesday.
Also in northern Mexico, where there are negative temperatures, the storm brought snow, hail and freezing rain, according to the National Meteorological Service (SMN).
The agency predicted minimum temperatures below minus 15 degrees in Chihuahua, Baja California, and minus 10 degrees in the mountainous areas of Sonora, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon, all states that border the United States.
Low temperatures affected the capital of Coahuila, Saltillo, and the capital of Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, the largest city in northern Mexico and the second most populous in the country.
The state’s Civil Protection reported that there was hail in the municipalities of Iturbide, Anahuac, Galeana, General Teran and in the mountains of Santiago and Chipinque Park in San Pedro Garza Garcia, the last two in the Monterrey metropolitan area.
Due to the presence of ice, the highway to Laredo, at the height of the Mamulique slope, was closed in both directions.
Due to the low temperatures, the governor, Samuel Garcia, announced last Friday that school attendance would be optional between Monday and Wednesday.
Mexico’s Ministry of Education recorded just 10% attendance in classrooms on Monday.
Winter storm warnings stretched from Texas to North Carolina, with heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain forecast to move east across the region by Wednesday.
A state of emergency was declared Monday night in at least a dozen New York counties as heavy snow is forecast around Lake Ontario and Lake Erie through Wednesday – with 30 to 60 centimeters – along with extremely low temperatures.
Before the storm, the governors of Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama declared states of emergency and many school systems canceled classes.
“The last time we saw snow of this magnitude was in 1960, and before that, the previous snowfall record, which remains today, was in 1895. By modern standards, this is going to be a historic and very memorable storm for this part in the world”, meteorologist Donald Jones.
