Severe weather

A major winter storm has caused the cancellation of over 1,500 flights in states around the Great Lakes region.
Airports in the Chicago area experienced the most cancellations on March 15, according to flight tracker FlightAware.
As of 5:30 p.m. ET, Chicago O’Hare International Airport had over 780 canceled flights coming into and out of the United States on Sunday, as Chicago Midway Airport had over 100.
Dozens of fights to and from the Windy City were also cancelled for Monday.
Minneapolis/St Paul International Airport had the second most number of cancellations in the United States on Sunday, with over 660 flights being cut.
Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport also experienced dozens of cancellations.
SkyWest, which has hubs in Chicago and Minneapolis, experienced over 520 cancellations on Sunday.
Delta Airlines, which has hubs in Detroit and Minneapolis, had over 420 cancellations on Sunday.
Snow was predicted to fall between one and three inches per hour from South Dakota to northern Michigan, according to the National Weather Service.
The spring storm caused local schools and the State of Michigan’s non-essential facilities to shut down on Monday as locals braced for whiteout conditions.
“Please avoid unnecessary travel over the next couple [of] days if possible,” Michigan State Patrol urged in a post on X. “If you must travel, carry winter emergency supplies.”
The spring blast could drop up to three feet of snow across Wisconsin and Michigan.
Locals in the area also needed to brace for strong wind gusts of up to 60 mph and even freezing rain in lower Michigan.
Michiganders in the lower part of the state also needed to brace for a “widespread damaging wind event with some tornado threat” Sunday afternoon and evening, as severe weather was forecast from northeast Texas to southwest Lower Michigan.
The NWS suggested parts of the middle Mississippi Valley into the lower Ohio Valley has the greatest risk of severe weather in the evening and overnight hours.
The storm is expected to continue through the Northeast on Monday as an “anomalously early heatwave begins to intensify across the western U.S.,” the NWS added.
“New York, sustained rain and wind could come as early as tonight and stay through to Tuesday — with the potential for flooding in stretches of the city,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani warned on March 15 as he urged millions in his city to be careful and expect travel delays.