Snow and ice storms across the United States have made it difficult for holiday travelers to reach their destinations.
Many
people were stranded overnight at the main O'Hare airport in Chicago,
in the midwestern state of Illinois Tuesday and Wednesday, after
airlines canceled hundreds of flights due to snowy conditions.
Adding
to the trouble, an American Airlines plane at the Chicago airport slid
off the runway late Wednesday after hitting an icy patch. Officials say
no one was injured.
On the other side of the country, severe
winter weather forced the governor of the northwestern U.S. state of
Washington to declare a state of emergency on Wednesday.
The
governor said snowfall has reached record or near-record levels in 30
of Washington's 39 counties. She said many areas in the state are
expecting more than 30 centimeters (one foot) of additional snow later
this week.
The weather has also made road travel difficult.
Slick and snowy conditions have led to a number of fatal car accidents
across the United States.
The storms also hurt train and bus
travel, and delayed flights at airports in the eastern states of New
York and New Jersey and the western states of California and Washington.
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
