Large amounts of snow are falling across a belt from South Dakota to New York, causing traffic accidents as well as many canceled flights.
During the busy Thanksgiving travel weekend, nearly 5,000 flights were delayed or canceled on Saturday, according to NBC News . The numbers for Sunday appear to be only marginally better.
The worst hit was Chicago's major airport, O'Hare, where over 1,000 flights were canceled on Saturday alone.
The snowfall in the region reached record levels. On Saturday, just over 21 centimeters of snow fell in Chicago, and according to the weather agency NWS, the city has never before received so much snow on a November day. It not only affected aviation, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, 500 car accidents were reported in Chicago in one day.
The weather has also caused havoc elsewhere. In the state of Indiana, police are reporting a pileup involving 45 cars, but no serious injuries. And in Des Moines, Iowa, a passenger plane skidded off the runway due to icy conditions. There were no serious injuries reported there either.
