Discovery News
A major snowstorm
hit the Midwest on Monday, wreaking havoc on ground and air travel,
and forcing officials in many regions to close schools. The storm
was the most severe to hit the Chicago area in almost two years.
By the mid-morning
on Monday, the storm had dumped a band of snow from eastern Nebraska
to western Illinois. Temperatures fell to below freezing as far
south as Texas. In North Dakota, wind chills plunged to -51 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Both Midway
and O'Hare airports in Chicago were forced to cancel almost 75
percent of departing flights, disrupting air travel throughout
the country. One commercial aircraft slid off an ice-covered runway
shortly after landing at O'Hare, while a Boeing 737 slid from
a runway at Kansas City International Airport, but there were
no reports of injuries from either incident.
Icy roads
caused hundreds of accidents in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.
In the town of Denmark, Wisc., the icy conditions caused two school
buses to collide, sending several children to a hospital with
minor injuries.
Meteorologists
predicted that conditions would become more bitter due to cold
arctic air expected to blow in from the Canadian Prairies.
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