Ice storms and freezing temperatures have left scores of flights grounded, many vehicles piled up in icy crashes and millions of people stranded in their homes and along roadways in the Midwest. Winter storm Dion is being blamed for the bad weather that is blanketing a large portion of the country. As of Monday morning, over 2,000 flights were canceled nationwide with another 6,000 being delayed due to ice.
In Chicago, temperatures on Monday are going to hover around 16 degrees and with winds of between 12 and 24 miles per hour, the wind chill will drop below zero, making it dangerous to be outside for long. Emergency officials in the Windy City are urging people planning to go the Bears vs Cowboys game at Solider Field this evening to take extra care to bundle up well. The Chicago area received a few inches of snow Sunday night, prompting snowplows to head out early before rush hour to clear snow and ice from city streets and area roadways.
Very cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills are gripping a large part of the West and Midwest. Winter Storm Dion is being forecast to produce sleet, freezing rain and snow in parts of the East on Monday. Dion is the fourth named winter storm of the 2013-14 season. The system dumped more snow and ice on some of the same areas affected by Winter Storm Cleon last week. This latest system is going to cause wintery weather in the Great Lakes area as well as the Northeast Monday. Dion first made an impact in Washington, California and Nevada over the weekend where it caused hundreds of delays and left thousands without power as it dumped snow, rain and sleet.
The National Weather Service reported that large accumulations of ice could occur Monday in portions of Virginia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. The NWS also said that unsafe road conditions could cause many accidents and traffic tie-ups in that area as well as in portions of the Midwest.
The arctic blast of cold air that brought with it snow and ice this weekend wreaked havoc on NFL fields and caused highway pileups Monday morning to disrupt commuters trying to make it to work. The wicked winter weather also knocked power out to thousands of homes and caused countless school closings and delays due to icy conditions. Even some federal agencies in the Washington DC area delayed opening times by two hours Monday due to the inclement weather.
Don Marks is the head of marketing and communications for Jarvis Property Restoration a leading disaster recovery contractor working in Michigan and helping customers with flood damage cleanup in Sterling Heights, winter weather related frozen pipes and ice dams that require water damage restoration and repair services. You can learn more online by visiting his Google+ page.