Winter storm leaves large US region blanketed in snow

WASHINGTON

A major storm system that blanketed a large swathe of the central and eastern United States in snow and ice, disrupting travel for millions and contributing to at least five deaths, was headed offshore on Tuesday, forecasters said.

Over 2,300 U.S. flights were canceled on Jan. 6 with thousands more delayed amid the winter storm, tracking website FlightAware showed, compounding similar air travel headaches from the day before.

Meanwhile, nearly 200,000 customers remained without power from Missouri to Virginia as frigid temperatures settled in Jan. 6 night, according to Poweroutage.us, another tracking site.

The National Weather Service (NWS) said the event, the country's first major winter storm of the year, "will be quickly exiting eastward into the western Atlantic tonight," but that some small snowfall accumulations would continue to be possible in some mountainous and Mid-Atlantic areas.

Behind the storm, frigid temperatures are expected for days, with cities such as Kansas City expecting windchills below zero degrees Fahrenheit (-17 degrees Celsius).

In Washington, several inches of snow did not hinder Congress from meeting to certify Donald Trump's election victory, four years to the day after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to overturn his 2020 loss.

Many residents of the U.S. capital, where federal offices and schools were closed due to the storm, spent the day outside enjoying the semi-rare snow day, with hundreds even participating in a mass snowball fight.