Photos Show Extreme Winter Weather Battering The U.S.
Bone-chilling temperatures, blankets of snow and powerful stormwaters have descended on much of the United States, adding to the chaos of one of the busiest travel weeks of the year.
Few places in the U.S. have been spared by the harsh winter weather, which has spanned from coast to coast and includes white-out blizzard conditions throughout the Midwest, powerful storm surges in the Northeast, massive power outages in Texas and staggering temperature drops in the Mountain West.
On Friday, about 60% of the U.S. was under a winter weather advisory or warning, and at least 10,000 flights had been canceled or delayed, forcing many to ditch holiday plans.
Take a look at the effect the wet and icy weather has had across the country.
Vapor rises off Lake Michigan on Friday, obscuring Chicago's Centennial Wheel. Temperatures hovered around -8 degrees. Wind chill temperatures may dip as low as -40 degrees overnight.
Charles Zajicek uses a power sweeper to clear snow off the sidewalk Thursday in downtown Minneapolis. The Twin Cities saw 8 inches of snow Wednesday.
Rows of headstones at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery are blanketed by snow Thursday.
A shopper is surrounded by blowing snow in Ashtabula, Ohio, on Friday.
Lake Erie waters wash over the shoreline Friday in Hamburg, New York, where wind gusts of over 70 miles per hour are expected.
Mike Palmquist's beard freezes Thursday in downtown Minneapolis.
Vapor rises from a frosty Lake Michigan near downtown Chicago on Thursday.
Lake Michigan vapor creates an eerie scene in Milwaukee on Thursday.
Andres Garduno and his son Matteo Jimenez Garduno, both from Mexico, have a snowball fight during the winter storm at Chicago's Millennium Park ice rink on Thursday.
James Garofalo of Colorado Springs, Colorado, lies down at Denver International Airport on Thursday after his flight and more than 500 others at the airport were canceled.
A pedestrian in St. Louis uses a blanket to fend off the sub-freezing cold Thursday.
In Westport, Massachusetts, on Friday, a truck clears piles of stones blown ashore by a storm surge.
A family bundled up in winter clothes makes their way across the street in Buffalo, New York, on Friday after stocking up on supplies at the grocery store.
An information panel shows numerous canceled flights and delays at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on Thursday.
A motorist drives through a flooded street in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on Thursday.
Workers de-ice an American Airlines plane Thursday as high winds whip around 7.5 inches of new snow at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
A snowed-in car is left parked in downtown Minneapolis on Thursday.
A delivery truck drives through floodwaters on the Portland, Maine, waterfront on Friday.
A pedestrian uses cross-country skis to navigate a sidewalk in Bellingham, Washington, early Tuesday morning.
Members of the Templo de Celebration of Decatur, Texas, hand out food and warm drinks Friday outside a warming center in Fort Worth.
