Winter brings snow, travel chaos to the East

Winter's last big push of the season is shaping up to be a monster, with freezing rain or snow stretching from North Texas to New Jersey, forcing thousands of canceled flights.

Some form of precipitation — snow, sleet, freezing rain or plain rain — will fall over most of the eastern third of the country, with the heaviest snow from the Ohio Valley to the Mid-Atlantic, where up to 10 inches is possible.

By 9 a.m. ET, more than 3,000 flights had been canceled nationwide, according to Flightaware.com.

The collision of cold air from the north with moisture from the south triggered winter storm warnings in Little Rock, Memphis, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington and New York City.

Below the front, Chattanooga, Roanoke, Va., Richmond, Va., and Raleigh, N.C., were under winter weather advisories.

North Texas got more than three inches of snow overnight, handing the Dallas-Fort Worth area its fourth highest snow total ever for the month of March. Some areas in the metropolitan area got six or more inches, with Grapevine, Texas, recording as much as seven inches.

From 5 to 19 inches of snow is expected from northeastern Kentucky and northern Virginia through southern New Jersey, most of Delaware, and Washington, D.C., Weatherbug.com reported. Memphis, New York City and southern New England could get 3 to 6 inches.

Federal offices were buttoned up in Washington, D.C., and most schools were shut.

Much of the South that escapes the snow will face a wintry mix and ice and sleet. Otherwise, rain and a few thunderstorms are likely along the Gulf Coast and the Southeast coast. Florida will stay hot and sunny.

Elsewhere, nearly the entire western half of the nation will be sunny and dry Thursday. Temperatures will be in the warm 70s in the Southwest and California.