Winter weather causes chaos in the US

Blizzards and icy conditions affected a large part of the US this weekend as winter storms moved across the country. The area which stretched from northern Texas to the Mid-Atlantic States saw snow-covered roads, dozens of car accidents and extensive travel delays.

More than 2,500 flights were cancelled nationwide on Sunday and at the height of the storm, icing knocked out power lines leaving 267,000 customers without power.

In Texas, near freezing temperatures and heavy snow created an icy nightmare on the roads and in the air. More than 400 flights were cancelled at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. At the same time, more than 100,000 households lost power in Texas and Arkansas.

As the storm moved east it left a thick blanket of snow across a number of states. Wilmington, Delaware saw 22cm of snow, whilst Medford, New Jersey had a covering of 24cm. Washington DC also witnessed its first accumulations of the season and there was dusting of snow over the statue of Nelson Madela in front of the South African embassy.

The Arctic chill was so widespread that western states were also affected. The record breaking cold weather was felt in Washington, Nevada, California and beyond. The overnight temperature in Jordan, Montana plunged to a new low of minus 41 Celsius on Sunday morning.

In California the wintry snowstorms dumped five to ten centimetres of snow in the city of Auburn before the snow, sleet and record breaking low temperatures steadily moved east.