Snowstorm Slams Midwest, New England

Get ready for some travel delays. An intense winter storm pummeled the Upper Midwest and New England on Wednesday, closing hundreds of schools and canceling flights as it moved eastward. The National Weather Service warned of "extremely dangerous blizzard conditions" and near-whiteout driving conditions in parts of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, where gusts up to 50 mph could create snow drifts 8 to 15 feet high. On Tuesday, hundreds of flights out of O'Hare International Airport in Chicago were canceled, along with all flights out of Ceder Rapids, Iowa. Northern New York and parts of New England are expecting up to a foot of snow, while areas near the Great Lakes may receive as many as 36 inches by week's end. The storm is the same one that drenched California, dumped snow the mountain West, and whipped up 100-mph winds in New Mexico earlier this week.