Chaotic weather coast to coast in the U.S. — from unusual heat in California to damaging winds around Washington, D.C. — put more than 100 million people in the path of extreme conditions on Monday.
Storms across the nation’s eastern half forced airlines to cancel more than 4,000 flights nationwide by noon ET on Monday, according to FlightAware, with another 5,000 facing delays, as air travel was already facing slowdowns due to the effects of a partial federal government shutdown.
Many schools closed early in the mid-Atlantic states, where high winds and tornadoes were in the forecast.
More than 266,000 homes and businesses were without power on Monday as severe storms battered the U.S. Midwest and mid-Atlantic region, according to data from PowerOutage.us.
Blizzards buried parts of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, while torrential rains flooded homes and washed out roads in Hawaii.
In Washington, the House of Representatives postponed votes because of difficulty travelling with inclement weather.
Airport delays and cancellations could pile up Monday in some of the nation’s largest airports —including those in Washington, New York and Chicago.
The departures board at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport can be seen on Monday, with many cancellations and delayed departures as travellers wait in long lines. The disruption is due to the continuing government shutdown and inclement weather that hit the East Coast this morning. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)
“This is what happens in March and April,” said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“It’s a clash in the air masses. Winter, not wanting to let go from the North, and then obviously the sun’s getting a little stronger, it’s warming up in the South.”
High winds, tornado risks
The storm system that dropped snow by the foot in the Midwest is barrelling toward the East Coast with dangerously high winds and potential for “producing strong and long-track tornadoes,” the weather service warned on Monday.
A satellite view of an extreme weather system affecting much of the eastern U.S. on Monday. (Nationa Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
“Today, it’s the wind that’s really the threat,” said Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini.
A stretch from parts of South Carolina to Maryland appeared most likely to experience the greatest damaging winds Monday afternoon, the weather service said.
That could include Raleigh, N.C., Richmond, Va., and the nation’s capital.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein urged residents to enable emergency alerts on their phones ahead of expected wind gusts topping 112 km/h.
Beyond the threat to lives and property, “whether it’s wind gusts from a squall line, blizzard or snow, or just wind because of the storm, you’re looking at several major airports being impacted,” said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tyler Roys.
WATCH | Heavy snow leaves Sudbury, Ont., road impassable:
Some Sudbury side streets nearly impassible amid winter storm
Some drivers in Sudbury are having a tough time getting going on Monday morning as many side streets have not been plowed and are nearly impassable.
Midwest states see big snowfall
Blizzard conditions persisted Monday in parts of Wisconsin and Michigan, where the storm brought as much as 60 cm of snow by morning.
Additional snowfall of 30 to 50 cm was expected in upper Michigan, along with gusty winds, on Monday, the National Weather Service said.
More than 120,000 homes and businesses were without power by Monday afternoon, representing about 2.4 per cent of the state’s 5.1 million customers, according to the PowerOutage.us data.
Lower snow accumulations in places such as Chicago and Milwaukee were expected to create trouble for commuters on Monday, Roys said.
Jim Allen, 45, who lives on the Upper Peninsula, said his family stocked up on necessities.
“We’re basically prepared to just kind of hunker down for a few days if we need to,” he said.
The thousands of flights cancelled nationwide early Monday included more than 350 at Chicago O’Hare International and another 200 at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International, according to FlightAware, which tracks flight disruptions.
Those disruptions came after more than 3,200 cancellations on Sunday.
Travellers wait in long lines and lay on the floor at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on March 16, 2026. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)Temperatures to plummet after storm
Forecasters said the East Coast storms were expected leave sharply colder weather in its wake.
By Tuesday morning, wind chills below freezing were expected to reach the Gulf Coast and the Florida Panhandle, with warnings in effect across the Southeast and in parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas, forecasters warned.
To the north, rain was expected to change over to snow behind the cold front with heavy snow possible in the central Appalachians of West Virginia.
WATCH | Weather warnings across B.C. as atmospheric river hits province:
Caution urged as rain, snow, wind warnings blanket B.C.
An atmospheric river is targeting the entire B.C. coast starting Sunday, with officials warning of rapidly rising streams and rivers. As the CBC’s Janella Hamilton reports, rescue crews are already heeding warnings to stay away from waterways.
Heat wave hitting western states
A heat dome over the Southwest will push temperatures well into the triple digits in Arizona most of the week, much earlier than the region usually sees.
Much of California is starting to feel like summer, too. The San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento will see temperatures pushing toward 32 C by mid-week.
“This is a heat wave that we have not seen before in recorded history in the Southwest,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Dan DePodwin.
People shield themselves from the heat with umbrellas while waiting at a food distribution site in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Parts of southern California and other southwestern states, which have already recorded high temperatures in recent days, are facing extreme heat advisories this week. (Damian Dovarganes/The Associated Press)
Phoenix is expected to have five straight days of triple-digit temperatures this week. Only once before, in 1988, has the city recorded a 37.8 C day in March, DePodwin said.
Meanwhile, dry and windy conditions were charging the largest wildfire in Nebraska’s history. Fires in the state have consumed more than 2,428 square kilometres of mostly grassland.
Heavy rains, landslides in Hawaii
Unrelenting rains triggered landslides and flooded homes and farmland in Hawaii over the weekend.
Some areas of Maui received more than 50 cm of rain, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said in a social media post.
Resident and real estate broker Jesse Wald, who recorded video of a coastal road’s collapse, said parts of the road were flooded by mud and sediment.
“In the 20 years I’ve been here, I’ve never seen this much rain,” he said.
People gather near a collapsed road following severe storms on the island of Maui on Sunday, near the community of Weilea, Hawaii. (Athena Walsh/The Associated Press)