Wintry mess rolls East as big US travel day looms

Doug Stanglin and Doyle Rice in USA Today: A major, fast-moving winter storm stalking the East is bringing freezing temperatures, snow and sleet Tuesday from the Appalachians to New England and is on track to create delays at major East Coast airports at peak Thanksgiving travel time.

The system is expected to produce heavy rain along the East Coast from Atlanta through Boston, with sleet and freezing rain farther inland, from the Mid-Atlantic and along most of the Appalachians.

While moving quickly as it rolls out of the nation's midsection, the timing puts it smack on the East Coast as travelers head out for the holiday.

The stretch of wintry weather includes some of the country's busiest airports — New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Boston and Charlotte, N.C.

Only about 60 flights had been canceled nationwide as of 10 a.m. ET Tuesday, according to FlightStats. A few dozen delays were being reported at a handful of big airports – though nothing that would be considered extreme by winter-weather standards....

Denver International Airport after a 2006 snowfall, shot by ashleyniblock, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license