Mid-Atlantic Storm Brings Flight Delays, Cancellations

Power companies scrambled to restore electricity to homes before the next wave of snow arrives. Monday night, there were still about 20,000 customers without power in Maryland's Montgomery County, which includes Bethesda, Rockville and Potomac. There were also pockets of Virginia still without electricity.

Many tree branches and power lines are already covered in heavy snow. This storm could push them to break, creating new outages.

Amtrak, which had also just gotten rail operations back to normal, may have to reduce service on some lines.

"The best recommendation I can make is that once this thing starts, stay home until the plows come back," Korty said.

In Virginia alone, the state police responded to 1,921 traffic crashes and 2,098 disabled vehicles during the three-day period of the last storm. Troopers there are already gearing up for this storm.

At Chicago O'Hare International Airport, airlines preemptively canceled more than 600 flights Monday night into Tuesday morning, according to Gregg Cunningham, a spokesman for Chicago's Department of Aviation. Across town, at Midway International Airport, Southwest Airlines canceled all flights beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday through 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

Given the conditions in Chicago, flight tracking company FlightAware said that United Airlines and American Airlines -- both of which operate major hubs there -- are going to face the challenge of preventing the delays and cancellations in Chicago from affecting their worldwide system. As the storm moves closer to New York, Continental Airlines could be similarly impacted at its hub in New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport.