Thousands of flights canceled ahead of U.S. winter storm

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Almost 4,000 flights were canceled in the U.S. on Saturday ahead of a monster winter storm that has already cut power to thousands of utility customers as far west as Texas, and threatened to paralyze eastern states with heavy snowfall.

Forecasters said snow, sleet and freezing rain, accompanied by dangerously frigid temperatures, would sweep the eastern two-thirds of the nation on Sunday and into next week.

Calling the storms "historic," President Donald Trump on Saturday approved federal emergency disaster declarations in South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, and West Virginia.

"We will continue to monitor, and stay in touch with all States in the path of this storm. Stay Safe, and Stay Warm," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Several states and the District of Columbia have declared weather emergencies.

The U.S. National Weather Service warned of an unusually expansive and long-duration winter storm that will bring widespread, heavy ice accumulation in the southeast U.S. and cited "crippling to locally catastrophic impacts."

Weather service forecasters predicted record cold temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills descending further into the Great Plains region of the U.S. by Monday.

As of 5 p.m. EST, more than 3,900 U.S. flights scheduled for Saturday had been canceled, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. More than 8,800 U.S. flights originally set for Sunday also have been canceled, the website indicated.

Major U.S. airlines warned passengers to stay alert for abrupt flight changes and cancellations.

In an update on its website on Saturday morning, Delta said it “continues to make schedule adjustments due to Winter Storm Fern,” with additional cancellations in the morning for Atlanta and along the East Coast, including Delta hubs in Boston and New York City.

The airline said it was relocating experts from cold weather hubs to support de-icing and baggage teams at several southern airports.

U.S. electric grid operators on Saturday stepped up precautions to avoid rotating blackouts.

Dominion Energy D.N, whose Virginia operations include the largest collection of data centers in the world, said if its ice forecast holds, it could be among the largest ever winter events to affect the utility's operations.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Sergio Non and David Gregorio)

((phillip.stewart@thomsonreuters.com; 1-202-898-8398; Reuters Messaging: phillip.stewart.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net/))