SUMMARY
The United States was buffeted by heavy snow on Thursday as residents braced for an upcoming winter storm and disappointment loomed large for holiday travellers. Frigid air is moving through the central US to the east, with windchill advisories affecting about 135 million people in the coming days, the Met office said. A state of emergency has been declared in New York and South Dakota.
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Information signs are seen at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Thursday. Frigid air is moving through the central United States to the east, with windchill advisories affecting about 135 million people over the coming days, weather service meteorologist Ashton Robinson Cook said on Thursday. (Image: AP)
2 / 12Snow begins to fall in the city of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, as an unidentified person uses an umbrella for protection on Thursday. (Image: AP)
3 / 12A dog walker named Courtney walks with her dogs near Lake of the Isles on Thursday in Minneapolis. (Image: AP)
4 / 12A Canada goose is about to land on a pond at Pioneer Park in Walla Walla, Washington, on Thursday. (Image: AP)
5 / 12A person wrapped in a blanket crosses a snow-covered street on Thursday in St Louis. The frigid air is moving through the central United States to the east, with windchill advisories affecting about 135 million people over the coming days, weather service meteorologist Ashton Robinson Cook said on Thursday. (Image: AP)
6 / 12A local resident clears a sidewalk on Thursday in Urbandale, Iowa. (Image: AP)
7 / 12A man spreads cracked corn for ducks in Walla Walla, Washington, on Thursday. (Image: AP)
8 / 12A United Express plane is de-iced on Thursday at Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee. A winter storm watch is in effect Thursday night through Friday night with dangerously cold air and wind gust up to 50 mph, according to the National Weather Service. (Image: AP)
9 / 12Vehicles travel along Interstate 44 as snow begins to fall and temperatures drop on Thursday in St Louis. (Image: AP)
10 / 12A local resident shovels snow off the end of a driveway on Thursday in Urbandale, Iowa. Temperatures plunged far and fast on Thursday as a winter storm formed ahead of Christmas weekend, promising heavy snow, ice, flooding and powerful winds across a broad swath of the country and complicating holiday travel. (Image: AP)
11 / 12Traffic and snow maintenance vehicles share the roadway as a traffic sign cautions drivers about the conditions along State Highway 14/18 in Madison, Wisconsin, on Thursday. (Image: AP)
12 / 12A Chicago Transit Authority train arrives at the Roosevelt train station as the leading edge of a winter storm begins in Chicago on Thursday. (Image: AP)
