Texas: As a large section of the United States braced for a massive winter storm that was likely to put millions of Americans in the path of heavy snow and freezing rain, airlines cancelled hundreds of flights, governors warned residents to stay off the roads, and schools closed their doors.

A large stretch of states from New Mexico to Vermont were placed under winter storm warnings and watches as a result of the approaching blast of chilly weather, which was due to arrive Tuesday night. Following a violent nor'easter that delivered blizzard conditions to several parts of the East Coast last weekend, more than a foot of snow was expected in Michigan.

Marty Rausch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland, said, "It will be a very nasty system that will make travel very difficult."

The storm's forecasted path reached as far south as Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott defended the state's preparedness nearly a year after a disastrous freeze crippled the state's electrical grid, resulting in one of the worst blackouts in US history. The prediction does not call for the same lengthy and bitterly cold temperatures as the storm in February 2021, and the National Weather Service has predicted that the approaching cyclone will be less severe this time around for Texas.

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