Huge winter storm slams U.S. Midwest, Northeast
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A huge winter storm pummelled the United States, bringing parts of the Midwest to a standstill, delivering another wintry swipe to the Northeast and disrupting flights and other transport.
The storm, touching some 30 states and a third of the U.S. population, stretched from New Mexico to Maine and included another blast of winter in New York City.
Chicago was set to get its biggest snowfall in more than 40 years.
Power was cut to hundreds of thousands of people.
An ice storm wreaked havoc on the morning commute in and around New York City, where roads and sidewalks were treacherously slippery.
The heavily used commuter rail service between New Jersey and New York was suspended due to ice buildup on the overhead power lines, authorities said.
"The weather could prevent traders from getting to their desks, and with fewer traders there will be less volume, and that means greater volatility," said Kim Caughey Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.
But the huge storm delivered its strongest punch to the Midwest, dumping as much as three inches (7.6 cm) of snow an hour on Chicago during most of the night along with winds of up to 40 miles per hour (65 kph).
More snow was expected on Wednesday, with Chicago forecast to top 20 inches (50 cm) by the end of the day.
Some traders at the world's largest futures exchange, the CME Group in Chicago, stayed overnight in hotels so they could get to work on time.
CBOT's open-outcry trade opening was delayed by 30 minutes from the normal time of 9:30 a.m. (1530 GMT), but Globex electronic trading will open at the normal 9:30 a.m. time, said Chris Grams, CME Group associate director of Corporate Communications.
Some 17 inches (43 cm) of snow had fallen on Chicago by early Wednesday morning and snowfalls of a foot (30 cm) or more were recorded from Oklahoma City to Kansas City and Indianapolis.
Thousands of airline passengers were stranded across the country after major airlines cancelled more than 5,000 flights in advance of the storm. There were more flight cancellations on Wednesday.
"Weather-related stocks like airlines may suffer due to the weather conditions but that's stating the obvious," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York.
More than 300,000 customers were without power from Texas to Ohio.
Several major interstate highways in the Plains and Midwest were closed and a state of emergency was declared across the region.
Major railroads, including Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Norfolk Southern, which transport commodities across the United States, said snow and ice was slowing their ability to operate.
"The impact is widespread just as the weather conditions are," said BNSF spokesman Steven Forsberg.
'HISTORIC STORM' IN CHICAGO
Chicago's Lake Shore Drive along Lake Michigan was closed as snow drifted over the road.
The third biggest city in the United States could end up with the largest snowfall since 1967, city officials said.
"We will continue to do everything we can to protect the safety of the residents of this city as we deal with the impact of this historic storm," Chicago city chief of staff Ray Orozco told an early morning news conference.
In the Northeast, already facing a wintry mix of snow and sleet, the storm was expected to dump 12-18 inches (30-45 cm) of snow on Boston through Wednesday.
As the blizzard moved northeast, a dangerous deep freeze followed in its wake from Montana and the mountain states through the Plains and south to Oklahoma.
The storm was expected to wreak havoc on agricultural operations in the Plains states, threatening the dormant winter wheat crop, cattle herds and grain deliveries.
Chicago soybean futures rose more than 1 percent early on Tuesday, hitting their highest level since July 2008 as the frigid winter storm boosted feed demand.
STORM ALSO HITS CANADA
The storm that froze the U.S. Midwest in its tracks lost a lot of its force in Canada, but it still sparked snowfall warnings from the maritime provinces along the east coast through to Niagara falls, in the central province of Ontario.
In Toronto, where forecasters had predicted the worst storm in at least two years, only 10 cm (3.9 inches) of snow had fallen by the morning and the storm was expected to abate by the afternoon.
"It's a slower than usual day, but operationally things are going well," said Scott Armstrong, a spokesman for the Toronto Airport Authority.
He said that at Toronto's Pearson International Airport some 300 flights were cancelled out of the 1,200 scheduled for the day, most of those going to and coming from major U.S. cities east of Chicago.
SPRING AROUND THE CORNER?
But -- for those who believe in such things -- a rodent predicted on Wednesday that a particularly tough winter will be over soon.
The most famous groundhog in the United States, Punxsutawney Phil, emerged from a tree stump at dawn and, unusually, did not see his shadow, signalling that spring is just around the corner, according to tradition.
The rodent's "prognostication" each February 2 is an annual tradition that was brought to the United States by German immigrants, and is now watched by thousands of people who trek to a hillside called Gobbler's Knob each year to witness the ceremony.
If the groundhog is judged to see its shadow, tradition holds that there will be six more weeks of winter.
(Additional reporting by Jon Hurdle in Philadelphia, Ryan Vlastelica and Ellen Wulfhorst in New York and Pav Jordan in Toronto; Writing by Greg McCune; Editing by Frances Kerry)