Snow shuts down Washington

The American capital was Monday shut down again as yet another winter storm pounded the region. The weatherman forecast rain, ice and 8-12 inches of snow.

All federal offices in Washington were closed, while the US Congress postponed business until Tuesday and public school systems from Dallas to Philadelphia cancelled Monday's classes.

About 2,000 flights were cancelled for Monday, with the heaviest impact to Washington's Reagan National, Philadelphia International, Baltimore-Washington International, and New York's LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International, according to Flightaware.com.

Delaware, Virginia, Tennessee and some other states declared states of emergency as the third major storm of the winter hit the region and Amtrak, the US railway, cut service around Wilmington, Delaware, CNN reported.

The storm started out from California where it dumped rain causing dangerous mudslides.

It then moved east and delivered dangerous weather to places unfazed by typical winters.

Extremely low temperatures hit the Northern Plains, Upper Midwest and Great Lakes again.

Snow fell Sunday on Indianapolis, Louisville and St. Louis, where the weather caused numerous wrecks, CNN reported.

Power outages were reported in Arkansas; Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisville in Kentucky.