By — Nicole Ellis Nicole Ellis By — Harry Zahn Harry Zahn Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/across-the-u-s-a-sprawling-winter-storm-brings-snow-ice-and-tornadoes Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio Crews and residents across the Midwest are digging their way out as a sprawling winter storm pushes further across the country. Some places have reported over a foot of snow, creating dangerous driving conditions in several states, while more than 4,000 flights were canceled Thursday alone. Nicole Ellis has our report. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Judy Woodruff: Here in the United States, much of the nation is feeling the full weight of winter tonight. Millions of people from the Southwest to New England are facing snow, ice and even tornadoes.Nicole Ellis has our report. Nicole Ellis: Crews and residents across the Midwest are digging their way out as a sprawling winter storm pushes farther across the country.Some places have reported over a foot of snow, creating dangerous driving conditions in several states. Air travel has also been disrupted. More than 4,000 flights were canceled today alone. Many other flights have been delayed. Alejandro Esquino, Traveler: I got stuck for three hours on, like, an American Airlines flight so like while we were on the ground. Please, please, no. Like, that was a terrible experience I would never want to repeat. Nicole Ellis: The extreme weather also knocked out power for at least 200,000 homes and businesses, mostly in Texas, Tennessee and Arkansas.The storm runs the gamut of precipitation, snow, rain, sleet, and a combination of all three. According to this National Weather Service map, an intrepid motorist could drive all the way from Maine to Texas and still be within the storm's grasp.In Austin, Texas today, Governor Greg Abbott said that mix of ice, freezing rain and wind are particularly difficult. Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX): We are dealing with one of the most significant icing events that we have had in the state of Texas in at least several decades. Nicole Ellis: He also said the state is much better prepared than it was for last year's week-long storm. It rocked the electrical grid and triggered widespread blackouts.More than four million were without power and more than 200 people died, many of them from hypothermia. The reliability and the maintenance of the state's electrical grid and the governor's record on that was at the center of heavy criticism. Gov. Greg Abbott: As compared to last year, Texas has about 15 percent more power generation capacity. There is also more reserve power available than last year. Nicole Ellis: Even so, tens of thousands of Texans have lost power from this storm.For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nicole Ellis. Listen to this Segment Watch Watch the Full Episode PBS NewsHour from Feb 03, 2022 By — Nicole Ellis Nicole Ellis Nicole Ellis is PBS NewsHour's digital anchor where she hosts pre- and post-shows and breaking news live streams on digital platforms and serves as a correspondent for the nightly broadcast. Ellis joined the NewsHour from The Washington Post, where she was an Emmy nominated on-air reporter and anchor covering social issues and breaking news. In this role, she hosted, produced, and directed original documentaries and breaking news videos for The Post’s website, YouTube, Amazon Prime, Facebook and Twitch, earning a National Outstanding Breaking News Emmy Nomination for her coverage of Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Ellis created and hosted The Post’s first original documentary series, “Should I freeze my eggs?,” in which she explores her own fertility and received the 2019 Digiday Publishers Award. She also created and hosted the Webby Award-winning news literacy series “The New Normal,” the most viewed video series in the history of The Washington Post’s women’s vertical, The Lily. She is the author of “We Go High,” a non-fiction self-help-by-proxy book on overcoming adversity publishing in 2022, and host of Critical Conversations on BookClub, an author-led book club platform. Prior to that, Ellis was a part of the production team for the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series, CNN Heroes. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Human Rights from Columbia University, as well as a Master’s in Journalism from Columbia Journalism School. By — Harry Zahn Harry Zahn