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WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal government says its offices in the Washington, D.C., area will be closed Wednesday as the nation's capital braces for its first big snowfall of the winter.
The Office of Personnel Management says non-emergency employees of the federal government will be granted excused absences for Wednesday for the storm nicknamed "Snowquester."
Forecasters were predicting as much as 10 inches of snow for Washington, with more predicted for the suburbs north and west of the district.
Named for the sequester, which forced spending cuts across the federal government's budget last week. "Snowquester" is forcing federal government employees to stay home. The House of Representatives planned to cram two days of work and vote on the budget into four hours. Wednesday morning, the storm had knocked out power for 100,000 people in Washington.
Airlines along the storm's projected path have cut hundreds of flights throughout the entire day, most of them at Dulles and Reagan National airports in the Washington area.
As the snow moved out of Chicago Wednesday afternoon, air traffic began to move out of the Midwest again.
In Utah, flight passengers at the Salt Lake International Airport who were stranded after their flight cancellations were frustrated by their situations.
Kurt Bestor, a Utah musician, was headed to an arts conference in D.C.
"We don't know if the conference is happening but our airplane cannot get us there," Bestor said. "We have tried every airline and its just not happening, so here we sit."
The storm is impacting flights in other parts of the country, too.
One family said their flight to Florida has been delayed by the storm.
"(Our baby) was woken up abruptly, tried to get here earlier, tried to get on a different fligh,t and it didn't work," said Corinne Fowler. "We missed that one and so now were just trying to get something worked out."
Contributing: Shara Park
