Winter storm: 2,800+ flights canceled as Austin airport closes, Houston airports delay reopening

Monday's record-breaking winter storm continues to create havoc for travelers in the South, especially in Texas.

Austin Bergstrom International Airport announced that it has canceled all arriving and departing flights for Tuesday. Meanwhile, Houston's William P. Hobby airport pushed back their restart times until at least 4 p.m. CST while the George Bush Intercontinental pushed back until at least 8 p.m. CST.

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport led the entire world in cancellations and flight delays as of 7 p.m. EST Tuesday morning, followed by Houston Bush Intercontinental. Nationwide, there were more than 2,800 flight cancellations and more than 1,300 delays, according to FlightAware.com. Austin, and Nashville were also in the top 10 worldwide. Southwest had the most cancellations of any airline in the world, followed by American.

Wednesday isn't looking much better: Airlines have already canceled more than 2,000 flights, including more than 400 on American. 

DFW and Nashville International Airport remain open but both caution that they expected more flights to be canceled or delayed. DFW tweeted that Tuesday's -2℉ temperature had matched a 121-year-old record. Meanwhile, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit commuter train line said it was suspending service until Thursday.

Meanwhile, nearly 4 million homes and businesses were without power early Tuesday in Texas, where temperatures dipped into the single digits overnight.

And although snow has ceased falling in Nashville, roads throughout Middle Tennessee remain "hazardous," the National Weather Service said.

It's going to be pretty slick again," Brenden Schaper, a meteorologist with the NWS in Nashville, said Monday night. "Road conditions through (Tuesday) will still be quite treacherous, so take it easy if you have to be on the roads."

At least six people in four states died as a result of the winter storm since the weekend.

The "massive" winter storm was forecast to continue moving across the Midwest and Northeast, bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain Tuesday, and another winter storm was expected to reach south-central U.S. with snow and ice, the National Weather Service said.

As of Tuesday morning, only American and United Airlines, which both have a massive presence in the Lonestar State, still had active flight waivers. American's is effective through Wednesday and covers 22 destinations in Texas and Oklahoma while United's covers travel in and out of Houston through Thursday.

American Airlines

Dates covered:  Feb. 15-17

Destinations covered: 37, including Dallas, Houston and Austin in Texas and Oklahoma City and Tulsa in Oklahoma

Details: https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/travel-alerts.jsp

United Airlines

Dates covered: Feb. 16-18

Destinations covered:  Houston

Details:  https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/notices.html

 Contributing: USA TODAY staff reports; Associated Press