WASHINGTON - The US capital shut down on Wednesday ahead of a fierce snowstorm that had blanketed the Midwest, cut power to about 50,000 homes and businesses and forced hundreds of flights to be canceled.
Jokingly referred to as "snowquestration" in a nod to the federal budget crunch, the wintry weather prompted storm warnings for much of the Ohio River Valley and the mid-Atlantic states and as far south as Georgia as the storm moved east, the National Weather Service said.The Washington area could get slammed by its biggest snowfall in about two years, with 6 to 12 inches (15 cm to 30 cm) expected, the service said.
