美国遭受大规模冬季风暴袭击

Ice, snow and hail are blanketing the midwestern United States, as part of a massive winter storm expected to be one of the biggest in recent years.

The National Weather Service issued warnings urging people to stay inside, calling travel "impossible" and conditions "life threatening."

The cities of Milwaukee, St. Louis and Chicago are bracing for the biggest impact, with more than 46 centimeters of snow and wind gusts of up to 64 kilometers per hour expected over the next day.

Forecasters have issued blizzard, winter storm and freezing rain warnings for more than half the country from the southwestern state of Texas through the midwestern state of Illinois and into the northeastern state of Maine.

Airlines are already delaying and canceling flights in the region, and allowing customers to change their itinerary without the usual fee.

The weather conditions even forced President Barack Obama to reschedule a trip planned for Wednesday to a university in Pennsylvania. He instead travels on Thursday. 

冰、雪和冰雹席卷美国中西部。预计这次大规模的冬季风暴是最近几年来最大的一次。

美国国家气象局发布警告，敦促人们呆在室内，说旅行是“不可能的”, 而且天气状况会“危及生命”。

米尔沃基、圣路易斯和芝加哥正在为这场风暴带来的最大影响做准备。预计明天的降雪量将超过46厘米和大风达到时速64公里。

气象人员对从西南部的德克萨斯到中西部的伊利诺伊再到东北部的缅因州美国一半以上的地区发布了暴风雪、冬季风暴以及冻雨的警告。

航空公司推迟或取消了这些地区的航班，并且允许顾客不需缴通常收取的手续费而改变他们的行程。

天气状况甚至迫使奥巴马总统改变星期三前往宾夕法尼亚州一所大学的旅行计划。他的行程改在星期四。