Massive winter storm causes travel issues and power outages in parts of the U.S.

There's a winter storm the size of which is rarely seen, and the gusty winds, heavy snow, rain and freezing rain is affecting millions of people in 25 states. Thousands of flights are canceled, many roads are impassable, and hundreds of thousands of people are without power. From Chicago, NPR's David Schaper reports.

DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE: Snow plows and salt trucks are out in force from Texas to Maine as a massive winter storm wreaks havoc all the way from the Southern Plains into the Northeast.

ANDREW ORRISON: This is a very large winter storm. We're talking about tens of millions of people that are being impacted by winter weather hazards.

SCHAPER: National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Orrison.

ORRISON: It's everything from heavy snow to areas of heavy sleet and freezing rain, so you're getting a lot of ice accumulations and also the very cold temperatures. And we've seen a lot of cold air just in the last couple of days kind of pull across the Northern Plains and the Midwest area, and that's been funneling down to the South.