Thousands of flights across the Midwest have been canceled as a snowstorm sweeps the region

Thousands of flights across the Midwest were canceled because of a snowstorm.

Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images

• A heavy snowstorm is causing travel chaos in the Midwest.
• There were thousands of flight cancellations across airports in Chicago, Atlanta, and New York.
• The country's air travel system is already stretched thin because of a partial government shutdown.

A snowstorm sweeping across the Midwest is adding to the strain on the already stressed US air travel system.