Doyle Rice

USA TODAY

A messy and dangerous winter storm is blasting the southeastern U.S. on Wednesday with ice and snow, which is leading to numerous power outages and travel chaos.

The worst of the icing is in Georgia and the Carolinas, where than 300,000 homes and businesses are without power as of mid-afternoon.

•Traffic is at a standstill across much of the Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham areas due to snow.

•The threat of winter weather prompted airlines to cancel all nearly all of their flights Wednesday at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport,

•Nationwide, airlines had canceled just shy of 7,000 flights since Monday, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.

•South of where the wintry weather is occuring, rain is pelting the Gulf Coast, while thunderstorms will roar across Florida. Most of the peninsula of Florida is under a severe thunderstorm watch.

Heavy snow is spreading north into Virginia Wednesday and will take aim on the I-95 corridor from Washington to Boston Wednesday night and Thursday.

The heaviest snow is likely in the Appalachians from Virginia to New England.

Elsewhere, more coastal and valley rain and mountain snow is falling in the Northwest. A few snow showers are also possible in the upper Midwest, accompanied by another blast of bitterly cold temperatures.

The Southwest and southern Florida will again be the nation's warm spots, with highs expected in the 80s.

Weather history for Feb. 12: In 1950, a tornado hit Shreveport, La., killing 18 people. In 1958, a record 2.8 inches of snow fell in Tallahassee, Fla.

In 1990, record warmth spread across the Midwest, with a record high of 59 degrees set in Minneapolis. In 2006, more than two feet of snow fell in New York City.