One-day wonder: Latest snowstorm leaves warm day behind

The latest winter storm to sweep across a wide swath of the Midwest and East dumped up to 2 feet of snow but also brought a much-needed respite to many areas -- above-freezing temperatures.

Some areas of the East, which has been frozen by temperatures 20-degrees or more below seasonal norms, are seeing high temperatures not seen in 10 days or more, AccuWeather meteorologist Tyler Roys said.

That should make Sunday's digout a bit easier for cities such as Indianapolis, which got 7 inches of snow, Columbus and Baltimore with 6, and Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., which got more than 4 inches. Many suburbs of those cities saw 8-12 inches and the mountains of West Virginia saw up to 2 feet of snow, Roys said.

Winter weathr continued to snarl air traffic. Nearly 1,500 flights had been canceled and more than 2,750 delayed Saturday at airports across the region. As early Sunday, 563 flights were canceled and 1,184 delayed across the nation.

In most areas, the storm concluded as freezing rain or rain as the warmup began overnight.

"A lot of those areas will see temperatures in the 40s by late Sunday," he said. "We will see a lot of melting going on. But then we have another Arctic front."

That means Monday high temperatures once again plunging well below freezing for several days, Roys said.

For most of the region, the return of low temperatures at least will come with no serious precipitation. Not so for parts of Kansas, North Texas and northern Louisiana and Mississippi, Roys said.

A storm that has brought more than six inches of snow to the Denver area will drift south on Monday, meaning ice storms and the havoc they can bring in the form of power outages and treacherous roads, he said.

The one-day respite aside, "we have been stuck in this cold-weather pattern for some time now," Roys said. "And it's not ending soon."