Thousands of flights delayed by powerful winter storm in western US

A powerful winter storm is barreling across the the western U.S. this week, delaying thousands of flights across the country as it moves inland.

Flight-tracking website FlightAware reported 6,313 delayed flights in the U.S. on Sunday and 245 cancellations.

Another 1,442 flights were delayed and 104 were cancelled as of 11 a.m. Monday morning.

Dozens of flights were delayed on Sunday out of airports in Seattle, Wash., as well as Los Angeles and San Francisco in California.

On Monday, more than 100 flights were delayed from airports in Boston, Mass., New York City and Washington, D.C., as many of the delayed flights had destinations in the western part of the country.

Rain and snow pummeled the West Coast on Sunday, bringing four feet of snow to the region of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and creating severe flooding in southern California.

The National Weather Service (NWS) is warning of severe weather and blizzard conditions for the central U.S. as the storm moves east this week.

NWS also issued flash flooding warnings for the lower Mississippi Valley beginning on Tuesday, and excessive rainfall is likely for southern Kansas, western Oklahoma and northwest Texas.

Snow and cold temperatures will persist through the middle of the week in the western part of the country.

Western South Dakota and northern Nebraska could see more than 24 inches of snow as the storm moves over the regions.