Monster storm rips trail through U.S. heartland (by Kim Hjelmgaard)

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. heartland was grappling with bitter winter weather early Wednesday as snow threatened to cover as much as a third of the U.S. population, the Reuters news agency reported. The gargantuan storm, which blanketed large swaths of the Midwest on Tuesday with snowfall accumulations of up to two feet of snow expected in some areas, was predicted to move toward the Northeast throughout Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. The storm is bringing havoc to the U.S. airline industry, with more than 6,000 cancellations made on Tuesday and 3,000 already scheduled for Wednesday, according to data on the FlightAware website.