Hawaii flights affected by ice and snow on mainland

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A passenger points to her flight cancelled on an information screen at the United Airlines counter as they try to rebook their flights at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

AP

Passengers stand in line at the American Airlines counter as they try to rebook their flight at Miami International Airport in Miami, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011, as a winter storm more than 2,000-mile reach threatened to leave about a third of the nation covered in a hodge-podge of harsh weather reaching from Texas to New England.. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Integrated Deicing Services employees de-ice a plane during a winter storm at Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga, N.Y., Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011. (AP Photo/David Duprey)

AP

A departure board at Kansas City International Airport shows mostly canceled flights early, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011, in Kansas City, Mo. Across the United States, airlines canceled more than 4,500 flights on Tuesday because of the big winter storm moving through the middle of the country. (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, Keith Myers)

Flights  between Hawaii, Chicago and Newark are among the thousands of flights  canceled today as a major storm moved through the middle of the country.

Flight tracking service FlightAware has logged almost 6,000 cancellations for the day. More are expected on Wednesday.

Ice shut down Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for two hours on Tuesday morning. One runway later re-opened. But American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith says the airline is hardly operating at Dallas because high winds make it unsafe for de-icing employees to work in the bucket trucks.

Chicago O'Hare was seeing delays of more than two hours. A United Airlines spokeswoman says about 300 departures are being canceled in Chicago starting in the afternoon, when the snow is expected to pick up.

At least two outbound flights from Hawaii to the mainland were affected by today’s winter storm.

The state transportation department reported that United Airlines’ daily flight from Chicago would be delayed this afternoon and its return leg scheduled for 5 p.m. was canceled.

Continental Airlines canceled its direct flight from Newark, N.J., as well as the scheduled return trip slated for 7:40 tonight.

American and Continental Airlines have daily flights from Dallas. It wasn't clear this morning how the weather would affect those flights.