Texas Thaws While Arizona Digs Out

Chunks of ice hurtled from skyscrapers and tree limbs crashed onto power lines Tuesday as Texas thawed a bit from a storm that left at least 13 dead and plunged thousands into darkness.

The storm spread rain, ice and snow from Southern California to Louisiana, and funneled icy air deep into Texas.

Nearly 300,000 customers were without electricity at the storm’s peak in ice-crusted southern Texas.

More snow was on the way to storm-weary Minnesota. The state already has met, and possibly exceeded, its $40 million annual snow removal budget, said Mark Wikelius, assistant state maintenance engineer.

In Arizona, Flagstaff dug out from 3 feet of snow and drifts up to 5 feet. In Houston, downtown workers faced another hazard - ice falling from tall buildings as the temperatures inched above freezing.

In Utah, an airliner slid partly off a snow-covered tarmac at Salt Lake City’s airport. No one was injured.

About 90 miles north of Salt Lake City, in the windswept mountains southeast of Logan, three experienced backcountry skiers were buried in their tent by an avalanche. Their bodies were found Monday inside their sleeping bags.