A huge swath of the U.S. was blasted with ice, snow and wind on Monday as the polar vortex that dipped south over the weekend kept much of the country east of the Rockies in its frigid grip, making many roads treacherous, forcing school closures, and causing widespread power outages and flight cancellations. In Kentucky’s biggest city, Louisville, Hugh Ross used his shovel Monday to break hard sheets of ice as he cleared a driveway. Frozen rain fell atop several inches (centimeters) of snow that fell Sunday, which he said “couldn’t have been worse.” Ice and snow blanketed major roads in Kansas, western Nebraska and parts of Indiana, where that National Guard was activated to help stranded motorists. More than 300,000 customers were without power early Monday across Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, Illinois and Missouri, according to electric utility tracking website PowerOutage.us. MORE: https://www.wthr.com/article/news/nation-world/winter-storm-blast-of-snow-ice-bitter-cold-grips-us-from-midwest-to-east-coast/507-9abc148a-de8a-4a2a-8db2-ccde0f0f3bee