A late winter storm continued a destructive, elemental march across the eastern US, with thousands of flights canceled or delayed as powerful winds combined with a partial government shutdown delayed travelers passing through airport security scanners.

Flight delays and cancellations mounted at some of the nation’s largest airports, including in New York, Chicago and Atlanta. Flight delays within, into, or out of the US totaled 9,112 by late afternoon, with cancellations standing at 4,763, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website.

The storm system dropped up to 36in of snow in the midwest later hit the east coast with dangerously high winds and the potential for “producing strong and long-track tornadoes,” the National Weather Service warned on Monday.

The high risk of severe weather stretches from southern Pennsylvania to central South Carolina, including through Washington DC, Baltimore, Richmond and Raleigh, AccuWeather reported, while “dangerously hot conditions” threaten to shatter records across the south-west this week.

“This massive storm is unleashing winter and springtime hazards at the same time,” said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Adam Douty in an email. “More than 200 million people could be impacted, from blizzard conditions in the midwest to severe thunderstorms across the east, along with powerful winds sweeping across dozens of states.”

Air travelers said they were unexpectedly grounded. Kelly Price, looking to return to Colorado from Florida, told the Associated Press that her Sunday night flight was not canceled until early on Monday.

“By that time the only place for us to sleep was the airport floor. So we’re all tired and frustrated,” she said, adding that the soonest flight she and her family could book doesn’t leave until Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier on Monday, citing severe weather, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered ground stops at Hartsfield-Jackson and Charlotte Douglas airports, along with ground delays at JFK and Newark Liberty.

The storms arrived just as airport security screeners missed their first full paycheck, owing to a slow-moving political dispute that triggered a partial government shutdown affecting only the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Transportation Security Administration.

It is the third shutdown in less than a year to leave TSA workers temporarily without pay. Once the government reopens, employees will have to wait for back pay.

Some airports have reported longer security lines because of staffing shortages as more TSA workers take on second jobs, can’t afford gas to get to work or leave the profession altogether. Homeland security has said more than 300 TSA agents have quit since the start of the shutdown.

Many TSA workers “are coping with eviction notices, vehicle repossessions, empty refrigerators and overdrawn bank accounts”, Aaron Barker, a local leader with the American Federation of Government Employees, said at a news conference outside Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta.

“To be quite frank, officers are pissed off,” Barker said. “And we’re not just talking about here in Atlanta – we’re talking about nationwide.”

But perhaps they are not as pissed off as inconvenienced travelers. Some airports are advising travelers to arrive hours before their departure time on flights that might then be cancelled by weather-related scheduling issues.

Travelers flying out of Louis Armstrong airport in New Orleans on Sunday and Monday were also advised to arrive at least three hours early, “due to impacts from the federal government’s partial shutdown”, the airport said on X.