A second winter storm in as many weeks is causing hundreds of flight cancellations across the United States, airlines reported on Tuesday, potentially dealing a further blow to carriers' first quarter outlooks.

As the storm sweeps across southeast Texas and up the East Coast dumping snow, sleet and freezing rain, airlines have already canceled flights in anticipation of difficult conditions.

American Airlines, the world's largest airline by passenger traffic, had canceled some 270 flights between Tuesday and yesterday as a result of the storm, it said.

Rival Delta Air Lines, the No 2 US carrier by passenger traffic, said it had canceled about 275 Tuesday flights and expected additional cancellations in New York and Boston as the storm tracked north.

The third-largest US carrier, United Airlines, said it had canceled more than 700 flights on Tuesday. United was offering to waive fees for changes to flights to and from Boston, New York, Philadelphia and other affected airports for scheduled flights.

The storm itself is relatively minor compared to other winter weather events, and several hundred flights represent only a tiny percentage of airlines' overall operations. But such storms are still a nuisance to carriers and can cost them millions of dollars in lost revenue.

By Tuesday night there was a long line of precipitation that brought 2 inches of snow to some areas of Mississippi, 6 inches in Kentucky and 4 inches in Vermont, reported CNN Online.