Severe winter storms snarled peak holiday travel across the United States on Friday, forcing airlines to cancel more than 1,800 flights and delay thousands more as hazardous weather swept from the Great Lakes to the Northeast, disrupting operations at major airports.
A total of 1,802 flights were cancelled and 22,349 delayed as of 4:04 p.m. ET, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.
The National Weather Service issued warnings of winter storm Devin this afternoon which “will cause hazardous travel conditions for the Great Lakes into the northern Mid-Atlantic and southern New England today through Saturday morning.”
“For areas farther north from upstate New York to the Tri-State area including New York City and Long Island, 4-8 inches of snowfall is forecast for late Friday into (the) night,” National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center noted on the official website.
According to Reuters, airports in potential impact regions such as John F. Kennedy Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport have also put out posts on X, warning travelers of potential delays or cancellations.
JetBlue Airways has canceled 225 flights, the most among the carriers, closely followed by Delta Air Lines DAL.N canceling 186 flights, 155 by Republic Airways, 96 by American Airlines and 82 by United Airlines.
Ice and winter storm warnings were issued across the Northeast on Friday as a powerful snowstorm pushed into the East Coast, threatening hazardous travel and widespread disruption.
Forecasters warned of heavy snowfall across parts of southern Connecticut, northeast New Jersey, sections of Pennsylvania and southeast New York, with accumulations of up to 9 inches possible. The alert remains in effect from 4 p.m. Friday through 1 p.m. EST on Saturday.
The National Weather Service has issued winter storm warnings and advisories across a wide swath of the country, stretching from the West Coast to the Northeast and Alaska.
Alerts are in place for parts of California, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Alaska, Connecticut, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Utah, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and Massachusetts.
Heavy snow is also expected in the West. In California’s Mono County, forecasters said areas above 8,000 feet could see 1 to 3 feet of snowfall, with 4 to 12 inches expected below that elevation and along US-395.
A record number of Americans were expected to travel at least 50 miles from home between December 20 and January 1, according to an American Automobile Association forecast cited by Bloomberg, marking an increase of about 2% from last year.
What makes the flooding, blizzards, snow and ice particularly dangerous is the shift in how people are travelling. Far more holidaymakers were expected to drive rather than fly this season, with about 109.5 million Americans projected to take to the roads. By comparison, roughly 8 million were expected to travel by air, according to the AAA outlook.
The extreme weather is unfolding as La Nia returns, a climate pattern linked to cooling Pacific waters that can disrupt economies and trigger disasters around the world, Bloomberg reported.
“La Nia winters are notorious for their volatility, and we are certainly getting a healthy serving of that this holiday season,” Matt Rogers, president of the
Commodity Weather Group, said. He added that weather models have “been struggling to keep up with all the moving parts and variations in the forecast.”
New York and New Jersey have declared a state of emergency from Friday afternoon.
“As widespread snowfall is expected to start in New York City and its surrounding areas this evening, I will declare a State of Emergency to ensure that our agencies and local partners have the resources and tools they need to respond to the storm,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said.
New Jersey and Pennsylvania issued commercial vehicle restrictions on some roads, including many interstate highways. “This storm will cause dangerous road conditions and impact holiday travel,” New Jersey’s acting governor Tahesha Way said in a statement. “We are urging travelers to avoid travel during the storm and allow crews to tend to the roads.”
– Ends
