Big travel disruption is here: more than 3,600 U.S. flights were delayed on Tuesday, with hundreds canceled, as a powerful winter storm batters the Northeast and marches across the Midwest and East Coast.
A traveler checks the departures board at Boston Logan International Airport, one of several hubs likely to feel the impact of the storm on Tuesday. (Photo: Joseph Prezioso)
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
As of 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, FlightAware reported over 3,600 flight delays nationwide and more than 140 cancellations.
The airports experiencing the heaviest disruption include Chicago O’Hare, Atlanta, Ronald Reagan Washington National, Detroit, and New York LaGuardia, all recording triple-digit delays.
During Tuesday afternoon, the FAA’s National Airspace System dashboard indicated that 15 airports were actively applying deicing fluid to departing aircraft.
United Airlines issued a travel alert covering 11 airports in major Northeast and Mid-Atlantic hubs—Boston, New York, and Philadelphia—allowing ticketed passengers to rebook without fees for travel through Thursday, December 4.
Southwest Airlines issued a travel advisory covering nine Northeast airports—from Portland, Maine, to Philadelphia—and permitting affected passengers to rebook for a different date within the next two weeks.
Delta Air Lines and American Airlines had not issued travel advisories for the Northeast storm at the time.
On Monday, more than 10,000 flights were delayed nationwide, with Chicago O’Hare accounting for more than 1,300 delays and triple-digit delays at 20 other U.S. airports.
Background
After dumping heavy snow across the Midwest and disrupting air traffic over the weekend, the storm that caused more than 32,000 flight delays from Saturday through Monday has moved eastward. The National Weather Service warns of impactful snowfall for interior New England and the northern Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday, with snow rates exceeding an inch per hour at times and total accumulations between five and 10 inches.
Forecasts for Tuesday call for freezing rain in the Appalachians and heavy snow further into New England.
NOAA/NWS
