Winter storm causes travel disruptions at several US airports, 1000+ flights cancelled

Several airlines in the United States feature cancelled or delayed thousands of flights on fri due to terrible overwinter force warnings in major parts of the country, during the peak holiday travel season.

According to flight tracking website FlightAware, a total of 1,097 flights were cancelled and 3,608 were delayed as of 12 PM ET.

The National Weather Service issued warnings of winter storms on Friday afternoon, which "will cause hazardous travel conditions for the Great Lakes into the northern Mid-Atlantic and southern New England today through Saturday morning."

A winter storm warning stretched from NYC to northeast New Jersey and into the Lower Hudson Valley and parts of Long Island and Connecticut, according to the National Weather Service. Some areas could see snowfall of up to 10 inches in the heaviest bands, the agency said.

JetBlue Airways has cancelled 225 flights, the most among the carriers, closely followed by Delta Air Lines, which cancelled 177 flights, and Republic Airways, which cancelled 153 flights, according to FlightAware.

Roughly half of those were clustered around flights coming into or leaving New York City’s three major airports – LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark. Detroit and Boston airports also saw cancellations and delays.

Several airports have posted warnings on the social media platform X, alerting travellers to potential delays or cancellations.

New York City issued a travel advisory for the duration of the storm as cold temperatures limit snowmelt, increasing the risk of slippery and hazardous road conditions, Bloomberg reported.

“Road conditions will be treacherous for those travelling back from the holiday,” the weather service said.

While winter weather can lead to soaring demand for electricity — crimping power supplies — so far, grids aren’t showing signs of stress. Still, the colder temperatures are helping to lift prices for US natural gas, used as a fuel for home heating. Futures rose as much as 3.3% on Friday.

Other parts of the country are also seeing weather-related travel disruptions.

A combination of freezing rain, sleet and snow will create hazardous travel conditions from the Great Lakes into New England and the mid-Atlantic through Saturday morning, according to the weather service.

The upper Midwest may see “a swath of snow and ice blossoming” Friday morning before a clipper system bumping up against a high-pressure system in eastern Canada feeds cold air south over the border, bringing precipitation.

Later this weekend, a potentially stronger cold front is expected to move across the Northeast, including the Washington area, which could lead to blustery conditions during the last few days of the year. Parts of western Pennsylvania are under threat of an ice storm, which could cause power outages and make travel hazardous, according to a report by Bloomberg.

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