More than 3,000 U.S. flights were either canceled or delayed Tuesday as the country continues to deal with severe weather conditions from the Midwest and South to the East Coast.
Extreme cold, gusty winds and heavy snow across the country have led to thousands of flight delays ... [+]
Some 1,537 flights originating or arriving in the U.S. were canceled Tuesday as of 10:15 a.m., and another 3,023 were delayed, according to FlightAware—a number that is likely to increase over the course of the day.
Hundreds of flights were canceled from LaGuardia airport in New York City (81 cancellations), Newark Liberty (66) and Houston Bush (66), making them the top three airports nationwide in terms of origin flights canceled.
The top three airports for canceled destination flights are Houston Bush (117), Reagan National near D.C. (87) and Chicago O’Hare (84).
New York City’s LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports, along with Chicago O’Hare and airports in Houston and Dallas, have also experienced hundreds of delayed flights each because of the extreme weather.
Southwest, the airline most heavily affected by the weather, has seen more than 300 flights delayed and more than 300 cancellations, according to FlightAware.
Monday night travelers landing at some airports were stuck on the tarmac for hours. At Reagan National Airport outside Washington D.C., travelers were stranded because of snowy weather conditions. NBC 4 meteorologist Doug Krammer happened to be on one of those flights and posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, saying his plane was the last to land at the airport, while others had to be diverted. At Nashville International Airport, some travelers were stuck on the tarmac for more than seven hours because of the weather conditions.
Weather conditions across the U.S. have created challenges for travelers in the past few days. Cities that don’t usually see snow from Dallas to Nashville braced for its effects. Meanwhile, other U.S. cities with the capacity to handle weather challenges dealt with severe weather conditions. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for upstate New York cautioning up to three feet of snow and winds reaching 50 miles per hour over the weekend, leading New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to postpone the Buffalo Bills wild-card game by a day. In Iowa, extremely cold temperatures left the National Weather Service warning of “life threatening wind chills” all the while Iowans were trying to caucus in the first primary of the year.
Buffalo Bills Re-Up Call For Help Shoveling Blanket Of Snow So NFL Game Can Proceed (Forbes)