Snowstorms and heavy winds have caused travel chaos this week across parts of Europe, grounding hundreds of flights at Munich airport and halting trains to and from Munich’s central station.
Meanwhile, in the United States, winter weather brought high winds and snow to parts of the Pacific Northwest. Thousands of households were without power in the greater Seattle area after a night of rain and wind, the Seattle Times reported.
Flights grounded and trains cancelled in Germany
Munich Airport, on Tuesday morning, experienced a temporary suspension of flight operations due to freezing rain. Severe weather prompted the cancellation or postponement of all flights scheduled between 6 a.m. and noon (0500-1100 GMT).
The airport, Germany’s second-biggest, cautioned passengers that severe weather might continue to impact flights later in the day, advising them to stay updated on the situation and anticipate potential disruptions to their travel plans.
“The operating areas will be de-iced in the first half of the day. The plan is to allow air traffic to resume from midday,” the airport said on its website. “However, it can be assumed that the majority of flights will also have to be canceled during the rest of the day for safety reasons.”
Severe weather also disrupted road traffic and train services. Deutsche Bahn, the train operator, warned of ongoing disruptions to traffic in the Munich region for several days due to the adverse weather conditions.
“At present, access to Munich’s main station is severely restricted. Only a few long-distance trains are therefore running to and from Munich,” it said on its website on Tuesday.
Train services connecting Munich to Austrian cities like Salzburg and Innsbruck, as well as Zurich in Switzerland, remained suspended due to the severe weather. Deutsche Bahn also cautioned passengers about potential cancellations and delays in other parts of southern Germany and advised commuters to defer non-urgent travel plans to Wednesday to avoid potential disruptions.
“Rail traffic in southern Germany is expected to be severely affected until Wednesday evening. Massive restrictions are still to be expected in the greater Munich area,” Deutsche Bahn said. “Due to the onset of winter, there are likely to be delays and cancellations of a train in the south of Germany until midweek,” the train operator said.
Even after the operations are resumed on the affected routes, the train operator expects only a very limited train service will be possible due to the major weather-related restrictions and therefore advised passengers to postpone journeys to and from Munich.
Thousands of passengers stranded at Munich Airport
Flight cancellations left thousands of passengers stranded at Munich Airport. On Monday, 80% of the 771 scheduled flights were canceled and almost all of the rest were delayed according to Flightradar24. More than 1,500 passengers have been reported stranded in Munich since Friday when the winter weather began.
Consequently, Munich airport has issued a warning to passengers requesting them not to travel to the airport if they did not have confirmation that their flight was going. They also asked the passengers “do not come to the airport to rebook flights”, urging that “this should be done via airlines”.
Camp beds were reportedly arranged for travelers, along with food and drinks. Passengers were also given the option to book a hotel room themselves for which the costs would be reimbursed.
“Nevertheless, several hundred passengers are staying overnight in the terminal,” a Lufthansa spokesperson said in the statement. “Either because they don’t have a visa to enter the country or because they are not taking up the offer to book a hotel room.”
Heavy snow and windstorm expected in United States
A cross-country storm is expected to unleash snow, rain, wind, and possibly severe storms in more than two dozen states as it tracks from the West toward the central and eastern United States in the coming days, according to Weather Channel meteorologists.
Severe thunderstorms with an attendant tornado risk is expected to hit parts of the lower Mississippi Valley and Mid-South. There are also chances of heavy rains and strong winds along the Eastern Seaboard.
On the system’s cold side, moderate to heavy snowfall is forecasted for parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes. Blizzard conditions are possible, with winds gusting over 40 mph. Further troubles are anticipated from cities like New York through Boston and into the Canadian Maritimes, where wind gusts might reach 50 to 60 mph.
The weather condition is expected to affect a number of major airport hubs, resulting in widespread travel disruptions, especially for air travelers. Cascading flight delays could linger into the start of the workweek, given the geographic coverage of the system’s winds.