Airlines delayed or canceled thousands of US flights amid fierce winter storms
A powerful Arctic winter storm packing heavy snow and high winds battered the United States and Canada on Friday, killing at least 15 people and leaving over a million without power ahead of the holiday weekend.
The storm, which forecasters dubbed Elliott, kept intensifying throughout Friday extending across more than 2,000 miles, from Texas to Quebec. Air pressure across the affected states also dropped precipitously, resulting in a weather phenomenon known as a “bomb cyclone”. Bomb cyclones produce heavy rain or snow and could potentially cause flooding on coasts besides generating hurricane-force wind.
Tens of millions of Americans endured bone-chilling temperatures, blizzard conditions, power outages, flash flooding and canceled holiday plans from a winter storm, exposing about 60% of the U.S. population to some sort of winter weather advisory or warning just days before Christmas.
Snowstorm in numbers
- 181 million people are under wind chill warnings or advisories.
- More than 11 million people are under blizzard warnings.
- 58 million people face winter storm warnings.
- More than 500,000 people are under ice storm warnings.
- Nearly 1.8 million homes and businesses without power.
This is serious stuff, says Biden
At the White House, after Joe Biden was briefed on Elliot, the president said: “This is not like a snow day when you were a kid. This is serious stuff.”
Biden also urged people to heed warnings of local authorities and plan travels cautiously.
“It’s dangerous and threatening,” the president said. “It’s really very serious weather. and it goes from Oklahoma all the way to Wyoming and Maine, … so I encourage everyone to please heed local warnings.”
Power cuts
The storm, producing driving snow and plummeting temperatures, knocked out power across several states, from Texas to Maine, leaving more than 1.5 million people in dark.
In Canada, Ontario and Quebec bore the brunt of the storm, as power outages left hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the dark.
Air travel chaos
The Arctic blast forced the cancellation of thousands of flights, frustrating tens of thousands of holiday travelers. According to flight tracking website FlightAware, at least 5,700 US flights were canceled and another 7,600 were delayed on Friday. Earlier on Thursday, airlines across the US had canceled 2,700 flights and some 1000 flights have already been canceled for Saturday.
The airports in New York, Seattle, and Chicago’s O’Hare experienced the maximum chaos. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport had 357 flights, or 63% of departures, canceled Friday.
Roads’ condition
Transportation departments have reported almost-zero visibility whiteouts, ice-covered roads and blizzard conditions in various states, especially in North and South Dakota, Oklahoma and Iowa. Officials have urged residents to keep vehicles off the roads as forecasters have warned of “potentially crippling impacts across central and eastern” parts of the US.
“This is an epic, statewide hazard,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said at a press briefing. “The roads are going to be like an ice-skating rink and your tires cannot handle this,” she warned.
At least two traffic fatalities were reported in Oklahoma, while the Governor of Kentucky has confirmed three deaths in his state. One person reportedly died in a 50-vehicle pile-up in Ohio. Meanwhile, in Michigan, an accident involving nine tractor-trailers snarled traffic.
Drivers have been warned to stay off the road even though it’s the busiest time of the year for travel.
Passenger railroad Amtrak has canceled dozens of trains through Christmas, disrupting holiday travel for thousands.
Temperature drops
The Arctic blast is causing precipitous temperature drops across the central US as arctic air pushes south and east.
- In Casper, the temperature dropped by 70 degrees in less than 18 hours, from 7:40 a.m. Wednesday to 1:35 a.m. Thursday.
- Denver with a 47-degree drop in 2 hours, and 65 degrees in 16 hours, from 50 degrees on Wednesday afternoon to minus 15 on Thursday morning.
- In Oklahoma City, the temperature dropped 34 degrees in 14 hours, with the biggest plunge of 23 degrees just 2 hours earlier on Saturday morning.
- Chicago is facing dangerously cold days as temperature dropped to minus 24 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 31 Celsius).
- Temperatures are forecast to continue falling on Saturday morning.