A Vermont country road after heavy snow
More than 66 million people are under winter weather alerts Friday from Oregon to New York and air travel in many parts of the United States is in a state of chaos as the holiday weekend in the United States arrives.
“A powerful winter storm will bring heavy snow, strong winds, and blizzard conditions from the mid-Missouri Valley, Midwest to the Great Lakes through Saturday,” the National Weather Service said Friday morning in a statement. “Behind this system, dangerous frigid temperatures are likely across the Rockies and Plains through this weekend. Severe thunderstorms are possible across the Southeast today, with strong winds, hail and a few tornadoes possible.”
The Midwest and the Great Lakes are in the first to be in the crosshairs of the storm starting Friday morning and Iowa is receiving the brunt of Father Winter’s wrath, with a “life-threatening” and “dangerous” blizzard that could blanket most of Iowa, the Hawkeye State.
“Travel is expected to become dangerous by Friday morning. Blowing snow is expected to significantly reduce visibility to near-whiteout conditions by midday Friday persisting into early Saturday,” the National Weather Service office in Des Moines warned.
“The cold wind chills as low as 10 to 20 below zero could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes and could be potentially life-threatening if stranded outside.”
Blizzard warnings are in effect for six states from Nebraska to Wisconsin. Strong winds are expected to accompany the snow, creating whiteout conditions. Snowfall could range from 6 to 12 inches (152 mm to 304 mm).
A ground stop was instituted at Chicago O’Hare International Airport earlier this morning due to snow and ice and departure delays are currently running 120 minutes on average.
Flights departing Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport are delayed an average of 99 minutes due to high winds.
As of 11 a.m. EST, 1,850 flight within, into, and out of the United States had been cancelled and an additional 2,434 had posted delays. The airports seeing the highest percentage of flight cancellations are Chicago O’Hare with 39%, or 398 flights, and an additional 150 delays, representing 15% of operations. Chicago Midway Airport reported 140 cancellations, or 61% of Friday’s operations, although just 8%, or 20 flights, were delayed.
Other airports with double-digit flight cancellation figures include Denver International, Milwaukee Mitchell International, Seattle-Tacoma International, Toronto Pearson International, Detroit Metro Wayne County, Newark Liberty International, Des Moines International, Dallas/Fort Worth International, Los Angeles International, and San Francisco International, among others.
Airlines in the United States with the highest number of flight cancellations are Southwest Airlines with 385 and an additional 465 flight delays, SkyWest with 325 and an additional 107 flight delays, United Airlines with 268 flight cancellations and an additional 281 flight delays, and Alaska Airlines with 156 and an additional 45 delays.
American Airlines, the world’s largest carrier, posted 80 flight cancellations as of 11 a.m. although it currently shows 600 flight delays on its schedule for today.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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