Winter storms in the northeastern United States triggered widespread flight delays and cancellations, affecting thousands of travelers
Early Saturday, snow and icy conditions hit the U.S. Northeast, causing delays in post-holiday airline travel and prompting New York and New Jersey officials to declare weather emergencies, though the storm eased later in the morning.
People in much of the Northeast were advised to stay off the roads due to the severe conditions, and states of emergency were declared in New York and New Jersey.
“The safety of New Yorkers is my top priority, and I urge extreme caution throughout the duration of this storm,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement.
As of early Saturday morning, an area from Syracuse in central New York to Long Island in the state’s southeast, as well as Connecticut, had received about six to 10 inches (15 to 25 centimeters) of snow, said Bob Orawek, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center near Washington, D.C.
Two to four inches of snow fell overnight in New York City, with 4.3 inches of snow in Central Park, Orawek said, the most since 2022.
“The good news is that the heavy snowfall is over,” he said. “There’s just some light rain left this morning, and that will taper off by this afternoon.”
But the storm still impacted travelers. More than 9,000 domestic U.S. flights were canceled or delayed by Saturday evening, according to the tracking site FlightAware. Many of these were in the New York area, including at John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, and Newark Liberty International Airport.
Representatives for American Airlines, United Airlines, and JetBlue Airways told Reuters that the airlines had waived change fees for passengers whose travel plans might be disrupted by the weather.
Winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories were also in effect for much of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
New Jersey and Pennsylvania have banned commercial vehicles on some roads, including several interstate highways.
“This storm will make road conditions dangerous and will impact holiday travel,” New Jersey Acting Governor Tahesha Way said in a statement. “We are urging travelers to stay off the roads during the storm and allow crews to clear them.”
Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta. Additional reporting by Maria Tsvetkova in New York, Steve Gorman and Dan Levin in Washington; Editing by Sergio Non and Mark Potter.
