An American Airlines A321 at JFK during an earlier storm
Most of the United States will be assailed with various combinations of extreme winter weather this week and flight delays and cancellations as a result of snow, ice, and crippling cold are already in the thousands.
The National Weather Service in a midday Sunday weather statement said that there will be “Dangerous cold weather for most of the country…” as a “rare winter storm (heads) for the South.”
“Arctic air will filter south and east through early this week,” the NWS said. “As this cold air moves across the South, a rare winter storm is forecast to develop from Texas, Gulf Coast States into the Southeast through early this week. Several new daily record low temperatures are expected, including new record-low maximum temperatures.”
On Sunday, there were 5,760 flights within, into, and departing the United Statees that were delayed and an additional 1,222 were cancelled, according to FlightAware.com, which tracks such information. New York City’s two airports – LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International – along with nearby Newark Liberty International Airport saw the greatest number of flight delays and cancellations in both the United States and globally Sunday, while Republic Air, JetBlue Airways, Endeavor Air, and United Airlines experienced the greatest number of delays and cancellations.
Already on Monday at 12:30 a.m., there were 408 flights within, into, and departing the United Statees that were delayed and an additional 349 were cancelled.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency due to the storm.
“As always, I urge all New Jerseyans to use caution, follow all safety protocols, and remain off the roads unless absolutely necessary,” the governor said in a message on social media.
In Houston, both George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby, the city’s two major aerodromes, will be closed all day on Tuesday and schools in the Houston Independent School District – the largest in the state and the eighth-largest in the country – will also be closed until Wednesday, Whitmire said.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
