A major winter storm threatens to disrupt flights today (Wednesday)
for thousands fliers headed home from the Christmas holiday.
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More
than a dozen major airports lie in the path of the storm, which
stretched from the Midwest to the East Coast as of 8 a.m. ET this
morning.
Blizzard warnings covered areas surrounding the
Cleveland and Indianapolis airports, while windy wintry weather a number
of others at a significant risk of delay. Among those: Detroit,
Cincinnati, Columbus (Ohio), Pittsburgh and Buffalo.
Already, Cleveland's Fox 8 News
reported that United "had already cancelled 60% of its flights
beginning at noon on Wednesday." Cleveland is a hub for United, meaning
that problemsN there are all but certain to ripple out and affect other
airports in the carrier's route network.
Elsewhere, the storm
also is expected to affect airports all along the East Coast. Wintry
precipitation and poor visibility are forecast for the already
delay-prone airports in Philadelphia and the New York City area. Strong
winds could also create sporadic delays at other big airports in the
East - including the world's busiest airport in Atlanta.
Charlotte,
for example, suffered 30-minute wind-related delays earlier this
morning, though conditions there had gone back to normal as of 8:05
a.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration's flight delay map.
The
three big airports in the Washington/Baltimore area should escape most
of weather-related problems that are expected elsewhere in the region,
though delays and cancellations at other airports will affect at least a
handful of today's flights at Washington Dulles, Washington National
and Baltimore/Washington (BWI) airports.
And, as of 8 a.m. ET,
congestion from busy post-holiday flight schedules is creating "volume"
delays of about 30 minutes on some flights at BWI.
By this
evening, the effects of the storm - notably strong winds - will extend
into New England, adding Boston, Hartford and Providence to the list of
airports where fliers could run into weather-related problems.
USA Today