Mother nature has not been kind to the airlines or its travelers this season. Winter storms wreaked havoc on the holiday season and stranded hundreds of people a day at their in-laws. The hope of moving beyond those concerns dissipated with a contribution from mother nature. On Thursday, a sprawling winter storm reaching from North Texas to upstate New York stranded thousands of Americans at airports.
Winter Storm Strands Thousands of Passengers
Heavy snow and freezing rain hit the Southwestern United States and New England on Thursday. The National Weather Service forecasted the weather to continue into Friday, while portions of the South could see flash flooding and tornadoes. Dallas was among the hardest-hit cities. Over two-thirds of outgoing flights at Dallas-Fort Worth grounded until a runway team worked to reopen one around lunchtime. As it is the largest airport in the region, people felt the widespread impact. Governor Greg Abbott of Texas spoke about it. He called it “one of the most significant icing events that we’ve had in Texas in at least several decades.”
According to FlightAware, a tracking website, airlines canceled more than 4,800 flights and hundreds more delayed by early afternoon. The Federal Aviation Administration handles 45,000 flights on any given day, meaning the cancellations and delays on Thursday affected more than 10 percent of air traffic in the United States.
As of 3 p.m. Eastern time, nearly 200,000 people in Texas, Tennessee, and Arkansas had lost power, according to PowerOutage.us, a website that aggregates data from utilities.
In North Texas, meteorologists predict two to four inches of snow and sleet on Thursday, with light ice accumulations. Local officials urged motorists to stay off the roads in Dallas, and the Dallas and Fort Worth school districts, among the largest in the state, were closed for the rest of the week.
