Thousands of Flights Canceled After Winter Storms Rock Travel Across the Country

A one-two punch of bad weather and grounded planes has caused massive air travel snarls across America.

On Friday, more than 3,000 flights were canceled across the country as storms ravaged the Midwest, according to CNBC.

More than 8,400 delays were logged Friday, according to flight tracker FlightAware.

Saturday began with more of the same — about 1,700 cancellations and more than 700 delays through Saturday morning.

Air travel issues were compounded because of the large numbers of Boeing 737 planes that have been grounded for inspections due to a fuselage failure in one 737 Max 9 plane.

Dangerous ground blizzard.
Life-threatening wind chills.
Stay home. pic.twitter.com/Vh1nYAbGhd

— NWS Sioux Falls (@NWSSiouxFalls) January 13, 2024

Chicago was the hub of trouble Friday after Federal Aviation Administration officials ordered a ground stop for Chicago for most of Friday, according to Deadline.

“The FAA’s priority is safety, meaning that, sometimes, delays are necessary. Weather is the leading cause of delays and cancellations, but the FAA’s Command Center and radar centers work closely with airlines to plan for, and around, expected weather nationwide,” the FAA said in a statement, noting that it was not responsible for canceling flights.

Winter weather continued to wallop various parts of America Saturday, with ABC claiming that almost every single U.S. state is under some form of weather alert.

The report noted that the Northeast has been drenched in rainfall that produced multiple flood warnings, while there were blizzard warnings in Iowa and wind chill warnings over multiple states.

Mother nature isn’t messing around! Current flooding in Portland, Maine. #portland #portlandme #portlandoldport #flooding #storm #porlandmaine pic.twitter.com/wUraTCeF26

— Portland Maine Old Port (@PortlandOldport) January 13, 2024

CNN noted that in Portland, Maine, high tides set a record as floods inundated coastal areas.

High winds had left more than 185,000 Michigan power customers without electricity, with another 90,000 hit by a blackout in Wisconsin.

CNN noted that the storm could bring snow to northern Louisiana.

Saturday night’s NFL playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs has been predicted to feature wind chills that will make watching the action seem like sitting in 25 degrees below zero weather, ABC noted.

The amount of ignorance being spewed at me right now is next level. So for all of you that I don’t have time to respond to, 47 people died last year in a blizzard in Buffalo. It’s not about having a dome, it’s about travel to and from the game being impossible and/ or dangerous.…

— Eric Wood (@EWood70) January 13, 2024

The storm’s expected snowfall in Buffalo forced officials to move Sunday’s scheduled NFL playoff game there between the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers to Monday afternoon.