Severe weather delays 20,000 flights across US Midwest, Northeast

Approximately 20,000 flights were delayed across the US Midwest and Northeast due to severe weather on December 28-29.

An additional 3,000 flights were cancelled over the past two days, Caliber.Az reports via FlightAware.

The National Weather Service reported heavy snow and strong winds in these regions. On December 29, wind speeds in Chicago, Illinois, reached up to 25 meters per second in some areas.

The storm disrupted transportation networks, causing widespread flight cancellations and delays, as well as numerous road accidents. 

More than 30 million Americans were under active winter storm alerts spanning the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes, and Northeast as a powerful storm system brought heavy snow, ice, and dangerously low visibility, prompting blizzard warnings and strong wind warnings from the National Weather Service.

Meteorologists described the storm — sometimes referenced as Winter Storm Ezra — as intensifying into a “bomb cyclone,” with rapidly falling atmospheric pressure driving blizzard conditions, severe winds and ice that disrupted both air and road travel during the peak holiday travel period.

Power outages and hazardous conditions accompanied the storm, with over 115,000 Michigan customers losing power and states like New York issuing ice storm warnings as heavy ice accumulation downed lines and made travel treacherous.

By Jeyhun Aghazada