Travel chaos continues as winter storms batter both coasts
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- Major US airports are reporting hundreds of delays and cancellations on Saturday.
- The East Coast is facing heavy snow, while the West Coast is recovering from record rainfall.
- Flight delays and cancellations have impacted travel from New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
A turbulent year for air travel isn't over yet.
Snow and rainstorms hit multiple states on both coasts on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and are now heading for the Northeast, including New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Travellers are having a difficult time getting home as major airports see mass delays and cancellations.
There have been more than 1,800 flight delays and over 600 cancellations within, into, or out of the US as of 8 a.m. ET Saturday, according to data from flight-tracking site FlightAware.
Thousands of flights were also delayed and canceled on Friday.
Here's a look at the latest flight disruptions, and when you may expect to fly if your flight has been canceled.
The Midwest and the East Coast
The storm that first hit the Midwest is coming for the East Coast. New York City is set to see the most snow it has seen in years, since the last time it saw at least 4 inches of snow was January 2022. New Jersey and upstate New York are set to see similar weather conditions.
The NYC Emergency Management said in a press release that "snow is expected to develop Friday afternoon and intensify into steady, accumulating snow Friday night." The National Weather Service has forecast 3 to 7 inches of snow with locally higher amounts possible.
According to FlightAware, 132 flights have been canceled from JFK International Airport as of Saturday morning. A further 85 have been canceled from LaGuardia, while Newark Liberty International stands at 70 and counting.
The West Coast
The West Coast is slowly recovering from an exceptionally wet Christmas.
Over the past two days, most residents of California have received at least one weather warning as an atmospheric river accompanied by high winds, floods, and mudslides hit the Golden State. The NWS said that this Christmas season is the wettest one Los Angeles has experienced in 54 years.
The San Francisco International Airport said that 153 flights had been delayed on Friday morning due to windy conditions. To make matters worse, the police briefly shut down Terminal 1 due to a "suspicious package," but then reopened it without explanation.
According to FlightAware, 300 flights were delayed out of San Francisco International on Friday, with 21 canceled. Los Angeles International was hit by delays to around 280 departing flights on Friday, with another 24 cancellations, per FlightAware.
It comes at the end of a tough year for air travel.
High-profile plane accidents, including when an American Airlines Flight crashed into a Black Hawk helicopter, and the firing of hundreds of FAA employees by the White House DOGE office, triggered a newfound fear of flying among some Americans earlier this year.
The subsequent government shutdown also led to flying snags this year, as air traffic controllers who were left without pay called in sick, and some airports were paralyzed.