Massive Cross-Country Winter Storm Sparks Flight Delays

A massive cross-country storm that battered the Sierra Nevada with accumulating snow over the weekend is now traversing the Central Plains to the Upper Midwest. Adverse weather conditions have led to hundreds of flight delays at major airports nationwide. 

The National Weather Service warned the Northern and Central Plains to the Upper Midwest could see “multiple days of significant impacts to travel and infrastructure due to snow, blowing snow, and freezing rain.” It emphasized that “travel may become impossible” and forecasted snow accumulations of up to 18 inches. South Dakota and Nebraska regions could be blanketed with a few feet of snow. 

At least 13 million people were under a winter weather advisory across all three regions. Half a million people across Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming were under a blizzard warning. 

The weather system, which is producing heavy snow in the north, is also causing severe thunderstorms in the south. FlightAware, an airline tracking company, reported 731 flight delays and 74 cancelations as of 1:42 pm est. 

According to AccuWeather meteorologists, the storm could “create a spinoff system near the Atlantic coast that is likely to bury some locations of the interior Northeast with a foot or more of snow later this week.”