Ice on road and Snow
Photograph ©2020 by Brian Cohen.
Brian Cohen·
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Travel Alert December 2022: 10,000 Flights Canceled and Counting…

At least 24 people have died as a result of this historic winter weather.

Winter weather has been causing chaos and wreaking havoc on travel since winter officially began with a vengeance on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, as at least 24 people have died and greater than 10,000 flights have been canceled — with thousands more flights delayed — and a minimum of 200 airports in at least 45 states of the United States and eight provinces in Canada which have been affected or impacted as a result.

Travel Alert December 2022: 10,000 Flights Canceled and Counting…

The following warning is currently posted at the official Internet web site of the National Weather Service of the United States:

Arctic Air and Lake Effect Snow Continues; Storm Approaches the Western U.S. This Week

Arctic air lingers across most of the country as heavy lake effect snow continues downwind of the Great Lakes. A fast moving storm dives southward across the center of the country through tonight accompanied by a wintry mix and wind. A strong Pacific system currently affecting Alaska will approach the western U.S. this week with heavy rain, snow and strong winds.

The map of the United States from the National Weather Service indicates that many warnings — such as freeze warnings, high wind warnings, blizzard warnings, wind chill warnings, winter storm warnings, gale warnings, and hard freeze warnings — as well as a plethora of advisories have been issued for many areas of the country.

December 25 2022
Source: National Weather Service of the United States.

Winter weather has been experienced from British Columbia to Newfoundland and as far south as northeastern Mexico. Snow has been accumulating as far south as northern New Mexico, western North Carolina, and northern Georgia, with as much as 60 inches — yes, that is five feet — of accumulation of snow possible in the Great Lakes region.

Blizzard conditions occurred in areas from central Kansas all the way to the entire state of Michigan. The National Weather Service office in Omaha issued the definition of what is a blizzard.

Snow was not the only issue with this winter storm: ice blanketed many portions of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada as frigid Arctic air dipped as far south as northern Florida. For example, the low temperature in Orlando yesterday morning, Saturday, December 24, 2022 was below freezing at only 31 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures in some areas have plummeted by as much as 60 degrees Fahrenheit within 24 hours, which caused a “flash freezing” of sorts to many areas. Pipes to homes either froze or burst, which left people without running water.

Meanwhile, rain and thunderstorms occurred from Boston along the east coast of the United States all the way to Florida, which resulted in minor coastal flooding and beach erosion. For example, the Five Towns area and other parts of southwestern Nassau County on Long Island in New York were suddenly hit with several feet of flooding water from both precipitation and a rising tide from Jamaica Bay.

Additionally, strong winds of as much as 80 miles per hour only exacerbated intolerable conditions, giving some areas a wind chill of as much as -30 degrees Fahrenheit. One example is Buffalo, which experienced winds of greater than 70 miles per hour multiple times and resulted in whiteout conditions — not to mention at least four feet of snow which has already accumulated there.

At one point during this past week, greater than 1.35 million people experienced electrical power outages.

The good news is that much of the United States and Canada will experience a reprieve from the brutal weather conditions in the form of warmer temperatures as the year 2022 comes to a conclusion — but expect the cancellations of flights and the travel delays to continue due to the residual effects of what has already happened this past week.

Social media has been inundated by weather reports from around the United States and Canada — including the following messages on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/ChicagoMWeather/status/1606325325729648640

https://twitter.com/ashleysviews/status/1607120422486556676

Flight Waivers, Delays and Cancellations

If you are traveling to, from, or within much of the United States and Canada over the next few days or so, expect delays and cancellations of flights. Keep up to date on the latest information pertaining to these winter weather systems which may adversely affect your travel plans. Better yet, postponing or canceling your trip might be a better option — no matter which mode of travel you plan on taking.

If you have a flight scheduled, your flight may be delayed or canceled — and you may be eligible for a waiver of a fee to change your itinerary.

Here are 15 airlines which have issued travel alerts as a result of these weather systems:

Final Boarding Call

Be sure to contact your airline or transportation provider for the latest information pertaining to your travels — if they are adversely affected — and please: travel safely.

Photograph ©2020 by Brian Cohen.

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