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Photograph ©2011 by Brian Cohen.
Brian Cohen·
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Travel Alert December 2022: 5,000 Flights Canceled and Counting…

And multiple vehicle pile-ups keep piling up on snowy highways...

Since winter officially began with a vengeance on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, winter weather wasted no time in wreaking havoc on travel, as greater than 5,000 flights were canceled — with at least 8,000 flights delayed — and a minimum of 200 airports in at least 45 states of the United States and eight provinces in Canada being affected or impacted by the inclement weather.

Travel Alert December 2022: 5,000 Flights Canceled and Counting…

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

Wintry Precipitation and Bitterly Cold Temperatures Continue for Many Parts of the Nation

Dangerously cold wind chills will continue for much of the eastern two-thirds of the country through the holiday weekend. In addition, significant lake effect snow, blizzard conditions, and coastal flooding are expected downwind of the Great Lakes, where several feet of snow may accumulate. For the Pacific Northwest, freezing rain and snow will result in dangerous travel conditions.

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 23 2022
Source: National Weather Service of the United States.

Winter weather is currently being 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 could occur 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 is not the only issue with this winter storm: ice is expected to blanket many portions of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada as frigid air may potentially dip as far south as northern Florida. For example, the low temperature in Atlanta this morning, Friday, December 23, 2022 was only ten degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures in some areas have plummeted by as much as 60 degrees Fahrenheit within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, rain and thunderstorms are forecast from Boston along the east coast of the United States all the way to Florida. Minor coastal flooding and beach erosion may occur as a result; and flood advisories have already been issued by the National Weather Service. For example, Hewlett and 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 are possible from northern Texas to the Great Lakes region; and will likely cause blizzard conditions in some of the aforementioned areas as far south as Saint Louis. One example is Buffalo, which experienced winds of greater than 70 miles per hour multiple times, which resulted in whiteout conditions.

Greater than 1.2 million people are currently experiencing electrical power outages.

Expect additional flights to be delayed or canceled as a result of this winter weather event; and expect roads and highways to be closed or impassable.

In fact, not only are passengers stranded at many airports in the United States and Canada; but motorists are stranded on snowy highways due to the pile-up of multiple vehicle pile-ups. Many portions of highways around the United States and Canada were closed as a result.

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

https://twitter.com/SafetyAlertsMN/status/1605332027896733697

https://twitter.com/SafetyAlertsMN/status/1603518703588737025

Flight Waivers, Delays and Cancellations

If you are traveling to, from, or within much of the United States and Canada over the next week 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 16 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…

…or better yet: do not travel at all if possible, as this is an extremely serious situation. Stay home and weather this inclement weather out…

Photograph ©2011 by Brian Cohen.

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