by Tim Wood
Last updated: 9:45 PM ET, Sun January 25, 2015
Early Sunday, the National Weather Service officially upgraded a blizzard watch to a blizzard warning for a massive snowstorm that threatens an area covering seven states, stretching from the Canadian border to Washington, D.C. Airlines are pre-emptively canceling flights and offering up free flight changes with flights flying into and out of most northeastern U.S. airports.
The expected blizzard area includes New York City and Boston and will lead to a predicted 20-30 inches of snow with an accumulation of 2-4 inches per hour, creating, quote, "life-threatening" travel conditions throughout the region. According to a National Weather Service bulletin, the storm will "make most roads impassable" and create white out conditions into Tuesday morning.
Calling it "one of the largest snowstorms in the history of this city," New York City Mayor Bill DiBlasio staged a press conference Sunday to warn citizens of the danger posed by the impending storm. In his address, he said, "My message to all New Yorkers is prepare for something worse than we have seen before. Prepare to be safe. Take every precaution. Now is the time to get ready for this extreme weather. Don't underestimate this storm."
In addition to predicted snowfall of up to three feet, the storm will bring winds of 20-30 miles an hour with gusts up to 40 mph. The blizzard warning will officially go into effect beginning Monday, Jan. 26 at 1 p.m. and will run until late Tuesday night. Peak impact is expected for late Monday night. It is estimated that around 28 million people reside within the blizzard warning area.
As of 10 p.m. EST, FlightAware.com is reporting that airlines have cancelled 1,442 flights for Monday and another 1,018 so far for Tuesday. Many of the cancellations from United, American and Delta airlines are impacting the airlines' regional carrier flights that fly through the northeastern U.S.
"We plan to operate a full schedule at our Washington Dulles hub on Monday, but will limit operations beginning Monday evening at our Newark hub, LaGuardia and JFK," United said in a Sunday evening statement. "At this point, we plan to cancel all flights Tuesday at Newark, LaGuardia and JFK, as well as Boston and Philadelphia. We are waiving change fees that otherwise may apply, and most customers will find they can change their travel plans most quickly by visiting united.com."
Most airlines are following this approach on change fees. Just check your airlines' web site for the most up-to-date policies and airports that are covered in their fee waivers.
JetBlue alone has already cancelled more than 730 flights already for Monday and Tuesday, most at their biggest hubs at New York's JFK and Boston's Logan Airport. That includes almost 60 percent of their total flights for Tuesday, already cancelled.
The best course of action if you're expecting to fly into the Northeast over the next 72 hours is to expect to change your flights, especially those scheduled for Monday night and Tuesday. Also, check your airlines' Twitter accounts, as they are taking to social media for the most direct connections with customers.
USA Today has also compiled a comprehensive list of change fee policies related to the storm.
TravelPulse will continually provide updates throughout Monday as Juno approaches.
In addition, TravelPulse founder and CEO Mark Murphy will appear on CNN's "New Day" Monday at 8:50 a.m. to discussing Juno's impact on travel.
TravelPulse senior editor Barry Kaufman contributed to this report
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