Update: March 17, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. ET
Thousands of flight cancellations and delays continue across the eastern half of the United States following Monday’s massive storm.
ABC News says over 4,500 flights were canceled on Monday, with nearly 10,000 delays. The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday night issued temporary ground stops for all Delta Air Lines and United Airlines flights into Atlanta and Houston due to gate space due to the delays.
Today, the National Weather Service is warning about a strong cold-front and lake effect snow hitting New England, while the South and Southeast are currently under a freeze warning.
The backlog of disrupted flights, along with these lingering storms, continue to create delays and some cancellations across the country. FlightAware is reporting nearly 3,000 delays within, out of or into the United States as of Tuesday morning, with nearly 1,000 cancellations.
Atlanta, John F. Kennedy, Chicago O’Hare, LaGuardia, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale are some of the most impacted.
Update: March 16, 2026, at 8:01 a.m. ET
While the winter storms impacting the Midwest are stealing
the headlines, weather is causing havoc across the United States to start the
new week.
According to FlightAware.com,
there have been 2,024 total cancellations within, into, or out of the U.S. on
Monday, with another 1,625 flights delayed, as of 7:50 a.m. ET. On Sunday, 3,240
flights were canceled and 10,029 were delayed.
A blizzard in the Midwest has slowed travel to a crawl at
major airline hubs, including Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Minneapolis-Saint
Paul International Airport. Top carriers like American, Delta, Southwest, and United
have all issued advisories and waived change fees for impacted areas.
Delta and several other airlines also issued
advisories for the Southeast and Northeast as heavy rain and thunderstorms
were expected in the regions. The carrier is expecting potential delays at key
travel hubs like Atlanta, New York City, and Boston.
Even Hawaii is dealing with dangerous
weather, as the state’s tourism board sent out a statement saying the weekend’s
severe weather should not impact travel plans for the remainder of the week.
“The state of Hawaiʻi has been weathering a powerful storm
this weekend and I want to reassure travelers that there is no reason to cancel
or postpone your visit to our islands,” Governor Josh Green said.
“Our first responders, emergency management teams and
visitor industry workers have been extraordinary throughout this storm, working
around the clock to keep our communities and guests safe,” Green continued. “The
people of Hawaiʻi have once again shown aloha and what it means to care for one
another and for our visitors.”
Original Text
Even with the official start of spring
approaching on March 20, there seems to be no reprieve in sight from severe
winter-like storms across the U.S. Currently, blizzard conditions impacting much
of the Midwest—a system that The
Weather Channel has dubbed Winter Storm Iona—are disrupting flights,
resulting in mass cancellations and delays.
Men’s
Journal pointed out that the National
Weather Service (NWS) has issued a new set of winter storm watches on
Sunday, warning that areas of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan,
Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska are all in the storm’s path, and that
Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula are set to receive the most intense
snowfall at a total of 36 inches.
Major airlines,
notably American
Airlines and Delta
Air Lines, began issuing travel alerts and change fee waivers for affected
passengers on Saturday. These could be provided until early next week, as AccuWeather predicts the
storm will develop into a potential bomb cyclone over the weekend, lasting into
Monday.
At the time of
publication, more than 5,600 U.S. flights have been disrupted by the extreme
weather system. By 3:00 p.m. ET Sunday, flight-tracking website FlightAware was
reporting more than 3,600 total flight delays into, out of or within the U.S.,
with total cancellations numbering nearly 2,000.
The most
intensely impacted airlines appeared to be SkyWest, with 472 cancellations and
279 delays; Delta, with 419 cancellations and 239 delays; and Southwest,
with 169 cancellations and 478 delays.
Airports suffering
the brunt of the impacts on Sunday included Chicago O’Hare (ORD), where strong
winds and nearby thunderstorms prompted a ground delay program, leaving some
passengers waiting close to six hours to depart, Fox
Weather reported. The airport saw 25 percent of its daily departures cancelled
and 21 percent delayed, with 27 percent of planned arrivals cancelled and 30
percent delayed, as well.
Meanwhile, Minneapolis–St.
Paul (MSP) was contending with heavy snowfall and whiteout conditions
that sharply reduced runway capacity, triggering widespread cancellations for
major airlines like Delta and Sun Country. The airport saw a whopping 74
percent of its overall departures cancelled and three percent delayed, with 65
percent of inbound flights also cancelled and five percent delayed.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
