The start of the new year 2014 has not been that great for the North East regions of the United States. A winter storm named “Hercules” has dumped many inches of snow into various parts of the North East, and the snow has not stopped accumulating either. With this in mind, this has made New Years travel plans a catastrophe for many commuters planning to get back home from the holiday season.
According to the New York Daily News, 2,000 flights across various airline carriers have been cancelled. Many of these cancellations affect the various hub airports located in the North and North East, such as: Chicago, Newark, Dulles, and LaGuardia. FlightTracker also reported the following cancellation statistics during the time of this post:
Total delays today: 9,902
Total delays within, into, or out of the United States today: 7,006
Total cancellations within, into, or out of the United States today: 2,188
Earlier in the day, Boston International Airport announced (via Facebook) that they would be departing the last flight at 8:30 p.m. and would be reopening on Friday. This situation will leave various travellers stranded overnight as they await other outgoing flights the next day (Friday).
According to CNN, Boston is expected to encounter 10-to-18 inches of snow, which is approximately twice the amount of what the city received yesterday. Temperatures in Boston are expected to drop to as low as 6 degrees below zero.
Boston was not the only airport to utilize social media in the aid of getting the word out to various commuters; Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago’s O’Hare airport have posted various tweets to commuters to check their flight status prior to heading to their respective airports.
Inclement weather may be impacting flight operations into Friday. We advise anyone with plans to fly today to check the status of their flt.
— PHLAirport (@PHLAirport) January 2, 2014
Adverse weather has caused disruptions in flights at LaGuardia. Please check with your airline to determine if your flight is affected.
— EWR JFK LGA SWF (@NY_NJairports) January 2, 2014
Winter weather conditions causing delays avg. 45 min. Airlines have canceled nearly 300 flights. Check airline Web site for flight status.
— O'Hare Intl. Airport (@fly2ohare) January 2, 2014
Image via Twitter (@ClaireAshley)