A potentially “historic” winter storm is set to wallop the eastern two-thirds of the US with snow and ice this weekend, threatening widespread flight disruptions, airport closures, and cross-border delays from Canada.
As of Thursday morning (22JAN), winter storm watches stretch from eastern Arizona through the Mid‑Atlantic and into the Northeast, placing more than 125 million people under alert.
The sprawling system is expected to begin affecting parts of the country Friday, with snow, ice, and dangerous travel conditions spreading rapidly into the weekend.
"Widespread travel disruptions are likely," AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter tells Forbes. “Thousands of flight cancellations are possible nationwide as snow and ice affect major airports, with delays and cancellations likely to ripple across the country."
Toronto Pearson Airport is warning of serious disruption this weekend, due not only to the US storm but some of the coldest temperatures of the year. According to Environment Canada, temperatures are expected to plummet to –22 °C overnight Friday, before rising slightly to –15 °C by Saturday morning.
Portions of Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia are expected to receive up to 24 inches or more. But it isn’t just large snowfall accumulations that has forecasters warning this could be a catastrophic storm.
"Freezing rain will cause major impacts (power outages, and extensive travel delays for all forms of transportation)," added another AccuWeather meteorologist to USA Today.
US airlines yesterday (21JAN) began issuing travel notices.
- Delta Air Lines issued a travel advisory allowing passengers ticketed to fly in or out of 41 airports in a dozen states between Friday and Sunday to rebook for free through next Wednesday.
- American Airlines has a travel alert covering 34 airports across 14 states in the Southern and Mid-Atlantic regions, offering waivers to passengers scheduled to fly Friday through Sunday.
- United Airlines’ travel alert ccovers 26 airports across the Southern US, waiving change fees for passengers with tickets to fly Saturday through Monday.
- Southwest Airlines issued a travel advisory for passengers travelling Friday through Monday in or out of 26 airports across the Southern and Mid-Atlantic regions.
Pearson is preparing for the deep freeze by working with airlines and ground handlers to make sure equipment is stashed and wrapped up. "Unfortunately, cold weather impacts us pretty hard here," Airport Duty Manager Jake Keating told CP24.
"For passengers coming in through today and over the weekend, it is going to be really important you check with the airlines and keep on top of your flight status, because those things are going to be changing pretty dynamically throughout the weekend," said Keating. "That is particularly true if you're headed to the US. The US is bracing for a pretty major snowstorm, basically coming through the entire country."
