We haven’t seen this kind of travel chaos since COVID-19.
Winter storms across the eastern United States and Canada, as well as a bone-chilling polar vortex, sparked one of the worst travel weekends in recent history.
More than 15,000 flights in and out of the US and Canada were cancelled on the weekend. With more snow and bitter cold in the forecast for parts of North America, today is also looking grim.
FlightAware reports nearly 10,000 flights delays and over 4,000 cancellations for Canada and the US by 8 a.m. ET. That includes nearly 300 flights at YYZ, as well as major cancellations for YOW and, to a lesser extent, YUL.
Around 26% of flights have already been cancelled at Pearson, with about the same percentage for Ottawa. Montreal-Trudeau cancellations were around 15%.
It’s much worse in parts of the US, however. Roughly 50% of flights have been cancelled for BOS, with outgoing flights hit hardest. FlightAware reports roughly 45% of outgoing flights have already been cancelled for Monday for JFK, LGA and EWR.
- Air Canada has travel advisories issued for a whopping 24 destinations, including all three New York City-area airports, YOW, YHZ, YYT, YQB and BOS. Another 15 are in place for 27JAN, many of them in Atlantic Canada.
- WestJet has advisories out for YYZ, YHM, YOW, YQB, YUL, YHZ, ATL and more.
- Porter’s flexible changes advisory is for Charlottetown bookings where snow/freezing rain, may cause disruptions.
US carriers have all issued similar advisories
- American Airlines - active winter-weather travel alert covering dozens of airports across the South, Mid‑Atlantic, and Northeast, including DFW, CLT, PHL and other affected hubs.
- Delta Air Lines - Winter Storm Fern waivers remain in effect through today, 26JAN, allowing free changes for impacted itineraries.
- United Airlines – Waivers in place covering Southern and Eastern U.S. plus a specific Chicago/ORD cold-weather waiver, with the Eastern U.S. waiver active through today, 26JAN.
- JetBlue, Republic and others – Experiencing high cancellation and delay volumes today, with customer-facing advisories and flexible policies similar to the big three (change‑fee waivers and encouragement to rebook away from the peak of the storm impact).
The Weekend That Was
The record breaking weekend saw more than 55% of flights in and out of YYZ cancelled on 25JAN as Pearson was hit with 46 cm of snow. CityNews reports that’s the largest single-day snowfall at YYZ since 1937.
“The accumulation at Pearson also pushed January 2026 into the history books. With 88.2 cm of snow now recorded this month, it is officially the snowiest January — and the snowiest month overall — since records began nearly 90 years ago,” CityNews said.
USA Today said the weekend cancellations were the highest since the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Sunday, nearly 13,000 flights had been cancelled. Even assuming only 100 passengers per flight, that’s roughly a million travellers stranded in a single day.
Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. had been virtually shut down, while LaGuardia had 93% of outgoing and incoming flights cancelled.
There are reports of major power outages and bitterly cold temperatures in much of the eastern US, as well as snow and freezing rain. Temperatures have plunged in Eastern Canada, and The Weather Network is advising against travel in southern Ontario as 10–30 cm of snow is expected.
