This winter storm has not only affected travel for people in the Northeast but has disrupted air travel in the entire US because of the severity of snowfall.
Within 24 hours of snowfall starting in the Northeast, over 10,000 flights were cancelled from airports across the United States, and cancellations were continuing to come in at an hourly rate from many places.
The snowfall impacted all major airports around the US, and many airports completely closed their runways due to the lengthy snow emergency. In addition, there were numerous airlines that cancelled all or most of their outbound flights. Many posted large signs at the airport that advised passengers of their cancellations, leaving passengers with nowhere to go.
One example is LaGuardia Airport in New York City. LaGuardia has hundreds of flights daily but was forced to shut down entirely due to heavy snow accumulation, which had a ripple effect throughout the national air traffic system.
Airline officials expect that they will have thousands of cancellations in the next few days as a result of the storm, and therefore, there will be thousands of stranded passengers and crowded terminals in airports nationwide.
This storm is widely considered the worst storm of the winter season so far. Many of the streets are now ice rinks, power lines have collapsed under the weight of snow and ice, and grocery stores have been stripped bare of food by panic buyers.
Throughout the nation, New York City was one of the hardest-hit areas during the Extreme Cold Snap of February 2018. Mayor de Blasio acknowledged multiple fatalities during the worst of the storm; he termed it a “sobering reminder” of just how dangerous extreme cold climates are to those who are most at risk, such as the homeless population.
Emergency response efforts were quickly put into place as Governor Cuomo called up National Guard units throughout New York City, Long Island, and the Hudson Valley to help restore order during times of chaos, support emergency responders and assist with recovery efforts following the storm.
While the majority of states affected by the storm lay either east or south of New York, this disaster extended beyond the boundaries of New York into at least 23 other U.S. states that also declared a state of emergency due to ice storms that resulted in power outages and damaged infrastructure in various locations across the country.
It was evident that this is not just an issue specific to New York. Airports serving major metropolitan areas, including Philadelphia and Charlotte, canceled as many as 80% of their scheduled flights on a single day due to weather conditions. In short, if you had aspirations of flying out of the eastern part of the United States, the odds appeared less than favourable for you to arrive at your ultimate destination.
In addition to state and local renditions of emergency preparedness, the federal government also took action. The President approved a handful of emergency disaster declarations to connect the support of recovery efforts. States the president declared Emergency Disaster status include several locations across the south and central regions of the country.
Even Texas had to implement additional precautions. The state’s energy providers instituted emergency procedures to allow for back-up power generation for critical facilities and data centres to help mitigate the threat of widespread blackouts due to extreme energy demands.
The combination of snow along with freezing rain, ice accumulation, and extremely low temperatures is what makes this storm particularly disruptive. This combination causes transportation systems to immediately cease operations and results in an incredibly slow recovery.
Many travelers fell asleep on the floors of airport terminals. Others abandoned their attempts at getting home and rented vehicles. Even stone-cold sober individuals got stuck on an expressway where they encountered numerous road closures from falling ice debris. Commuter trains had similar problems until late last night when train stations reopened, albeit to a much smaller volume of passengers than prior to the storm.
Meteorologists are referring to this storm as a “one hundred year event.” Their description is not being overly dramatic; this storm had every component needed to create catastrophic conditions (volume of snow, duration of storm activity lasting multiple days, and the extent of damage done).
The weather will eventually warm up enough that the snow will melt; however, the residual effects from the blizzard will not go away in 24 hours. Airlines will require time to execute their repositioning plans for aircraft and aircrew and both airports and the airlines will need time to safely resume operations at their individual airports. Creating new airline travel itineraries will take well over a week for numerous passengers.
In conclusion, the blizzard not only caused cancellations of countless airline flights, but it also reminded every airline and air traveler how rapidly modern flying can cease if nature chooses.
