Winter storm causes massive flight and Amtrak train disruptions, snarling U.S. travel

A winter storm that is spreading across much of the U.S. is snarling travel, with thousands of flights either canceled or delayed on Monday morning. Amtrak also canceled several routes along the East coast and Mid-Atlantic states. 

As of Monday morning, about 34 million Americans are under winter storm warnings that span from Illinois to Mid-Atlantic states including New Jersey and Delaware. The storm, called Winter Storm Blair, is dropping a combination of snow, ice and plunging temperatures across the U.S., also creating havoc for drivers amid icy road conditions and blizzard-like weather.

Airlines canceled almost 1,500 flights within, to or out of the U.S. as of 8 a.m. ET on Jan. 6, while another roughly 900 flights have been delayed, according to data from flight-tracker FlightAware. Southwest had the most cancellations, at about 360, followed by American Airlines and Republic, with 176 flight cancellations each, the data shows. 

Amtrak, meanwhile, canceled multiple trains, noting that the disruptions were “for the safety of Amtrak customers and employees, due to forecasted winter weather.” The train service said that while the Acela is operating between Boston and Washington, D.C., it had canceled several other routes between Washington and New York, as well as between other mid-Atlantic cities.

The storm’s reach is impacting the Mid-Atlantic states on Monday, with a hard freeze expected as far south as Florida. Winter Storm Blair is expected to move offshore into the Atlantic on Tuesday.

While the polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually stays penned up around the North Pole, it sometimes escapes or stretches down to the U.S., Europe or Asia, creating the intense cold of Winter Storm Blair. A fast-warming Arctic gets some of the blame for the increase in polar vortex stretching or wandering, studies have shown.

contributed to this report.