Winter weather in US Northeast leads to thousands of flight delays, cancellations

NEW YORK: A mix of snow and ice bore down on the US Northeast early on Saturday (Dec 27), disrupting post-holiday weekend airline traffic and prompting officials in New York and New Jersey to issue weather emergency declarations even as the storm ebbed by mid-morning.

People in much of the Northeast were advised to stay off the roads because of treacherous conditions, with states of emergency declared in New York and New Jersey.

“The safety of New Yorkers is my top priority, and I continue to urge extreme caution throughout the duration of this storm,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement.

By early Saturday, about 15 to 25 centimetres of snow had fallen across an area from Syracuse in central New York to Long Island in the southeast of the state, as well as Connecticut, said Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center near Washington, DC

New York City received just over five to ten centimetres of snow overnight, with almost 11 centimetres reported at Central Park, Oravec said, the most since 2022.

“The good news is that the heaviest snow is done,” he said. “Only a few flurries remain this morning and those will taper off by the afternoon.”