Blizzard: Cancellations soar past 5700, stretch into Wednesday

It’s business as usual Monday at Newark, Philadelphia and the two New York City airports.

The worst of Monday’s problems were in Chicago, where more than 450 flights were grounded at Chicago O’Hare and another 160 at Chicago Midway as of 11:55 a.m. ET, according to FlightAware.

“During its height we could see snowfall rates of 1 to 3 inches (2.5-7.6 cm), even up to 4 inches (10 cm) per hour”, said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton, Massachusetts. All Tuesday flights have been canceled at LaGuardia and Kennedy airports.

“We start the process early based on the forecast”, said American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein, adding the airline tries to get as many planes out of the affected areas ahead of the storm.

Inches of snow and blizzard like conditions are expected to hit many states in the Northeastern part of the country on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

United Airlines, the dominant carrier at Newark Liberty International Airport, has yet to cancel Tuesday departures but that’s nearly certain to change.

“In some locations in Pennsylvania, New York State and New England, snowfall from this storm could be the biggest March snowstorm since that of the 1993 March blizzard”, said AccuWeather chief meteorologist Elliot Abrams.

Metro-North had suspended service into and out of Grand Central Terminal at noon Tuesday but restored limited service in the evening. “I blame meteorologists and scare tactics announcing 12 to 18 inch totals”, he said.

“When we were trying to get an earlier flight, they told us they were all full”.

The snow threat in the Northeast also was causing college basketball teams to alter their travel plans as the fierce storm bore down on the region.

State of emergencies in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland have all taken effect as of midnight on Monday and 50 million residents are being urged to prepare for the “life-threatening” storm. Many of them related to the storm.

About 40 Delta mainline and Delta Connection flight cancellations can be expected Wednesday morning as Delta repositions aircraft and crews following the storm.