Travelers at the end of the Thanksgiving holiday on Sunday were finding hundreds of flights delayed and canceled in Chicago following a snowstorm in the Great Lakes region, while a wintry mix of rain and snow developed in the Northeast.
In Wisconsin, utility crews worked to restore power to thousands of people, while the airport in Des Moines reopened by midday on the critical travel day after a Delta Connection flight from Detroit slid off an icy runway while landing. No injuries were reported, and passengers were transported to the terminal by bus.
Hundreds of churches in western Michigan told worshipers to stay home or watch services online. Up to 12 inches of snow had fallen since Saturday in areas close to Lake Michigan.
More than 250 flights into and out of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport had been canceled by about 1 p.m. Sunday and over 900 had been delayed, according to the tracking site FlightAware.
In Wisconsin, We Energies reported more than 6,000 power outages, with more than half in Milwaukee and South Milwaukee. Mark Paladino said on Facebook that he was shoveling snow Sunday when his apartment complex lost power in Fredonia. Others said power lines were sagging under heavy, wet snow.
In Iowa, gusty winds Sunday were blowing snow back onto roads, extending hazardous travel conditions, the National Weather Service said.
“We did have areas of Iowa and Illinois that saw over one foot of snow,” including 15 inches in Fort Dodge, Iowa, said meteorologist Andrew Orrison.
He said snow in the Great Lakes region was tapering off, but a new storm was heading to the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with up to a foot of snow expected by Tuesday.
“It’s going to be the first snowfall of the season for many of these areas, and it’s going to be rather significant,” Orrison said. “The good news is that it does not look like the major cities at this point are going to be looking at any significant snowfall.”
The post Hundreds of flights canceled in Chicago after winter storm appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
