Severe Storms Delay 14,000 Flights Over Weekend

The calendar may say spring but the winter storm known as Virgil barreled through Kansas City, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C., and was heading towards Philadelphia

The storm brought airports and highways to a standstill in dozens of cities today.

Virgil dumped nearly a foot of snow on Denver and 15” in Goodland Kansas on Saturday, and left anywhere from 9” to a foot of snow along the I-70 corridor in Missouri on Sunday.

Up to 8” of snow is expected Sunday night along the I-70 corridor from Illinois to central Ohio.

Meanwhile snow has spread into parts of West Virginia and western Virginia as well as western Pennsylvania and western Maryland, while rain and snow has started along the I-95 corridor from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Atlanta-Hartsfield reported 540 departure delays and almost 400 delays in arriving flights, according to data provided by FlightStats, a flight tracking service, while Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport reported 300 departure delays and over 250 arrival delays.

As of 11 p.m. eastern time, 7,300 delays were reported nationwide on Sunday.  There were almost 7,500 delays reported on Sunday.

Other airports reporting delays in the hundreds include Charlotte Douglas International, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver International, George Bush Intercontinental in Houston, and Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, a total of 484 fights were cancelled in the U.S. today and 399 were cancelled on Saturday.

The great number of delays was reported by Southwest Airlines at 1,198, ExpressJet with 890, American Airlines and its regional subsidiary American Eagle which reported 771, and Delta Air Lines, with 660.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)