Nearly 4,000 US flights canceled as historic winter storm hits
Forecasters warned that the storm could paralyse eastern states, with heavy ice accumulation and record cold expected to spread through the eastern two-thirds of the nation.
| Photo Credit:
Andrew Nelles/USA Today Network via REUTERS
Almost 4,000 flights were
canceled in the U.S. on Saturday ahead of a monster winter storm
that has already cut power to thousands of utility customers as
far west as Texas, and threatened to paralyze eastern states
with heavy snowfall.
Forecasters said snow, sleet and freezing rain, accompanied by
dangerously frigid temperatures, would sweep the eastern
two-thirds of the nation on Sunday and into next week.
Emergency declarations
Calling the storms “historic,” President Donald Trump on
Saturday approved federal emergency disaster declarations in
South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina,
Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana,
and West Virginia.
“We will continue to monitor, and stay in touch with all
States in the path of this storm. Stay Safe, and Stay Warm,”
Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
State emergencies
Several states and the District of Columbia have declared
weather emergencies.
The U.S. National Weather Service warned of an unusually
expansive and long-duration winter storm that will bring
widespread, heavy ice accumulation in the southeast U.S. and
cited “crippling to locally catastrophic impacts.”
Record cold
Weather service forecasters predicted record cold
temperatures and dangerously cold wind chills descending further
into the Great Plains region of the U.S. by Monday.
As of 5 p.m. EST, more than 3,900 U.S. flights scheduled for
Saturday had been canceled, according to flight tracking website
FlightAware. More than 8,800 U.S. flights originally set for
Sunday also have been canceled, the website indicated.
Airline advisory
Major U.S. airlines warned passengers to stay alert for
abrupt flight changes and cancellations.
In an update on its website on Saturday morning, Delta said
it “continues to make schedule adjustments due to Winter Storm
Fern,” with additional cancellations in the morning for Atlanta
and along the East Coast, including Delta hubs in Boston and New
York City.
The airline said it was relocating experts from cold weather
hubs to support de-icing and baggage teams at several southern
airports.
Utility warning
U.S. electric grid operators on Saturday stepped up precautions
to avoid rotating blackouts.
Dominion Energy, whose Virginia operations include the
largest collection of data centers in the world, said if its ice
forecast holds, it could be among the largest ever winter events
to affect the utility’s operations.
Published on January 25, 2026
