More than 6,200 flight delays within, into, or out of the US according to flight tracking website FlightAware which showed that total US flight cancellations stood at around 2,700, as per Reuters.
The effects of a massive winter storm that had dumped a lot of snow in certain parts and brought dangerously low temperatures to much of the country continued to cause havoc on Christmas Day in many parts of the country as well as Canada.
32 people have died in the storm, hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses have lost electricity, thousands of flights have been canceled, and at least one boil water advisory has been issued.
Millions of people in the US are enduring the extreme cold, which has brought with it terrible traffic jams and blackouts. Tens of thousands of people had their Christmas weekend plans disrupted by the storm, which brought agony.
According to reports, the number is expected to rise as some motorists have reportedly been trapped inside their cars.
As it pounded regions, the storm delivered hurricane-force winds and whiteout conditions. All kinds of transportation – planes, trains, and vehicles – were disrupted due to the storm this holiday weekend, closing hundreds of miles of road and air travel cancellations.
Winter storms have increased in frequency and intensity over the past 70 years, according to the U.S. Global Change Research Program. This is in part due to climate change, according to the Environmental Defense Fund, because the planet evaporates more water into the atmosphere as it warms, leading to more overall precipitation.
Passenger railroad Amtrak canceled dozens of trains through Christmas, disrupting holiday travel for thousands.
