Travel
Storms and tornadoes? Bad weather in forecast for holiday travel.
Weather hazards slow post-holiday travel across the US
The Midwest, South and Northwest may see post-holiday travel slowdowns due to severe weather.
Rounds of storms battered the south-central U.S. and Pacific Northwest with heavy rain and snow on Thursday, frustrating many traveling the day after Christmas as several airports temporarily grounded flights and reported delays.
Beginning Thursday afternoon, widespread thunderstorms were expected to spread from southeastern Oklahoma through eastern Texas and parts of Arkansas and Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service.
“Given sufficient energy and a pronounced change in wind speed and direction with height in the atmosphere, all modes of severe weather are on the table, including hail, flooding, high winds and isolated tornadoes,” Gwen Fieweger an AccuWeather meteorologist said in an online forecast.
Houston, which saw heavy bands of rain that prompted flight delays on Christmas Eve, faces an enhanced risk of thunderstorms on Thursday, according to AccuWeather. The storms could persist in the region through the weekend, threatening additional rainfall, hail and possible tornadoes across Louisiana and Alabama.
The weather service office in Fort Worth, Texas, issued flash flood warnings across multiple counties Thursday morning as some areas reported quarter-sized hail and wind gusts as high as 50 mph.
“Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly,” the warning said. “Flooding is more likely for areas that received heavy rain on Christmas Eve. Be extra vigilant about flooding if the ground near your location is already saturated.”
Atmospheric river brings storms to West
Meanwhile, in the West, a dayslong stretch of poor weather is showing no signs of slowing.
An atmospheric river, which has brought multiple rounds of severe storms to the Pacific Northwest this week, will further drench the region. On Thursday, forecasters with the weather service anticipate 1 to 3 inches of rain from northwestern California through western Oregon and the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, with “some instances of flooding where rainfall rates are highest.”
From Thursday night into Friday morning, an additional 1 to 2 inches of rain is expected along with potentially damaging winds and heavy snow over the Cascades and Olympic Mountains.
“Since the ground is already soaked from prior storms, any additional rainfall through Friday will increase the threat for flooding and mudslides, especially across burn scar areas and along short-run rivers out of the Cascades,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Tyler Roys.
As the storm system moves inland, snow will pile up over the high terrain of the Northern Rockies.
Winter storm warnings were in effect across much of the Northwest, from northern California to Washington, Montana, Idaho, Nevada and Utah, according to the weather service.
Storms lead to grounded flights, airport delays
As rounds of showers and thunderstorms battered the Northwest and multiple southern states, delays and cancellations began piling up at airports.
Flights at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport were temporarily grounded “due to thunderstorms,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration. At 10:45 a.m., delays at the major airport averaged around 45 minutes. More than 200 flights were canceled and over 150 were delayed Thursday morning, according to FlightAware.
San Francisco International Airport saw its flights temporarily grounded because of high winds, according to the FAA.
Other airports, including those in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Salt Lake City were spraying planes with deicing fluid.
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
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