Jan. 23 (UPI) — The snowfall and ice from a winter storm is expected to impact much of the United States beginning Friday and has triggered thousands of flight cancellations.
Total flight cancellations within, into or out of the United States for Saturday numbered 2,179, as of Friday, flight-tracking website FlightAware reported.
American Airlines was the most-affected airline, with 583 cancellations and one delay announced, followed by Southwest, which had 497 cancellations and 7 delays on record.
American Airlines subsidiary Envoy Air had another 261 flights canceled and one delay, followed by SkyWest with 176 cancellations and one delay.
Another American Airlines subsidiary, PSA Airlines, had 136 flights cancelled, but no delays.
The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, by far, reported the most cancellations, with 595 outgoing flights, 68%, and 529 incoming flights, 61%, canceled. Two incoming flights were delayed.
Nashville International Airport was the next-most impacted, with 127 outgoing and 143 incoming flights canceled, accounting for 54% and 60% of scheduled flights, respectively. No flights were delayed there.
The storm system could affect more than 230 million of the nation’s estimated population of 349 million as it brings snow and ice to 34 states in the South, Midwest and Northeast, The Weather Channel reported.
The storm is expected to deliver snowfall totals ranging from a couple of inches to more than 2 feet in areas from the Mountain West, through the Central United States and into the Northeast over the next three days.
New England states were expected to be especially impacted by the storm system that was predicted to last from Saturday through Monday.
Icy conditions also were expected across most southern states, where freezing rain was predicted and equipment is scarce for counteracting such bad weather.
Strong and gusting winds were expected to accompany the storm system, which could cause blizzard conditions in snowy areas and drop the wind chill to -50 degrees Fahrenheit.