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Dec. 26 (UPI) — Winter Storm Devin is slowing road traffic and impacting flights amid post-holiday travel in the Great Lakes and Northeast, while torrential rain and localized flooding are affecting travel in California.

Airlines for America estimated a record 52.6 million airline passengers from Dec. 19 through Jan. 5, with Friday and Saturday seeing the most, CNBC reported.

The record number of flight passengers means a large number of passengers will be affected by flight cancellations and delays due to the stormy weather.

A total of 5,902 flights were delayed and 1,865 canceled so far at U.S. airports as of 5 p.m. EST on Friday, according to FlightAware.

The airport affected the most is John F. Kennedy International, with 153 outbound flights canceled and 143 delayed, and another 220 inbound flights canceled and 67 delayed and affecting about 45% of inbound and outbound flights.

Newark Liberty International in New Jersey has 104 outbound flights canceled and 163 delayed, and 140 inbound flights are canceled and 98 delayed.

New York City’s LaGuardia Airport also has a significant number of flights impacted, with 87 outbound flights canceled and 97 delayed, and 153 inbound flights canceled and 43 delayed.

The airlines most impacted are Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Republic and Southwest, but virtually all airlines have scheduled flights affected, so travelers are advised to check well ahead and watch for updates before traveling to respective airports.

AAA earlier forecast 109.5 million people would travel more than 50 miles by car to reach their holiday destinations over Christmas, millions of whom could encounter very poor driving conditions while heading home.

Snow, sleet and freezing rain in the Northeast and Great Lakes have triggered an ice storm warning in central and western Pennsylvania, while southern New York and the Tri-State area are subject to a winter storm warning into Saturday.

Stormy weather also continues in Southern California and along the West Coast, with heavy rainfall causing flooding, mudslides and debris flows in low-lying areas and snowstorms at higher elevations.

SACRAMENTO — A day after a judge found that Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante’s fund-raising practices violated state law, a state senator wrote to Bustamante’s lawyers demanding that he cancel any remaining advertising paid for with disputed donations.

“To fail to do so is open defiance of the judge’s order” that the money in question be returned, said the letter sent Tuesday by state Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine), whose lawsuit led to the ruling.

Superior Court Judge Loren McMaster of Sacramento on Monday said Bustamante should not have spent funds that he raised in excess of current state limits, although the money went into an account created before the limits took effect. Bustamante’s violation was in moving the money to a new account and then spending it on the ads, McMaster ruled.

The judge issued a preliminary injunction that forbids Bustamante to transfer any more of the disputed money to his current campaign.

Bustamante campaign strategist Richie Ross said the money, as much as $4 million, had been spent. The ads it paid for were in opposition to Proposition 54, an initiative that will share the Oct. 7 ballot with the recall measure.

On Tuesday, Ross said the ads paid for by the disputed money will expire Thursday, and commercials airing as of Friday will be paid for by money that is not a focus of the lawsuit.

“We’re going to obey the court’s order,” Ross said. “We will do that to the letter.”

Bustamante accepted donations of $100,000 to $1.5 million in the old account from labor unions and Indian tribes. He then established the new fund to oppose Proposition 54, the initiative that would restrict government’s ability to collect some racial and ethnic data.

The anti-Proposition 54 ads he paid for were taped at a Bustamante-for-governor campaign rally and feature him denouncing the initiative. Johnson contended that the ads were an integral part of Bustamante’s campaign to replace Gov. Gray Davis if he is recalled.

Bustamante began airing the commercials last week. The cost of airing television ads statewide is about $2 million per week.

Johnson said that if Bustamante refuses to cancel the remaining ads and obtain refunds from television stations, he will ask McMaster to hold Bustamante in contempt of Monday’s order.

“They have an obligation to say when and where and how they’ve spent that money, and whether it is irretrievable,” Johnson said.