Tag Archives: Canceled Flights

At least 12 dead as Arctic freeze spreads into U.S. Northeast

Desolate Wrigley Field is seen at sunset during subzero temperatures carried by the polar vortex, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Pinar Istek

(Reuters) – The blast of Arctic air that brought record-breaking cold, causing at least a dozen deaths and canceling or delaying thousands of flights in the U.S. Midwest, spread eastward on Thursday, bringing frigid misery to the Northeast.

A forecast for warmer weather by the weekend offered little comfort to those enduring icy conditions, brutal winds and temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34 Celsius).

“This morning is some of the coldest of the temperatures across the Upper Midwest, and we still have some dangerous wind chills,” Andrew Orrison, a forecaster for the National Weather Service, said in a phone interview.

In Minnesota and Upper Michigan, temperatures will be at minus 20F (minus 29C) on Thursday and parts of North Dakota can expect minus 30F, forecasters warned.

The bitter cold was caused by displacement of the polar vortex, a stream of air that normally spins around the stratosphere over the North Pole but whose current was disrupted. It pushed eastward and states including Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania experienced bitterly cold temperatures. The overnight low in Boston was at minus 5F (minus 21C), according to the National Weather Service.

“This morning is the worst of the worst in terms of the cold,” Orrison said. “It’ll be the coldest outbreak of Arctic air (so far this winter) for the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast.”

Desolate Wrigley Field is seen at sunset during subzero temperatures carried by the polar vortex, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Pinar Istek

Desolate Wrigley Field is seen at sunset during subzero temperatures carried by the polar vortex, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Pinar Istek

It has been more than 20 years since a similar Arctic blast covered a swath of the Midwest and Northeast, according to the weather service.

The cold has caused at least 12 deaths since Saturday across the Midwest, according to officials and news media reports. Some died in weather-related traffic accidents, others from apparent exposure to the elements.

Videos this week showed boiling water freezing as it was tossed in the air in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and transit workers in Chicago setting fire to train tracks to keep them from locking up.

Even parts of the South, such as the mountains of Kentucky, Tennessee and upper Georgia, will be in the single digits, the weather service said.

More than 30 record lows were shattered across the Midwest. Some areas only saw a high of minus 10F (minus 23F) on Wednesday.

The lowest temperature recorded that day was minus 40F (minus 40C) in International Falls, Minnesota, just south of Canada. The city, dubbed the “Icebox of the Nation,” saw temperatures drop another 5 degrees F early on Thursday.

U.S. homes and businesses used record amounts of natural gas for heating on Wednesday, according to preliminary results from financial data provider Refinitiv.

But the picture was set to change. By the weekend, Chicago, which experienced near-record cold of minus 23F (minus 30C) on Wednesday and minus 21F (minus 29C) on Thursday, was expected to bask in snow-melting highs in the mid-40s to low 50s Fahrenheit. So will other parts of the Midwest.

“It’s going to feel quite balmy in comparison,” Orrison said.

The weather caused hundreds of traffic accidents, including a chain-reaction collision of about two dozen cars in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during a whiteout on Wednesday, local media reported.

More than 2,500 flights were canceled and more than 3,500 were delayed on Thursday morning, most of them out of Chicago’s O’Hare International and Midway International airports, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware.com.

General Motors Co suspended operations at 11 Michigan plants and it’s Warren Tech Center after a utility made an emergency appeal to users to conserve natural gas after extreme cold and a fire at a compressor station. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV  also canceled a shift on Thursday at two of its plants.

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Suzannah Gonzales and Karen Pierog in Chicago, Gina Cherelus in New York, and Alex Dobuzinskis and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Larry King, Bill Trott and Jonathan Oatis)

Two die in Ireland, Northern Ireland as Storm Ali strikes

People look out at rough sea from Slea Head during Storm Ali in Coumeenoole, Ireland, September 19, 2018. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

DUBLIN/BELFAST (Reuters) – A woman died on Wednesday when high winds blew her caravan off a cliff in the Irish Republic and a man died in Northern Ireland as Storm Ali grounded flights and left over 200,000 people across the island without electricity.

Irish police said the body of the woman, who was in her 50s, was recovered on a beach in the village of Claddaghduff in the western county of Galway after her caravan fell from the cliff above.

Police in the British province of Northern Ireland said later on Wednesday an engineer working for the Northern Ireland Water utility was killed in an incident involving a tree.

Some 126,000 homes and businesses were without electricity in the Irish Republic due to gale force winds that reached over 140 kilometers per hour, down from an earlier peak of 186,000, while power cuts hit another 90,000 homes north of the border.

More than 50 flights in and out of Dublin airport were canceled.

Ireland’s National Meteorological Service said severe gusts would persist in some areas but that, particularly in the west of the country, winds would continue to abate through the late afternoon and evening.

Three people died in Ireland last October when Tropical Storm Ophelia whipped up 10-metre high waves and battered every corner of the country.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin in Dublin and Ian Graham in Belfast; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Southwest cancels more U.S. flights as it inspects engines

Emergency personnel monitor the damaged engine of Southwest Airlines Flight 1380, which diverted to Philadelphia International Airport after the engine blew apart and shattered a window, killing one passenger, on a runway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 17, 2018. REUTERS/Mark Makela

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Southwest Airlines canceled more flights on Monday as it worked to complete inspections of engines like the one that failed last week in a deadly accident over Pennsylvania.

Flightaware.com, a website that tracks aviation cancellations, said Southwest canceled 129 flights on Monday, or 3 percent of its total flights, and delayed 468 other flights, or 11 percent. By contrast, other major U.S. carriers had each canceled four or fewer flights on Monday, the website said.

Southwest said the cancellations were the result of the company’s announcement last Tuesday that it would begin voluntarily stepping up inspections of some CFM56-7B engines over the next 30 days. The airline said on Sunday it canceled about 40 flights.

It said on Monday it anticipated “minimal delays or cancellations each day due to the inspections.”

The company added it “will continue our work to minimize flight disruptions by performing inspections overnight while aircraft are not flying, and utilizing spare aircraft, when available.”

Late on Monday, Representative Bill Shuster, chairman of the U.S. House Transportation Committee, introduced an amendment to a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration that would require regulators to ensure airline engine safety and report to Congress.

The measure would bring airlines, manufacturers, regulators and others “together to share best practices and implement actions to address airline engine safety” and require a review of regulations, guidance, and directives related to airline engine operation. The House is expected to vote on a bill to reauthorize the FAA later this week.

The FAA and European regulators on Friday ordered emergency inspections within 20 days of nearly 700 aircraft engines similar to the one involved in the fatal Southwest engine blowout.

Southwest said the cancellations were not a result of the emergency directive.

The engine explosion on Southwest flight 1380 on Tuesday was caused by a fan blade that broke off, the FAA said. The blast shattered a window, killing a passenger, in the first U.S. airline passenger fatality since 2009. Southwest has declined to answer questions about its CFM56-7B inspection program, including how many engines were inspected before the accident, and if the engine that failed had been inspected and if the new inspections turned up any problems.

A Southwest flight in August 2016 made a safe emergency landing in Florida, after a fan blade separated from the same type of engine and debris ripped a hole above the left wing prompting two service bulletins from engine manufacturer CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric and France’s Safran .

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Ahead of storm, U.S. planes, trains and trucks diverted, canceled

Cars are seen along Deerfield beach near Coral Springs while Hurricane Matthew approaches in Florida

By Nick Carey

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Hundreds of flights have been canceled, Florida airports are being shuttered and train services suspended as Hurricane Matthew heads toward the U.S. southeastern coast, with passengers and goods likely to be stranded or delayed through Saturday.

Atlanta-based Delta Airlines said 130 flights were canceled on Thursday after the airline halted operations at southern Florida airports including Miami. A further 150 will be canceled on Friday as Florida airports further north such as Orlando are affected. Additional cancellations are expected for Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday, the airline said.

A spokeswoman for Chicago-based United Airlines said the company canceled 180 flights from Wednesday through Saturday affecting Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando and Jacksonville.

“This is a very fluid situation, so we are ready to change and cancel more flights as needed,” she said.

American Airlines has canceled flights in southern Florida starting Thursday afternoon, which should resume by midday on  Friday. The airline said Orlando flights will cease late on Thursday afternoon, with a reduced service resuming Saturday morning. Jacksonville flights will cease on Friday morning and  reduced service will resume on Saturday.

Southwest Airlines Co said it had canceled 60 flights for Thursday due to the hurricane.

A FedEx spokeswoman said the package delivery company is implementing unspecified contingency plans but warned of potential service delays or disruptions.

“Contingency plans are being implemented to ensure that shipments arrive at their final destinations as quickly as conditions permit,” said Glenn Zaccara, a spokesman for rival United Parcel Service Inc.

Operations on No. 3 U.S. railroad CSX Corp’s main Florida line from Auburndale into Jacksonville would cease late on Thursday afternoon, spokeswoman Melanie Cost said.

Services from Florida into Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina would be curtailed until after the storm passes, she added.

No. 4 U.S. railroad Norfolk Southern Corp is moving equipment away from Southeast coastal areas and transferring shipments inland to secured rail yards. Traffic en route to affected regions is being held at yards throughout the Norfolk Southern system to alleviate congestion in those areas.

Miami-based trucking and logistics company Ryder System Inc will close its headquarters during the storm, spokesman David Bruce said. But he added that Ryder is “repositioning rental trucks to the affected areas and working to ensure an uninterrupted fuel supply for our customers in the days after the storm passes.”

(Reporting By Nick Carey; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Tongan Volcano Eruption Causes Flight Diversions

Authorities in New Zealand are telling airlines worldwide to avoid Tonga on their international routes following a volcanic eruption.

The Wellington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center says the Hunga Ha’apai volcano near Tonga’s capital city Nuku’alofa is sending a “dark volcanic cloud” 16,000 feet into the air and 10 nautical miles around the island.

Authorities say it’s impossible to know what is happening around the volcano because of the thickness of the volcanic ash cloud.

All flights into Tonga have been cancelled with no announcement as to when they might restart.

Hunga Ha’apai is the same volcano that first appeared roaring out of the Pacific Ocean in 2009 to create an island.

It is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire.