Winter storm cancels flights, delays office and school openings

Washington, DC, United States (4E) – A winter storm affecting the Midwest and Northeast forced airlines to cancel more than 780 flights onMonday, according to flight tracker FlightAware. Freezing rain also delayed the opening of federal office and schools in Washington, D.C.

Northeast airports made the most flight cancellations as of 6:50 p.m. ET. Newark Liberty cancelled 160 departures and arrivals. Philadelphia cancelled 117 flights while New York LaGuardia cancelled 102.

In other airports, cancelled flights numbered 87 at Washington Reagan National, 86 at Chicago O’Hare, 51 at Minneapolis/St. Paul, 51 at Detroit, 29 at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids and 24 at Boston.

Flights bound for Philadelphia, Newark, New York LaGuardia and New York JFK were also delayed by half or two hours, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Flight tracker FlightStats counted 4,300 delayed flights across the U.S.

In Colorado, 29 flights at Denver and 23 at Aspen were cancelled.

Meanwhile, federal offices in the capital opened at noon on Monday as a mix of ice and snow started falling in the area at 4 a.m. and made roads icy and dangerous.

Schools in the District and Alexandria and in Montgomery, Prince George’s, Prince William, Howard, Spotsylvania, Frederick and Charles counties opened two hours late on Monday. There was no classes at all in Arlington and Loudoun counties.

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