15,000 flights canceled or delayed as once-in-a-generation bomb cyclone cancels Christmas
Heather Hamilton
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Traveling home for Christmas is growing more chaotic as more than 15,000 more flights have been canceled or delayed as of Friday morning.
The fierce winter storm is blasting multiple states with heavy snow, damaging winds, freezing rain, and frigid temperatures.
Nearly 9,500 flights were delayed as of Friday morning with more than 5,500 more canceled, according to FlightAware.
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On Thursday, more than 30,000 flights were impacted with 6,039 of them being canceled within, into, or out of the United States.
The poor weather conditions have prompted multiple governors, including those of New York, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Georgia, and North Carolina to issue states of emergency.
The storm is being called a “bomb cyclone” for the way it is expected to rapidly intensify.
“All bomb cyclones are not hurricanes,” University of California, Los Angeles, climate scientist Daniel Swain told NBC. “But sometimes, they can take on characteristics that make them look an awful lot like hurricanes, with very strong winds, heavy precipitation and well-defined eye-like features in the middle.”
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The National Weather Service has warned that central and eastern parts of the U.S. will experience “crippling impacts,” as temperatures reach as low as negative 40 degrees in some areas, which can cause frostbite within minutes.
Around 135 million people are under windchill advisories.