Flights canceled, roads closed as storms hit US holiday travel

Naureen S. Malik and John Gittelsohn, Bloomberg News on Dec 26, 2025

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Major storms on both U.S. coasts and into the upper Midwest are disrupting travel plans during the busy postholiday period when many Americans are making their way back home.

More than 1,600 flights across the United States had been canceled as of 1:30 p.m. Eastern time Friday, according to the FlightAware website. There were more than 19,000 flight delays.

New York City’s three major airports — LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark — were hit hard by the disruptions, with as much as 9 inches of snow forecast for the areas. Detroit, Philadelphia and Boston airports also saw cancellations and delays. Heavy rains, mudslides and flooding prompted road closures in California, while the Great Lakes region faces accumulating ice.

The disruptions are striking at one of the busiest travel times of the year. A record number of Americans were projected to venture at least 50 miles from home during the Dec. 20-Jan. 1 period, the American Automobile Association forecast, up about 2% from last year.

What’s making the flooding, blizzards, snow and ice especially dangerous is that more travelers were expected to choose roads over flights this year. About 109.5 million Americans were projected to drive for their holiday plans this year, according to the AAA outlook. Some 8 million were forecast to fly.

JetBlue Airways Corp. was the carrier with the most cancellations on Friday, at 225, according to FlightAware. That was followed by Delta Air Lines Inc., with more than 200.

JetBlue said in an emailed statement it canceled about 350 flights between Friday and Saturday, primarily in the Northeast. “We are working to assist affected customers with rescheduling,” the company said.

The extreme weather comes amid the return of La Niña, the pattern marked by a cooling of Pacific waters that can disrupt economies and trigger disasters worldwide.

“La Niña winters are notorious for their volatility, and we are certainly getting a healthy serving of that this holiday season,” said Matt Rogers, president of the Commodity Weather Group. “The weather models have been struggling to keep up with all the moving parts and variations in the forecast.”

New York City issued a travel advisory for Friday evening into Saturday as cold temperatures limit snowmelt, increasing the risk of slippery and hazardous road conditions. Pennsylvania residents were warned to prepare for power outages because of the severe winter weather. And in California, flooding, storm damage and debris led to dozens of road closures in the Los Angeles area alone, county data show, with further closures and disruptions reported throughout the state.

While winter weather can lead to soaring demand for electricity — crimping power supplies — so far, grids aren’t showing signs of stress. Still, the colder temperatures are helping to lift prices for U.S. natural gas, used as a fuel for home heating. Futures rose as much as 3.4% on Friday.

New York

New York City is in line to get 5 to 9 inches of snow between 4 p.m. Friday to 1 p.m. Saturday, local time, according to the National Weather Service.

A winter storm warning stretched from NYC to northeast New Jersey and into the Lower Hudson Valley and parts of Long Island and Connecticut, according to the National Weather Service. Some areas could see snowfall top 10 inches in the heaviest bands, the agency said.

“Road conditions will be treacherous for those traveling back from the holiday,” the weather service said.

California

After days of deluge in California, a final system bringing bands of moderate to heavy rain will move across the state Friday, threatening flash floods and mudslides.

The National Weather Service canceled flash flood warnings Friday but retained flood advisories and watches through San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

Los Angeles County extended evacuation orders for areas through 1 p.m. Pacific time, the sheriff’s office posted. More than 50,000 homes and businesses in the state were without power Friday morning, mostly in Northern California, according to PowerOutage.us.

At Mammoth Mountain ski resort, the forecast called for 12 to 18 inches of fresh snow amid fierce winds gusting as high as 60 miles per hour.

In California’s mountain areas, the weather service has warned of “near whiteout conditions at times” that will make travel dangerous and likely cause delays and road closures.

Midwest

A combination of freezing rain, sleet and snow will create hazardous travel conditions from the Great Lakes into New England and the mid-Atlantic through Saturday morning, according to the weather service.

The upper Midwest may see “a swath of snow and ice blossoming” Friday morning before a clipper system bumping up against a high pressure system in eastern Canada feeds cold air south over the border, bringing precipitation.

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(With assistance from Brian K. Sullivan and Cailley LaPara.)