Why Did a Winter Storm Ground Over 1,200 US Flights, Hitting Charlotte Hardest?

A powerful winter storm caused widespread US flight cancellations on February 1 as the system moved out to sea.

More than 1,200 flights were scrubbed across the country. This followed nearly 2,500 cancellations on January 31, during the storm's peak. The disruption highlights the challenges of winter storm aviation in the US Southeast.

Heaviest Impact at Charlotte Douglas

Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) saw the highest number of grounded flights. As of 10:30 am New York time, 809 inbound and outbound trips at CLT were cancelled. This data was reported by the airline tracking company FlightAware. The airport is a major hub, meaning cancellations there ripple across the entire US air travel network.

The storm, identified as a "bomb cyclone," brought nearly a foot (30cm) of snow to the Charlotte region. This snowfall was one of the top-five snow events ever recorded for the city. Airlines, including major hub operator American Airlines, were forced to sharply reduce their schedules.

Regional Deep Freeze and Infrastructure Strain

The powerful storm has also left a deep freeze across the East Coast and South. This is the second major winter weather event in as many weeks. Frigid temperatures have tested regional power grids as heating demand spikes.

In the Carolinas, Duke Energy asked customers to reduce energy use. The utility requested conservation from 4 am to 10 am local time on February 2. This voluntary reduction aimed to avoid temporary power outages from the high demand.

The cold air reached exceptionally far south. Snow was reported in Tampa, Florida, on February 1. Miami also recorded a temperature of 2 degrees Celsius (35 degrees Fahrenheit). This was the city's coldest morning since 2010. The cold weather has even threatened Florida’s lucrative citrus crops.

In addition to the East Coast travel disruption, nearly 178,000 homes and businesses were without power. These outages were mainly across Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, and Louisiana. Many of these areas were still recovering from an ice storm that damaged transmission lines the previous week. Forecasters predict temperatures will moderate slightly in the coming week, but they will remain below normal.

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