Stormy weather threatens Thanksgiving flights
The busy Thanksgiving holiday travel period got off to a bumpy start for some airline passengers thanks to poor weather across parts of the eastern half of the United States.
Five of the nation"s busiest airports were reporting weather-related delays as of 10:20 a.m. ET, according to the Federal Aviation Administration"s website.
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Departures from Houston Bush Intercontinental were being delayed by an average of about an hour as a long line thunderstorms blocked flight paths near the airport.
To the north, flights bound for Chicago O"Hare faced average delays of about 50 minutes because of poor visibility. Forecasts for Chicago called for rain and low clouds for most of the day.
In the upper Midwest, fog and poor visibility were delaying flights at Omaha by an average of 45 to 60 minutes as of 9:20 a.m. CT, according to the FAA.
In the Northeast, Philadelphia flights were facing delays averaging 2-½ hours because of poor visibility, as of 10:20 a.m. ET. Similar conditions were causing delays of about 45 minutes at Newark Liberty and about 15 minutes at Washington Reagan National.
Conditions in the Northeast were forecast to worsen into Wednesday, potentially snarling air travel at many of the nation"s busiest airports on one of the nation"s busiest days for air travel.
A number of the region"s airports are particularly delay prone in less-than-ideal conditions.
Long delays were possible today and could persist into tomorrow at New York JFK, New York LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and Philadelphia as heavy rain, wind and low clouds were forecast for much of the Northeast starting today