Airports across the Eastern United States grounded numerous flights because of the threat of severe weather on Monday afternoon, leading to thousands of flight delays and cancellations that extended into the evening.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued the temporary ground stops on Monday afternoon for airports in a busy travel corridor linking major U.S. cities, including Baltimore/Washington International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Reagan Washington National Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Dulles International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport, as well as La Guardia Airport and Kennedy International Airport in New York.
The grounding of flights was later extended in Baltimore, New York and Washington as storms moved through those areas.
Many flights were delayed or canceled at the airports where ground stops remained in place on Monday evening, causing a ripple effect of delays across the country, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight information.
The F.A.A. said in a post on social media that it was “rerouting aircraft around the storms heading to the East Coast as much as possible.”
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta had nearly 400 canceled flights and close to 1,000 delayed flights, making it the airport that was most affected by the severe weather threat as of Monday evening, according to FlightAware.
La Guardia Airport in Queens, N.Y., was the second most impacted airport, with more than more than 200 canceled flights and nearly 300 delays by Monday evening, according to FlightAware. Reagan Airport in Arlington, Va., followed closely, with more than 200 delays and nearly 200 canceled flights, the tracking site said.
Lauren McCarthy contributed reporting.
