A winter storm is creating travel headaches through a large part of the country as millions make their way home from the Thanksgiving holiday.
The storm in the central and northern Plains will spread over to the Midwest and Great Lakes regions over the weekend with "widespread heavy snowfall and hazardous travel conditions," the National Weather Services (NWS) said on Saturday.
Winter storm warnings and advisories are in effect from South Dakota to portions of Ohio — with the storm already dropping up to 8 inches of snow in some places since Thursday, according to the NWS.
"Snowfall rates exceeding 1"/hour are expected, especially through the day Saturday, leading to storm total accumulations between 6-12," the NWS said Saturday morning. "The combination of heavy snow rates along with gusty winds will create dangerous travel conditions due to limited visibility and snow-covered roadways."
More than 800 flights leaving and coming to Chicago O'Hare International Airport were cancelled on Saturday, according to FlightAware. More than 500 flights in and out of the airport were delayed.
Nearly 82 million people were estimated to travel at least 50 miles for the holiday, with 6 million expected to travel by plane, according to AAA.
Car crashes related to the winter storm were also reported, with the Missouri State Highway Patrol posting on social media Saturday morning that it was investigating at least nine crashes in the central part of the state. Officials are warning travelers to stay off the roads.
"As snow makes its way across Missouri, continue to delay your travel in the heaviest weather impacted areas, if possible," the Missouri Department of Transportation said in a social media post.
While the northern and central U.S. will have snow and icy conditions Saturday into Sunday, parts of Texas and Louisiana could experience heavy rain and risks of isolated flooding.
A new storm system forecast to develop Monday will spread to the East Coast on Tuesday, bringing heavy snow to the northern mid-Atlantic and New England, including Pennsylvania and Maine. It will also bring heavy rain to the Southeast, according to NWS meteorologist Andrew Orrison. He said Monday will be the best day for those traveling home from the holiday.
"Tuesday the travel conditions will be worse as there will be more of a widespread impact for rainfall," Orrison told NPR. "And also, if you get far enough north, areas getting snow, that'll be accumulating."
Weather-related delays are also coinciding with disruptions caused by mandatory software upgrades to Airbus A320 aircraft.
Airbus on Friday told airlines to take immediate action to upgrade the software in the aircraft, warning there could be an issue with flight controls. The Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency directive Friday night requiring airlines using A320s to upgrade the software before the planes can fly again. The upgrade must be completed by 12:01 a.m. Sunday.
Several airlines, including American and United, told NPR on Friday night that they had begun upgrading software in affected aircraft and were working to minimize flight delays.
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