Updated December 1, 2025 at 12:23 AM EST
A heavy winter storm continued to blanket large parts of the country on Sunday, leading to crashes and disrupting travel plans for millions returning home from the Thanksgiving holiday.
The National Weather Service (NWS) warned that parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes regions could see up to 12 inches of snow by the end of Sunday, as a second storm threatened the East Coast.
"As one winter storm ends for the Midwest/Great Lakes, another potential storm will follow quickly for New England and the Mid-Atlantic," the NWS said Sunday morning. The agency said the second storm would likely bring a mix of snow and ice, causing more potential disruptions as people return back to school and work next week.
Snow and ice will create slick travel conditions in western Montana and parts of Idaho, with 3 to 6 inches of snow forecast for Monday into Tuesday, according to the NWS.
The weekend storm over the Midwest began to slow Sunday, leaving behind strong winds that reduced visibility and kept road crews busy cleaning major highways. In Chicago, residents woke up to over 8.5 inches of snow Sunday morning, with wind gusts of up to 35 mph expected to continue throughout the day.
Nearly 1,300 flights to and from Chicago O'Hare International Airport had been delayed and more than 280 had been canceled, according to FlightAware data Sunday evening. The airport received 8.4 inches of snow on Saturday, making it the snowiest November day in Chicago's recorded history, according to the NWS. The previous record was 8.0 inches on Nov. 6, 1951.
A Delta Air Lines plane slid off the runway at Des Moines International Airport before 10:00 p.m. local time Saturday. Airport operations resumed before noon local time on Sunday.
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 across the Midwest region.
Indiana State Police responded to a 45-car pileup on Saturday that temporarily closed a portion of Interstate 70 near Putnamville, south of Indianapolis.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol posted on social media Saturday that it had responded to 26 crashes across the state. Officials warned travelers about more accumulation on Monday.
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.
American Airlines, the U.S. carrier with the largest A320 fleet, said it had updated all of its planes by Saturday afternoon.
Copyright 2025 NPR
