Travel Nightmare: Storms Ground Flights, Close Roads During Holiday Rush 

United States: Severe storms across the western and also here in the southern United States could cause flight delays as millions of holiday travelers are on the move. On one of the busiest travel weekends of the year 2024, thunderstorms with the strong tornadoes, damaging winds, and also large hail which are somehow expected in the South, from Louisiana to Alabama. 

 In the West, strong winds, rain, and heavy snow in the mountains will also cause travel disruptions. 

More than 60 flights have already been cancelled for Friday, and after nearly 800 within, into or out of the US and were fled Thursday many more, 189, were canceled on Thursday, according to FlightAware. 

As reported by the CNN, the Storm Prediction Center warns of strong to locally severe thunderstorms Friday on one of the season’s top three busiest travel days near parts of the central Gulf Coast into including parts of Louisiana and the Panhandle of Florida and central Mississippi and Alabama. Possible are large hail, damaging wind gusts and tornadoes. 

The severe weather threat level will ramp up from north-central Louisiana to west-central Alabama by Saturday, which could lead to flights being diverted around those storms and commuters stalled out by powerful storms on roads. 

“It does look like a storm with a severe weather threat is on the way to Saturday and we definitely have an increasing concern there will be a lot of storms, too,” said Weather Service meteorologist Evan Bentley.  

“We want to make sure that if people are aware of these things as they are kind of a pretty active time of year for holiday travel, that in your corridor or in any vicinity where there’s holiday travel, that people want to be aware they may be in a weather threat.’” 

Storms and possible tornadoes hit some areas of Texas and Louisiana Thursday as the South switched to stormy weather. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had state emergency response resources activated Thursday to deal with the severe weather conditions, he said in an X posting. 

“The Christmas holiday that follows Thanksgiving will bring Texans and visitors from out of state traveling, and now is the time to regularly monitor road conditions, make an emergency plan and follow the advice of state and local officials,” Abbott said in a news release. 

New Jersey also saw travelers’ plans dashed when a huge sinkhole opened up on Interstate 80 in Wharton, closing the interstate in both directions for emergency sinkhole repair by the state Transportation Department.