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Winter storm warnings from Virginia to Maine bring snow that could get anywhere from 3 to 6 inches and 6 to 9 inches. VPC
Last update: 9:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Nov. 26. Next update: By 12:30 p.m. ET
Flight schedules for this year's busy day before Thanksgiving took a hit before the day even began.
Airlines scrapped more than 210 flights for Wednesday -- one of the USA's busiest air travel days of the year -- all before the clock struck midnight on Tuesday. All told, flight-tracking service FlightAware counted 214 Wednesday cancellations as of 11:50 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
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That number grew even more on Wednesday morning, climbing to about 340 as of 9:25 a.m. ET, according to FlightAware.
U.S. carriers have increasingly decided to preemptively cancel flights in recent years when poor weather was forecast to hit busy airports, and that trend appears to be playing out again for this latest storm. Wednesday's preemptive cancellations came as an approaching winter storm threatened to snarl flights at the peak of the Thanksgiving travel rush.
Nearly a half of the early Wednesday cancellations came at just two airports: New York LaGuardia and Newark Liberty. About 8% of Wednesday's entire schedule had already been grounded at Newark and 7% at LaGuardia as of 9:25 a.m. ET, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. Most of those cancellations were made Tuesday evening.
FLIGHT TRACKER : Is your flight on time?
USA TODAY WEATHER: Winter storm targets East Coast for Thanksgiving Eve
Washington Reagan National, Boston, New York JFK, Westchester County, N.Y., and Hartford, Conn., also had an unusual number of preemptive cancellations for Wednesday.
All of those airports are in the path of a storm that's bring mess weather and strong winds to East Coast's biggest cities. Still, more than 200 of Wednesday's cancellations came even before the first rain drops or snowflakes fell in those cities.
Regional airlines were hit hardest by Wednesday's cancellations. Of the 342 counted by FlightAware as of 9:25 a.m. Wednesday, more than 250 were on regional carriers like Shuttle America, ExpressJet and Republic. Those carriers fly as regional affiliates for the nation's big airlines, including American, Delta and United.
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JetBlue had already canceled 30 Wednesday flights, the most among the big "mainline" airlines as of 9:25 a.m. ET on Wednesday. Southwest had 15 Wednesday cancellations, Delta 14 and American/US Airways 13, according to FlightAware.
FlightAware CEO Daniel Baker said in an e-mail Tuesday evening that "we expect the number of cancellations to rise" and predicted "thousands of delays ... will cause moderate disruption to Thanksgiving travelers."
Baker added that "due to the holiday, flights will be more full and there will be fewer available seats to accommodate displaced passengers, exacerbating the situation."
Precipitation in the East's big cities began as rain in coastal areas, though snow was falling by 9:30 a.m. ET in many interior areas.
As much as a half-foot of snow was possible north and west of the New York City area, but smaller totals were likely for Manhattan. Totals for the other big cities included 1 to 3 inches in Boston and maybe a wet slushy inch in Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia.
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In anticipation of the poor weather, nearly every big U.S. airline had moved by Tuesday afternoon to waive rebooking fees to cities in the storm's path.
The delay-prone airports of New York JFK, New York LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and Philadelphia seemed all but sure to experience additional weather disruptions Wednesday. The airports in those cities typically struggle with delays and cancellations even in moderate wind and precipitation. Those airports would be unlikely to see flights come to a halt in Wednesday's expected conditions, but dozens of cancellations and hundreds of delays were possible at each airport by the day's end.
In Boston, the city's Logan International Airport typically continues mostly normal operations even in moderate snow. But if the Nor'easter's track changes, heavier snow or icy conditions could lead to problems. Heavier snow farther inland could disrupt operations if airport and airline workers are unable to get to the airport from Boston's suburbs. In interior New England, airports remained on alert as up to a foot of snow was forecast to blanket the region on Wednesday.
In the mid-Atlantic, the busy Washington Dulles, Washington Reagan National and Baltimore/Washington airports typically can handle light snow with few problems, though an extended period of freezing rain or icy conditions could complicate operations. Dulles sits right at the edge of where the rain-snow line was expected to be Wednesday, something worth watching for fliers headed through that airport on Wednesday.
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