A major winter storm slammed into the heart of the nation Sunday, disrupting millions of post-Thanksgiving trips on what is traditionally the heaviest travel day of the year.
Airports from Denver to Detroit turned into scenes of frustration as hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed for hours. Heavy snow, freezing rain, and strong winds forced ground stops at Chicago O’Hare and Midway airports, while ice-coated runways slowed operations across the Midwest and Plains.
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On the roads, conditions proved even more dangerous. Multiple pileups closed stretches of interstate highways in Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, and Michigan. State police reported dozens of crashes, many blamed on black ice that formed after an earlier round of sleet.
The National Weather Service had warned of the storm’s timing days in advance, noting it would hit just as roughly 55 million Americans began the return leg of their holiday journeys. AAA predicted Sunday would surpass every other day in 2025 for total travelers, with most driving and a record number flying.
At O’Hare, one of the nation’s busiest hubs, travelers faced lines that stretched for hours. Departure boards flashed delay after delay, and some passengers gave up and booked hotel rooms for the night.
Transportation officials urged anyone still on the road to drive slowly, keep extra distance, and carry an emergency kit. Salt trucks and snow plows worked around the clock, but forecasters said another band of snow would move through late Sunday into Monday morning, likely prolonging the headaches.
By late Sunday evening, more than 1,200 flights nationwide had been canceled, according to tracking service FlightAware, with Chicago, Denver, and Detroit logging the highest numbers.
For countless families trying to cap off the holiday weekend, the storm served as a harsh reminder that winter travel rarely goes exactly as planned.
