More Flight Cancellations Predicted Due to Late March New England Snowstorm

According to Weather.com there will be a powerful storm developing off the East Coast Tuesday and Wednesday:

Critical questions remain on exact storm track and resulting impacts to Northeastern U.S.

Heavy snow possible in parts of eastern New England and likely in Atlantic Canada

Light accumulating snow probable elsewhere in the Northeast

Coastal flood, high wind threats in coastal New England Wednesday

Precursor disturbance brings light snow to the Midwest Monday and Tuesday

What Should You Do?

If you have travel plans on the East Coast Tuesday and Wednesday – especially to, from, or within New England and Atlantic Canada – it's time to start thinking ahead.

While there is still considerable uncertainty in the forecast, there could be significant impacts to travel. Even the threat of strong winds and snow could prompt airlines to alter flight schedules.

If your travel plans are especially sensitive to weather disruption, you may want to consider moving your flight or your road trip outside of the storm's expected time frame just to be safe. If you are comfortable waiting for more clarity in the forecast, we should have a better grip on the forecast details later Monday. 

Given the uncertainty still involved in the forecast, it is probably still too early to cancel or postpone local events, gatherings, or plans with friends and family that don't involve long-distance travel, unless they're in southeast Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket Island, as well as eastern Maine. It is always a good idea to protect yourself by getting travel insurance. 

Of course, it's never a bad idea to check your preparedness in case a major storm of any kind strikes your community. Although winter is almost over and you may not use them this time, items such as batteries could be useful to have on hand for the Atlantic hurricane season, which begins in just over two months.

Mid-March Snow Causes Havoc in Mid-Atlantic Region

USA TODAY reports that Old Man Winter is not done with air travelers just yet.

The latest winter storm to roil U.S. flight schedules prompted carriers to cancel more than 550 flights across the nation as of 9:10 a.m. ET on Monday, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. Many of those cancellations came in the Washington, D.C., area where 5 to 9 inches of snow fell overnight in the Washington, D.C. area. Philadelphia also saw a higher-than-normal number of cancellations.

American, JetBlue, Southwest, United, US Airways and Virgin America were among the big airlines to waive change fees and ease rebooking rules for travelers ticketed to fly through the region Monday.

At Washington's Reagan National Airport, flights were grounded through much of the morning as crews worked to clear snow from runways and taxiways.

FLIGHT TRACKER : Is your flight on time?

Airport officials said the main runway reopened at 9 a.m. ET Monday morning, paving the way for Monday's schedule to begin at the airport.

Still, the airport warned that "residual delays and cancellations are expected to continue throughout the day. ... Snow crews remain on site to clear the runway open and to clear additional runwayss and taxiways as quickly as possible."

More than 250 flights – 148 arrivals and 121 departures – had been grounded there so far Monday. That figure accounted for close to a third of the airport's total daily schedule, according to FlightAware.

Elsewhere, about 78 combined arrivals and departures – or about 10% of the day's schedule – had been grounded at Washington Dulles as of 6:50 a.m. ET, according to FlightAware.

At Baltimore/Washington International (BWI), about 45 flights – roughly 5% of the day's schedule – had been canceled.

To the north, more than 100 flights had been grounded at Philadelphia. That represented about 8% of the day's schedule at the airport, a busy hub for US Airways.

About 30 flights were canceled at Raleigh-Durham as of 8:20 a.m. ET.