Storm causes 2,510 U.S. flight disruptions

U.S. flight disruptions mounted on Wednesday, September 2, as weather tied to Edouard and thunderstorms in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic snarled operations at major airports. The Federal Aviation Administration said its daily air traffic report for Wednesday was updated for expected impacts to normal operations, while the agency’s National Airspace System dashboard showed active ground stops and delay programs at several airports. The National Hurricane Center said Edouard had weakened to a tropical depression by Wednesday afternoon but was still producing “significant flash flooding” across East Texas. Travel reports circulating Wednesday put total U.S. disruptions at 2,510, including 1,017 delays. ### Which airports were under the most pressure on Wednesday? LaGuardia Airport in New York was under a ground delay program on Wednesday afternoon because of thunderstorms, according to the FAA’s airport-status page. The agency listed an average delay of 1 hour and 25 minutes, with departure delays ranging from 1 hour and 1 minute to 1 hour and 15 minutes and an end time of 3:45 p.m. EDT. Baltimore/Washington International and Reagan Washington National were also under ground stops earlier Wednesday, the FAA’s National Airspace System dashboard showed. The dashboard listed BWI with a ground stop from 9:23 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. PDT due to thunderstorms and DCA with a ground stop from 11:27 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. PDT, also due to thunderstorms. ### What role did Edouard play in the wider disruption? The National Hurricane Center said at 2 p.m. EDT on Wednesday that Tropical Depression Edouard was producing significant flash flooding across East Texas. (faa.gov) The center’s active-cyclones page and advisory archive showed Edouard remained an active system on September 2 after earlier advisories as a tropical storm. The FAA said its daily air traffic report is intended to show “reasonable expectation” of impacts to normal air traffic operations, including delays, ground stoppages and airport closures. (nasstatus.faa.gov) The agency said the report is for planning purposes and advised travelers to check with their airline for flight-specific information. ### Why did disruption totals vary across reports? Travel tallies varied by source and time of day on Wednesday. One set of reports cited 2,510 U.S. flight disruptions, including 1,017 delays, while other outlet reports cited about 899 delays and 126 cancellations during LaGuardia-related disruption and broader hub problems. (nhc.noaa.gov) The FAA’s public dashboards do not publish a single nationwide disruption total on the pages reviewed Wednesday, but they do show airport-by-airport traffic management programs changing through the day. (faa.gov) That means counts reported by trackers and travel outlets can differ depending on when they were captured and whether they include delays, cancellations, diversions or airport-specific programs. ### Was Delta’s Lagos-Atlanta problem part of Wednesday’s storm event? Delta’s Lagos-to-Atlanta disruption cited in recent travel coverage was a separate late-August episode, not part of Wednesday’s weather programs. The earlier reports said back-to-back cancellations on that route left some passengers stranded for days. Wednesday’s FAA and weather notices pointed instead to a network shaped by thunderstorms and storm-related constraints across multiple regions. The active programs listed by the FAA centered on weather at airports including LaGuardia, Baltimore/Washington and Reagan National. ### What should travelers watch next? The FAA said travelers can monitor the agency’s airport-status pages, the National Airspace System dashboard and the daily air traffic report for updated delay and ground-stop information. The National Hurricane Center said Edouard remained on its advisory archive and active-cyclones pages on Wednesday, September 2, as flooding continued in East Texas. (faa.gov) (nasstatus.faa.gov)