These Are the Weather Conditions Most Likely to Cancel or Delay Your Flight

21.08.2024 - 15:00 / afar.com

There are myriad reasons your flight might be delayed or canceled, from crew members calling out sick to animals wandering onto the runway. But the most common reason is weather.

According to the FAA, more than 75 percent of all air traffic delays of 15 minutes or more are caused by weather events, such as low visibility, hail, high winds at takeoff, and thunderstorms.

However, not all of them have an equally hindering effect on travel. The impact often depends on the severity of the weather and where it is happening. This is everything you need to know about how weather can affect your travels.

According to Jennifer Stroozas, the warning coordination meteorologist with the Aviation Weather Center (AWC), a government agency connected to the National Weather Service, the decision-making processfor flight delays or cancellations due to weather is a collaborative effort. The AWC, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the individual airlines work together as a three-party system to respond to weather threats that could disrupt air traffic plans. But the final call for cancellations at a given airport is made by the individual airport.

The determination is initiated at the AWC headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. This organization, staffed by expert meteorologists, is responsible for analyzing atmospheric conditions, developing forecasts for potential hazards, and issuing advisories. These advisories are then sent to the FAA Command Center in Warrenton, Virginia.

“We have meteorologists there providing updates to weather, letting the FAA know where it is, where it’s developing, where they can expect it to move,” Stroozas said. “It really is this interesting balance between us gathering the weather-hazard information specific for aviation, and then our FAA partners taking that information and figuring out what to do with it.”

Per the FAA, that involves routing “aircraft away from dangerous weather and [potentially delaying] flights that are scheduled to land at or depart from airports that are experiencing severe weather.”

Stroozas added that many airlines have their own meteorologists, who are also communicating with the FAA and AWC to share the information they’ve gathered. “There’s a whole lot of collaboration happening every day to get people where they need to go safely,” Stroozas said.

Thunder and lightning are a common cause of flight delays, especially during the summer.

“Thunderstorms and airplanes don’t mix well, so everybody tries to do their best to keep them as separated as possible,” Stroozas said. She added that the storms can cause severe turbulence and if there’s also hail, its force could damage the plane.

Winter storms are another major disruptor. Snow and ice can accumulate