US winter storm impact: 30 dead as many shiver under ice, flights cancelled, freezing temperatures remain — 5 points

US winter storms have hampered the restart of flight operations at some major hubs, with the industry bracing for further disruptions as another arctic blast looms later this week, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, January 27.

Delta Air Lines Inc. was quoted as saying that unfavorable weather conditions in the Northeast will affect services at its hubs in Boston and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

American Airlines Group Inc. has already axed about 500 mainline and regional services on Tuesday, according to FlightAware, after scrapping more than half of its scheduled flights on Monday.

That’s, however, down from the more than 6,100 cancellations Monday and Sunday’s 11,600 — the most since the early days of the Covid pandemic.

While cancellations are expected to ease by Tuesday, airlines warn that full recovery will take several days. These flight disruptions still underscore the persistent challenges airlines are facing in getting things back on track.

A rising death toll included two people run over by snowplows in Massachusetts and Ohio, fatal sledding accidents that killed teenagers in Arkansas and Texas, and a woman whose body was found covered in snow by police with bloodhounds after she was last seen leaving a Kansas bar.

In New York City, officials said eight people were found dead outdoors over the frigid weekend.

Most of them were in the South, where weekend blasts of freezing rain caused tree limbs and power lines to snap, inflicting crippling outages on northern Mississippi and parts of Tennessee, the Associated Press reported.

Officials warned that it could take days for power to be restored.

In Mississippi, officials scrambled to get cots, blankets, bottled water and generators to warming stations in hard-hit areas in the aftermath of the state's worst ice storm since 1994. At least 14 homes, one business and 20 public roads had major damage, Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday evening.

Several Maryland districts remain closed, while others, including Baltimore City and Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, have shifted to remote learning.

More widespread record cold temperatures were forecast for Tuesday, with eastern Texas through western Pennsylvania under extreme cold warnings, according to the National Weather Service.

In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear warned that the temperatures could be so frigid that as little as 10 minutes outside “could result in frostbite or hypothermia.”

Forecasters said it's possible another winter storm could hit parts of the East Coast this weekend, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that frigid temperatures and freezing rain continue to affect large parts the eastern US, and the National Weather Service has warned of another potential significant winter storm later this week.

That system will bring a blast of arctic air, keeping parts of the US in a deep freeze as it spreads to the East, Southeast and stretches into Florida.

The potential cost of the winter storm is likely to be front of mind for investors when American Air and JetBlue Airways Corp. report fourth-quarter earnings this week.

That earnings period will reflect last year’s US government shutdown, which led to air traffic control staffing shortages at airports across the country that snarled flights.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)