Winter storm brings travel chaos to Northeast as ground stop halts flights at major airports

14 Dec 2025 • 11:59 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

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Winter weather blasting the Northeast on Sunday saw ground stops put in place at New York’s main airports and Philadelphia International Airport.

The ground stop meant that departing flights were temporarily paused at their terminal gates, causing lengthy delays for incoming and departing flights.

The stops began at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport around 8 a.m. ET and were expected to be lifted around 10.30 a.m. ET., according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

More than 1,000 flights coming into JFK weren delayed, stated the FAA.

“Due to snow or ice, this is causing some arriving flights [into JFK] to be delayed an average of three hours and 16 minutes, not exceeding four hours and 53 minutes,” the FAA said.

As of 9 a.m. ET Sunday, New York City saw around 1.1 inches of snow, with LaGuardia reporting 2.6 inches, according to The Weather Channel.

More than 700 flights were delayed at Philadelphia International Airport, according to FOX5.

Newark Liberty International Airport saw ground delays as well, with an average delay for flights into the airport of 170 minutes and maximum delays of 267 minutes.

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The winter storm is expected to clear by Sunday afternoon, but temperatures will remain below freezing.

A gradual warm-up will take place through the week with temperatures expected to be in the 50s by Thursday.

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