Polar vortex causes another lousy travel day for fliers, over 3,500 flights canceled
Apologies to anyone trying to fly out of Chicago.
The bitter polar vortex caused hordes of flights to be canceled across the country on Wednesday, with almost 2,000 flights canceled at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports alone.
In total, with a mass of extremely cold air freezing out the Midwest and Northeast, 3,576 flights were canceled.
As Amtrak suspended service into and out of Chicago, fuel lines at O’Hare Airport froze, forcing some planes to refuel elsewhere before continuing to their destination, an airport spokeswoman told the Associated Press.
American Airlines confirmed to USA TODAY they experienced issues refueling in the extreme temperatures.
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"In (an) attempt to operate as many flights as possible and accommodate as many customers as possible, some flights are being sent in with an overage of fuel to get to their next destination without needing to take on fuel at ORD, and others are departing ORD and making a fuel stop before they reach their final destination," American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said in a statement.
The temperature reached minus 23 at O’Hare International Airport, with a wind chill of 52 degrees below zero, according to the National Weather Service.
Another 2,159 flights nationwide scheduled for Thursday have also been called off, according to flight tracker FlightAware.
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Polar vortex causes another lousy travel day for fliers, over 3,500 flights canceled
