Storms delay and cancel flights at airports across California. Here’s the latest

Hanh Truong
·3 min read
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Tumultuous clouds move over the San Francisco Bay Area seen from the hills of Oakland after raining on Friday. A stronger storm system will wreak havoc on California and could trigger flooding, wind damage and more, forecasters say.

Heavy rain and high winds hammered California on Sunday, bringing down power lines and flooding parts of the state.

Air travel also took a hit from the atmospheric river storm that swept the state, with some airports delaying or canceling flights.

Here’s the latest on how some California airports are dealing with the weather.

Sacramento International Airport

As of Monday morning, Sacramento International Airport wasn’t experiencing any impacts due to the weather, said Scott Johnston, senior public information officer with the airport.

Johnston said the airport saw a total of 47 canceled flights, including arrivals and departures, on Sunday.

“The delays can be attributed to many factors, including, but not limited to weather events,” he said.

As of Monday afternoon, only one domestic flight had been canceled at SMF and 56 domestic flights were delayed, according to FlightAware, a real-time travel resource.

Of those delayed and canceled flights, 43 were through Southwest Airlines.

San Francisco International Airport

San Francisco International Airport public information officer Doug Yakel said weather conditions continue to result in delays and cancellations at the airport.

“According to FlightAware, about 200 flights have experienced a delay, which is about 25% of all flights at SFO,” Yakel said. “These delays are currently averaging 45 minutes. There have also been 31 flight cancellations, mostly on short-haul flights along the West Coast.”

As of Monday afternoon, 32 domestic flights were canceled and 234 were delayed.

Most of these flights were from SkyWest Airlines, United Airlines, Jazz Aviation, Horizon Airlines, Southwest, Delta Airlines and Alaska Airlines.

Los Angeles International Airport

Los Angeles International Airport was open and fully operational as of Monday morning, the airport’s team told The Sacramento Bee then.

“At the moment, we are not seeing any major impacts from the storm to inbound and outbound flights,” the airport said.

FlightAware shows 193 domestic flights have been delayed so far, and 11 domestic flights were canceled. Skywest, United, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Delta and Southwest were some of the companies impacted.

LAX was advising travelers to check their flight status before going to the airport.

It added that staff will be checking for leaks and ensuring storm drains are working. In addition, Los Angeles airport police will be monitoring road conditions by the Central Terminal Area and its facilities.

“The Federal Aviation Administration may make any determination of ground stops in case of wind or visibility issues,” the airport said. “If there are major delays or cancellations, (Los Angeles World Airports) will communicate with the media and the traveling public through social channels ...”

San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport

While there were delays at the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport, it was open and fully operational on Monday, said Courtney Pene, planning and outreach deputy director for the county Department of Airports.

“Our facility has fared well during this latest atmospheric river,” Pene said. “Power went down in the terminal yesterday afternoon (and there were) a few minor door leaks, but nothing extreme.”

The airport was able to continue to serve travelers thanks to its generators, she said.

According to Pene, a flight traveling to San Luis Obispo from Seattle on Sunday was diverted to Ontario.

A few flights had been canceled due to the weather as of Monday, Pene said, but they originated from other airports, including Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

“We continue to encourage passengers to check directly with their air carriers for the most current flight status updates,” Pene said.

According to the airport’s website, three flights had been canceled as of Monday morning.

John Wayne Airport

John Wayne Airport in Orange County was seeing some flights delayed for arrivals and departures on Monday.

This included flights coming from San Francisco, Oakland and Seattle and flights departing for San Francisco, Sacramento, Denver and Portland, Oregon.

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