Another Nor'easter Is Coming on Wednesday, Travel Disruptions Expected
Meteorologists are predicting another nor'easter to hit the mid-Atlantic region Wednesday and Thursday, Accuweather reports.
The winter storm is expected to bring snow from New Jersey to Maine, with some parts of New England seeing one to two feet of snow, which means more possible widespread travel disruptions this week. The northern suburbs of Baltimore to the inner cities of Philadelphia, New York City and Boston are all expected to receive significant snow accumulation, Accuweather predicts.
Some airlines, like Southwest, are already issuing travel waivers for the region, which will include the following airports:
- Albany, NY (ALB)
- Boston, MA (BOS)
- Hartford, CT (BDL)
- LaGuardia, NY (LGA)
- Long Island MacArthur, NY (ISP)
- Manchester, NH (MHT)
- Newark, NJ (EWR)
- Philadelphia, PA (PHL)
- Portland, ME (PWM)
- Providence, RI (PVD)
"Customers who are holding reservations from Tuesday afternoon (3:00 pm), March 6, thru Thursday, March 8, and want to alter their travel plans may rebook in the original class of service or travel standby (within 14 days of their original date of travel between the original city-pairs and in accordance with our accommodation procedures) without paying any additional charge," the Southwest travel advisory says.
Luckily, this storm, dubbed Winter Storm Quinn, is not expected to be as severe as the bomb cyclone that hit the East Coast late last week. Winds will not be as strong, and meteorologists say this will be a much more "typical" winter storm.
Wednesday's storm will, however, interrupt clean up and power restoration in areas that were hit by the brunt of last week's storm. "The big problem is that the storm this week is coming so soon after the destructive storm from last Friday," Accuweather Meterogolist Alex Sosnowski says. "It will disrupt cleanup and restoration operations and is likely to cause a new but less extreme round of travel delays, power outages and damage from falling trees."
Last week's intense bomb cyclone killed at least eight people, left more than two million people without power and grounded more than 2,300 flights.
Update 3/5/18 3 p.m.: Delta also has issued a travel waiver for March 7-8 for the following airports:
- Albany, NY (ALB)
- Allentown, PA (ABE)
- Boston, MA (BOS)
- Harrisburg, PA (MDT)
- Hartford, CT (BDL)
- New York – Kennedy, NY (JFK)
- New York – LaGuardia, NY (LGA)
- Newark, NJ (EWR)
- Newburgh, NY (SWF)
- Philadelphia, PA (PHL)
- Scranton, PA (AVP)
- Providence, RI (PVD)
- White Plains, NY (HPN)
"If you wish to cancel your trip as a result of a flight cancellation or significant delay (90 minutes or more), you are entitled to a refund for the unused portion of your ticket. Even if your flight is not canceled, you may make a one-time change to your ticket without fee if you are scheduled to travel to, from, or through" one of the above airports, the Delta waiver says.
Tickets must be reissued on or before March 11, and rebooked travel must begin no later than that date as well.