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Watch as a Winter Storm Closes Runways and Causes Tons of Delays at Denver International Airport

March 10, 2017
2 min read
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Watch as a Winter Storm Closes Runways and Causes Tons of Delays at Denver International Airport
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Nothing can mess up a traveler's day like weather-related air traffic control (ATC) issues. One moment, everything looks clear, but the next thing you know, you're delayed three hours. I happened to be at Denver International Airport (DEN) one morning this week as a freakish storm blew over the airport.

The morning started beautifully, with a radiant orange sunrise reflecting off clouds that were blowing in off the Colorado Front Range. Around 7:00AM, I took notice of how fast the clouds were moving, and how low they were to the ground, so I took out my iPhone and started filming this crazy aviation video on the Hyperlapse app. Total filming time was exactly five minutes, but the app compressed the video into 38-second long timelapse.

The brief storm brought high winds, blowing dust, and snow flurries — causing hundreds of flights to be delayed or cancelled because ATC shut down the four North-South runways at DEN. Planes were only allowed to land on the two East-West runways (into the wind), and were only departing from one. Winds were sustained over 30 miles per hour for much os the day, and gusted as high as 57MPH.

What's the worst weather delay, or scariest in-flight weather you've ever experienced? Let us know in the comments, below.

Featured image by Image courtesy of the author, Paul Thompson