Colder Weather Arrives – Flight Cancellations Remain Widespread

Let’s just say over the past couple of weeks, the weather has not been anything that feels like “winter weather”, but that is all set to change this week as a monster cold front moves across the south and southeastern parts of the United States. Today crude oil opened at $75.69, diesel at $2.3283, and gasoline at $2.2206.

With this cold front, new storms have emerged across much of the south, causing more trouble for airline companies as they try to continue navigating through Omicron scares and employee shortages. Colder weather is also bringing higher demand for heating oil. Yesterday, powerful storms swept across the southern United States, knocking out power and taking down trees in their paths. This lost power can mean more generators needing diesel in areas plagued by the storm paths. Many areas of Alabama had such severe weather that roads were temporarily closed to prevent people from driving over downed power lines. With these road closures throughout the south, fuel deliveries could be expected to be delayed. These storms were connected to the same system that saw severe flooding and tornadoes in Kentucky.

The worst of these tornadoes came as an EF-2 tornado swept through Hopkinsville on Saturday, reaching winds of up to 115mph. The combination of a powerful cold front intercepting warmer air in the south made it a recipe for disaster as tornadoes warnings reached multiple states this weekend. Having slowed down a little over the past 12 hours, the new concern is how these weather patterns will continue to affect those still trapped in airports across the country.

Destructive weather patterns do not add anything positive to the thousands of flights already being cancelled across the country due to staff shortages and Omicron outbreaks. On Saturday, 4,731 flights worldwide were cancelled, the highest total single day cancellation of flights since Christmas Eve. Today more than 300 flights were cancelled due to weather patterns not permitting planes to take off. This will continue to add to the chaos of air traffic being halted worldwide and will continue to delay thousands of people from getting home, and will also bring lower demand for jet fuel until conditions clear up. After weather passes, air traffic should pick up again, but it will not be the same for a while due to Omicron outbreaks across the globe and staff shortages that are severely impacting major airline companies. Do not expect to get anywhere without any delays for a while because an uninterrupted day of flying seems to be far-fetched for the foreseeable future.