Extreme weather created delays across much of the country in the run-up to Christmas Day, with canceled flights and congested roads. While travel disruptions were mostly remedied by Saturday, the West Coast may be feeling the effects of bad weather soon as a storm system moves toward the region. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.
By Ian Johnston, NBC News
While not as severe as the two previous days, air travel delays caused by a wintry mix of snow, high winds and heavy rain continued across the country Saturday, while some areas were expecting up to a foot of snow by day's end.
The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings Saturday for parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and Ohio on the East Coast and also parts of Northern California and Oregon on the West Coast.
As of 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday, more than 6,300 flights had been delayed and 144 were canceled, according to the website FlightStats.com.
Chicago?s O?Hare International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey were the most impacted, according to the website?s figures.
On Friday, nearly 900 flights were canceled and 13,500 delayed across the country, FlightStats reported.
Weather.com said the storm was likely to linger over northern New England during the weekend.
?Winds will be the most intense from parts of southern New England and New York to the Mid-Atlantic on Saturday,? it said.??Farther to the west, the Great Lakes snowbelts and Appalachians will continue to see wind-whipped snow on Saturday.?
After extreme weather upset travel plans in the last few days, the forecast on the horizon seems ready for Santa, with a possible dusting of snow expected in some parts of the country. TODAY's Dylan Dreyer reports.
It warned people in those areas to be prepared for winter driving conditions with ?sudden reductions in visibility? due to the weather possible.
On Thursday, two people were killed and seven injured in a 30-vehicle pileup on Interstate 35 in Iowa. Drivers were blinded by blowing snow and didn't see vehicles that had slowed or stopped, causing a chain reaction of crashes, state police said.
Thousands of flights disrupted across US as storm hits Northeast
The storm was also blamed for traffic deaths in three other states: two deaths each in Nebraska and Wisconsin; and one in Kansas.
In Utah, a woman who tried to walk for help after her car became stuck in snow died Tuesday night.
The West Coast was also seeing stormy weather.
The NWS said several inches of rain along with several feet of snow in elevated areas were expected in California and Oregon this weekend.
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