Bay gets rain; East Coast storm halts flights
While only light rain fell in the Bay Area on Wednesday, nearly 100 flights were canceled at San Francisco International Airport on Thursday as an unusual winter storm, dubbed the bomb cyclone, intensified over parts of the East Coast.
By mid-afternoon, 97 flights to and from airports in the Northeast, including Boston, New York, Newark and Philadelphia, were canceled because of weather, said Dennis Zamaria, airport manager at SFO.
There also were 143 delays averaging about 25 minutes, Zamaria said.
“That’s pretty doggone good,” Zamaria added.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a state of emergency for western parts of New York state, as well as in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County.
Blizzard warnings and emergencies also were issued in Delaware, Maine, Maryland and other eastern states.
Philadelphia International Airport canceled over 440 flights because of the storm.
American Airlines advised travelers to check for flight changes before heading to the airport.
Mineta San Jose International Airport reported one flight to Newark was canceled. Oakland International Airport saw one red-eye flight to New York City canceled.
In the Bay Area, Wednesday’s storm broke a winter dry spell but brought only a bit of rain.
San Francisco got 0.1 inches of rain over 24 hours. Marin County got less, as did most other parts of the North Bay.
“The heaviest rains in the Bay Area were in the East Bay and parts of Santa Clara County,” said Anna Schneider, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Monterey.
Oakland got 0.5 inches of rain, and the Walnut Creek area got 0.7. In the South Bay, San Jose got 0.41 inches. Palo Alto got 0.48 inches.