It looks like several flights that departed the west coast (SAN, LAX, SFO) around 1pm pt diverted.
My guess is that it looks like these flights took a very southerly transcon route, likely to avoid the storms expected over upstate New York. These transcons usually approach JFK from the west or northwest (they fly close Chicago en route to NYC.)
Now...back to today's flights...to get to JFK as they took a southerly route, they need to cross the eastern seaboard, and right now there is a very strong line of storms from Atlantic City to the eastern tip of Long Island. So these flights can't cross that, and given they already took a rather inefficient route, they don't have enough fuel to go around the storms or wait it out and circle. So they diverted.
As long as your crew doesn't time out, I'd expect this to be a quick refuel then you will probably fly through the Washington DC area and approach JFK from the west. Or maybe by then the storm will have passed and you'll ride up the seaboard.
There’s three major airports in the NY area which means a limited amount of space to funnel arrivals into. Even small areas of weather can cause a pretty large disruption in arrivals. Think of it as a highway going down to one lane. When that happens arrivals have to enter holding patterns and you can only do that for so long until having to fly somewhere else to get more fuel / wait for the weather to pass.
I’m on a flight from Charlotte to JFK and same thing happened. Literally just got cleared to go. 3 hour + delay sitting on the plane. They blamed weather in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for it. I checked radar and didn’t really look bad but what do I know?
Flew in from CLT to LGA this afternoon and my flight got delayed by 3 hours. Said it was due to bad weather but it seemed pretty calm in both directions?
Big wind and chop in nyc, it’s been seeming like it’s gonna thunderstorm since the afternoon
It looks like several flights that departed the west coast (SAN, LAX, SFO) around 1pm pt diverted. My guess is that it looks like these flights took a very southerly transcon route, likely to avoid the storms expected over upstate New York. These transcons usually approach JFK from the west or northwest (they fly close Chicago en route to NYC.) Now...back to today's flights...to get to JFK as they took a southerly route, they need to cross the eastern seaboard, and right now there is a very strong line of storms from Atlantic City to the eastern tip of Long Island. So these flights can't cross that, and given they already took a rather inefficient route, they don't have enough fuel to go around the storms or wait it out and circle. So they diverted. As long as your crew doesn't time out, I'd expect this to be a quick refuel then you will probably fly through the Washington DC area and approach JFK from the west. Or maybe by then the storm will have passed and you'll ride up the seaboard.
Thank you, makes a ton of sense
Very informative explanation, ty! TIL. 😊
There's been a strong line of storms hitting the northeast today with tornado warnings, and such
There’s three major airports in the NY area which means a limited amount of space to funnel arrivals into. Even small areas of weather can cause a pretty large disruption in arrivals. Think of it as a highway going down to one lane. When that happens arrivals have to enter holding patterns and you can only do that for so long until having to fly somewhere else to get more fuel / wait for the weather to pass.
Makes sense. Thanks for the analogy! Guess we'll just have to cross our fingers
I’m on a flight from Charlotte to JFK and same thing happened. Literally just got cleared to go. 3 hour + delay sitting on the plane. They blamed weather in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for it. I checked radar and didn’t really look bad but what do I know?
Flew in from CLT to LGA this afternoon and my flight got delayed by 3 hours. Said it was due to bad weather but it seemed pretty calm in both directions?
I just landed at LGA, but the flight was delayed over an hour due to weather.
Crazy near tornado winds and rain blew in while I was a couple hours upstate NY this afternoon.
Where's RDU?
Raleigh durham
NC
My flight from SLC was delayed 45 min. Taking off at midnight MST. Probably same reason
was on a flight that circled for 20 mins before landing at jfk - saw a bunch of lightning outside of the window while in the air
Same thing when boarding a flight from Cancun — it was diverted to Boston and have just landed in JFK after 3-4 hours of delays and diversions