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WCBE OFFICES WILL BE CLOSED NOVEMBER 24th - 28th FOR COLUMBUS CITY SCHOOLS' WELLNESS WEEK AND THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

Travel chaos continues as storm blankets parts of Midwest with a foot of snow

A plow clears snow from the road Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Chicago.
Kiichiro Sato
/
AP
A plow clears snow from the road Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Chicago.

Updated November 30, 2025 at 11:27 AM EST

A heavy winter storm continued to blanket large parts of the country on Sunday, disrupting travel plans for millions returning home from the Thanksgiving holiday. 

The National Weather Services (NWS) warned that parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes regions could see up to 12 inches of snow by the end of Sunday, as  a second storm threatened the east coast.

"As one winter storm ends for the Midwest/Great Lakes, another potential storm will follow quickly for New England and the Mid-Atlantic," the NWS said Sunday morning. The agency  said the second storm would likely bring a mix of snow and ice, causing more potential disruptions as people return back to school and work next week.

The weekend storm over the Midwest began to slow Sunday, leaving behind strong winds that reduced visibility and kept road crews busy cleaning major highways. In Chicago, residents  woke up to over 8.5 inches of snow Sunday morning, with wind gusts of up to 35mph expected to continue throughout the day. 

Air traffic started to show signs of recovery. Just over 200 flights were cancelled at Chicago O'Hare International Airport as of Sunday morning, according to FlightAware, down from 800 on Saturday.

Nearly 82 million people were estimated to travel at least 50 miles for the holiday, with 6 million expected to travel by plane, according to AAA.

A car drives up a snowy road in Sioux City, Iowa, on Saturday.
Jared McNett / Sioux City Journal via AP
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Sioux City Journal via AP
A car drives up a snowy road in Sioux City, Iowa, on Saturday.

Car crashes related to the winter storm were also reported across the region.

Indiana State Police responded to a 45-car pileup on Saturday that temporarily closed a portion of Interstate 70 near Putnamville, south of Indianapolis.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol posted on social media Saturday that it had responded to 26 crashes across the state. Officials warned travelers about more accumulation on Monday.

A new storm system forecast to develop Monday will spread to the East Coast on Tuesday, bringing heavy snow to the northern mid-Atlantic and New England, including Pennsylvania and Maine. It will also bring heavy rain to the Southeast, according to NWS meteorologist Andrew Orrison. He said Monday will be the best day for those traveling home from the holiday.

"Tuesday the travel conditions will be worse as there will be more of a widespread impact for rainfall," Orrison told NPR. "And also, if you get far enough north, areas getting snow, that'll be accumulating."

Weather-related delays are also coinciding with disruptions caused by mandatory software upgrades to Airbus A320 aircraft.

Airbus on Friday told airlines to take immediate action to upgrade the software in the aircraft, warning there could be an issue with flight controls. The Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency directive Friday night requiring airlines using A320s to upgrade the software before the planes can fly again.

American Airlines, the U.S. carrier with the largest A320 fleet, said it had updated all of its planes by Saturday afternoon. 

Copyright 2025 NPR

Chandelis Duster
Rebecca Rosman
[Copyright 2024 NPR]