Winter Storm Batters Midwest, Causing Travel Delays and Cancellations

Thousands of flights leaving the Midwest and Great Lakes region were reported delayed or canceled on Nov. 29.

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

Thanksgiving travelers in the Midwest and Great Lakes area may face delays getting home as a multi-day winter storm continues to batter the region through the holiday weekend.

“A significant winter storm will produce a broad area of moderate to heavy snow and gusty winds from the Midwest through the western Great Lakes causing hazardous travel conditions,” the National Weather Service said on Nov. 29.

The National Weather Service reported some areas of Iowa had accumulated more than 14 inches of fresh snowfall over the past day. Some areas of Illinois and Missouri also saw more than eight inches of fresh snow in the same time.

FlightAware.com, which aggregates flight delay and cancellation data, reported 7,563 flights into, within, or out of the United States were delayed on Nov. 29, up from 5,015 the day before, and 1,865 on Thanksgiving Day.

According to FlightAware, some 1,878 flights into, within, or out of the United States were canceled on Saturday, up from 109 the day before, and 60 on Thanksgiving.

As the winter storm intensified, Chicago O'Hare International Airport topped FlightAware’s “Misery Map” on Saturday. FlightAware listed 1,233 canceled flights and another 853 flights delayed at the Chicago airport.

FlightAware logged another 498 delayed flights and 66 canceled flights at the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport on Saturday.

Travel by road was also heavily disrupted across Iowa, northern Illinois, and Indiana on Saturday.

Portions of westbound Interstate 70 were closed near Terre Haute, Indiana, for several hours on Saturday, after around 45 cars were involved in a pileup accident around noon.

After the section of I-70 reopened, Indiana State Police spokesman Sgt. Matt Ames warned that snow was likely to resume.

“If you don’t have to make any unnecessary trips, please stay home this evening so the roads can improve,” Ames said in a video statement. “If you do have to get out and about, make sure that your headlights are activated, make sure that you’re buckled up, and of course, you’re not driving while you’re distracted. And the most important thing that we need you to do, make sure that you reduce your speed and increase all of your following distance.”

So far, meteorologists have said the forecast conditions do not meet blizzard warning criteria, with winds of at least 35 miles per hour, and visibilities of less than a quarter mile for more than three hours.

The National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center said on Saturday that the potential for a winter storm early next week is increasing, with “widespread impactful snow ... possible from the Ohio Valley to the Northeast” and icy conditions throughout the central and southern Appalachian region.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.