NZ Herald Headlines | Sunday December 28, 2025: Russia attacks Ukraine as Zelenskyy meets with Canada PM, road safety reminder amid low death toll.
Video / NZ Herald
More than 20 flights between the United Kingdom and New York have been cancelled this weekend after a huge snowstorm caused travel chaos.
A state of emergency has been declared in New York, with thousands of travellers forced to abandon plans as the city faced its biggest snowstorm in fouryears.
New Yorkers woke up to 4.3in (11cm) of snow, according to the United States National Weather Service – the first time more than 4in has fallen since January 2022.
In total, more than 1000 flights into and out of New York’s major airports have been cancelled on one of the busiest weekends of the year.
Kathy Hochul, the New York Governor, urged people to rearrange their travel plans and use “extreme caution”.
“As widespread snowfall is expected to start in New York City and its surrounding areas this evening, I will declare a state of emergency to ensure that our agencies and local partners have the resources and tools they need to respond to the storm,” she said.
So far, nearly 1300 flights into or out of the city have been cancelled and hundreds more delayed, including 20 to or from the UK, according to data from FlightAware.
Several British Airways flights between London Heathrow and New York were cancelled, with other major carriers, including Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines and Delta, also experiencing disruption.
Travel to or from John F Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport has been the worst affected, with 586 and 359 flights cancelled.
LaGuardia International Airport follows closely behind, with 352 cancellations of flights into or out of New York.
New Yorkers woke up to 11cm of snow after an overnight snowstorm. Photo / Getty Images
The clean-up effort in New York got underway, with more than 1600 large snow ploughs and 100 salt spreaders deployed to clear the snow-covered roads.
The icy conditions have arrived on one of the busiest travel weekends in the country, when up to 122 million Americans were expected to be travelling for the Christmas holidays, according to the American Automobile Association.
In New York, about 15 million travellers were expected to pass through New York and New Jersey’s tunnels and airports this week, according to the region’s Port Authority.
More than 60 million people across the northeast of the US received winter weather alerts, including parts of northern New Jersey, Long Island and western Massachusetts.
Areas of upstate New York and Long Island have been covered by up to 6.6in of snow. Some of the most extreme snowfall was in Connecticut, where 9.1in covered homes and roads.
New Jersey was also placed under a state of emergency, with authorities warning of dangerous conditions.
Tahesha Way, the state’s acting governor, said: “This storm will cause dangerous road conditions and impact holiday travel. We are urging travellers to avoid travel during the storm and allow crews to tend to the roads.”
There may be more bad weather to come, as AccuWeather has forecast a fast-moving “bomb cyclone” for tomorrow which is expected to bring more freezing rain, ice and blizzard conditions to the Northeast and Midwest.
“This fast-moving storm will pack a punch in the Northeast right after Christmas. Holiday travellers should prepare for major slowdowns on roads and at airports,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tyler Roys said.
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.
