Travel

All flights to and from El Paso International Airport in Texas have been halted for “special security reasons,” the Federal Aviation Administration said early Wednesday. “No pilots may operate an aircraft in the areas covered by this NOTAM,” the FAA said, using the abbreviation for Notice to Airmen. It listed the reason as “temporary flight restrictions for Special Security Reasons.” It did not elaborate on why the restrictions had been put in place for El Paso, which borders Mexico.The restriction for the airspace over El Paso and the neighboring community of Santa Teresa, New Mexico came in at 6:30 a.m. UTC, or coordinated universal time (11:30 p.m. ET). It will end at the same time on Feb. 21. The airport confirmed the development in a travel advisory issued on social media, saying t...

Forecasters warned that a major storm was set to wallop the Southeast this weekend, days after another weather system brought paralyzing snow and ice to large parts of the United States.A new round of Arctic air was moving across the country after a low-pressure system formed in the Southern Plains on Thursday. It was moving east and “expected to produce a major winter storm” for the mid-Atlantic states and the Carolinas and Virginia, the National Weather Service said.Some forecasters have declared the weather system will become a "bomb cyclone," a fast-developing storm that's the winter equivalent of a hurricane, and warn it could bring heavy snow and blizzard conditions. "The storm, in all its fury in the Carolinas and southern Virginia, would be a formidable event for states in the ...

Days-long deep freezeA deep low-pressure system has formed over Eastern Canada and is ushering Arctic air straight into the Northeast and the midsection of the U.S. The cold air will hang over the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic for the next couple of days, with wind chill temperatures below zero in many areas. Air temperatures in the teens and 20s forecast for the rest of the week are 15 to 25 degrees below average. Another low-pressure system will affect the Southeast on Friday and Saturday, bringing wind chills well below what the South is used to by Sunday. Miami could dip below 40 degrees for the first time in more than a decade. This blast of air will be even colder than what the U.S. is experiencing on Wednesday, with approximately 80 record lows possible from Friday morning to Monday...

A business jet carrying eight people crashed during takeoff in Bangor, Maine, on Sunday night, the Federal Aviation Administration said.The conditions of the eight were not immediately clear. They were in a twin-jet Bombardier Challenger 600 when it took off from Bangor International Airport about 7:45 p.m., the FAA said in a statement.Police responded to the location after a report of an aircraft "that had gone off the runway during departure," Bangor Police Sgt. Jeremy Brock told NBC affiliate WCSH of Portland, Maine. He said he could not provide information on the extent of any injuries. Lights are seen in the distance Sunday night following the crash of a private Bombardier Challenger 600 jet at Bangor International Airport in Maine.@3315AviationThe temperature was about 2 degrees, ...

Harsh winter weather was being blamed for a 100-car pileup near Grand Rapids, Michigan that forced police to shut down Interstate 196 in both directions for hours, the local NBC affiliate WOOD reported.In addition to lake effect snow, the next clipper system will dive out of Canada on Tuesday and bring a round of snow to the Dakotas, Minnesota (including light amounts for Minneapolis) and Iowa. On Wednesday, the same clipper will zip across the Great Lakes (bringing light snow for Chicago) in the first half of the day, then bring some snow to the interior Northeast and New England by the second half. While the cold and snow in the first half of this week will make for wintry scenes, the snow totals will not be blockbuster and the cold not record-setting.The next round of cold and potent...

Nearly 90 people aboard a Holland America cruise liner based in Florida suffered "symptoms of gastrointestinal illness" from a norovirus outbreak, forcing a "comprehensive sanitization of the ship," officials said Sunday.The Rotterdam had pushed out of Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 28 before returning on Friday, ending a journey that sickened 81 of the ship's 2,593 passengers and eight members of the 1,005 crew, Holland America and CDC said."During its previous voyage, a number of guests onboard Rotterdam reported symptoms of gastrointestinal illness. The cases were mostly mild and quickly resolved," according to the cruise line's statement. "The health of our guests and crew is a top priority and consistent with CDC protocols, we conducted a comprehensive sanitization of the ship when the cr...

A shark ripped the arm off a Minnesota woman in the U.S. Virgin Islands on Thursday before she died a short time later from those horrific wounds, officials said.St. Croix first responders were called at about 4:28 p.m. AST with reports of "a female who was suspected to be bitten by a shark at Dorsch Beach," according to a Virgin Islands Police Department statement.Firefighters "confirmed that the female lost an arm during the attack" and she "later succumbed to her injures," police said.The victim was identified as 56-year-old Arlene Lillis of Lake Detroit, in northwest Minnesota near the border of North Dakota.“Our hearts are with the family and loved ones of the victim, and with everyone who witnessed this tragedy," U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. said in a statement. “We...

Millions of Americans will be closing out 2025 will brutal winter weather. An estimated 67 million people remain under wind alerts across the Northeast and New England, including metropolitan areas stretching from Washington, D.C., to Boston, according to an NBC News analysis. Wind gusts will get as strong as 50 mph in Boston, 45 mph in New York and 40 mph in the nation's capital. A woman walks through the snow-covered Boston Public Garden on Saturday.John Tlumacki / Boston Globe via Getty ImagesSeven million people will also remain under winter alerts for the ongoing lake effect snow. Areas downwind of lakes Erie and Ontario can expect an additional 12-24 inches of snow with locally higher mounts up to 36 inches.New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a state of emergency in part of the stat...

Messy winter weather — including snow, ice and strong winds — is putting more stress on already busy post-holiday travel plans. A bomb-cyclone dumped snow on the midwest through the northeast over the weekend, and as of Monday, 32 million are under winter weather alerts across the upper midwest, northeast and New England. Blizzard warnings are still in effect for the upper peninsula of Michigan. Lake effect snow is of concern for upstate New York, specifically in Buffalo. Heavy snow of 12 to 24 inches, with isolated amounts up to 36 inches, is forecast for areas downwind of lakes Erie and Ontario. Behind the storm, lake effect snow will continue the next few days. And in the northeast, icy roads are a major concern after a snowstorm Friday night into Saturday and freezing rain falling o...

A powerful storm system continues to disrupt travel, placing 64 million people under winter weather alerts that span the eastern two-thirds of the country.A string of tornadoes erupted in central Illinois on Sunday, with preliminary National Weather Service reports saying eight homes and a garage were destroyed and two other homes sustained significant structural damage in Macon County. No injuries were reported.NBC affiliate WAND of Decatur reported that the roof of a home in Macon County was ripped off by a tornado's winds but that multiple people and pets inside were able to escape uninjured. It was one of two unconfirmed tornadoes in the county Sunday afternoon, the station said.The tornadoes followed the leading edge of a cold front that caused plummeting temperatures and created r...