Weather delays are stifling air travel once again... as ANN knows only too well. ANN personnel who were in Florida this week to attend the Sebring Sport Aviation Expo as well as ANN's final planning meeting for our upcoming "ANN 10.0" upgrades wound up sweating out the weather. Some ANN staffers joined the hundreds who had flights -- requiring whole day delays in getting home.

Storm systems blanketing much of the Central US created air travel delays throughout much of the mid-USA, snarling flights from coast to coast as connections became impossible to complete due to ice, snow and other freezing weather phenomena. The current storm is being fed by super-cooled arctic air combined with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico---resulting in what one stranded ANN reader (currently living of the vending machines at a local FBO while waiting for less threatening conditions) called "a pilot's nightmare."

Winter storm warnings and the weather that came with it were blamed for over a dozen deaths (on the ground) by late Sunday and both private and commercial aviation operations were either disrupted... or at many airports, canceled for much of the day. Icing Airmets and Sigmets covered nearly half the country throughout Sunday, making IFR operations difficult while rain and snow at lower levels made VFR travel pretty much a no-go.

States such as Colorado reported snowfalls of as much as 18 inches, while several inches of sleet and freezing rain were experienced from Illinois to Missouri.

Airport delays are forecast through much of Monday morning and the storm system currently penalizing travelers is expected to make itself known through Tuesday.

FMI: www.noaa.gov