Dozens of flight cancellations were reported by early Christmas Eve after dense fog descended on the Chicago area starting Saturday night, leading to travel troubles just before the holiday.
As of 8 a.m. Sunday, more than 50 flights were canceled at both of Chicago's airports - O'Hare and Midway. The bulk of the cancellations were reported at Midway Airport, where 45 flights were altered and delays averaged 44 minutes. O'Hare Airport saw another 15 cancellations and delays of up to 15 minutes.
The FAA issued a ground stop at Midway Airport for all flights departing to Midway through 9:30 a.m. "due to low visibility."
In a statement to NBC Chicago, Southwest Airlines, which operates out of both airports, said it was working with customers impacted by the alterations.
"We’re working with our customers whose travel is impacted by fog at Chicago Midway that began Saturday night and prevented inbound aircraft from landing, forcing some diversions and subsequent flight cancelations," the airline said in a statement. "With visibility remaining below required operational minimums throughout the night and expected to continue through daybreak, we’ve modified our planned start for (Sunday) at Chicago Midway. We have all-hands on deck as our Employees are working quickly to take care of our Customers and accommodate them on alternative flights."
The airline noted that Midway Airport is its "fourth busiest airport operation, with more than 200 departures a day scheduled over the holiday weekend."
"As a result of the fog at Midway, we have canceled less than 1% of our total flights early on Sunday (53 out of 4242) throughout our network," the statement read.
Weather
According to the National Weather Service, widespread dense fog began Saturday evening, with visibilities under a quarter of a mile expected at times, sparking warnings for drivers across the Chicago area. The fog was forecast to gradually subside Sunday morning, but a dense fog advisory remained in effect across the region through noon.
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With sharply reduced visibility expected, the NWS advised that drivers slow down, increase their stopping distance and use their low beams. The fog will later give way to cloudy and unseasonably mild conditions for the remainder of Christmas Eve, according to forecasters.
