Airlines begin canceling flights at RDU ahead of season’s second winter storm
Airlines canceled flights at Raleigh-Durham International Airport ahead of this weekend’s winter storm, the second to hit the Triangle this month.
As of 4 p.m., 175 flights scheduled to arrive or depart RDU on Saturday had been canceled, according to FlightAware. Of the 38 flights scheduled to leave RDU before 8 a.m. Saturday morning, the airport’s busiest time of day, 20 were canceled, despite the storm’s late arrival.
Southwest Airlines proactively scrubbed more flights than any other carrier; 35 Southwest flights in or out of RDU, nearly all on the airline’s Saturday schedule, have been canceled. The airline says it has reached out to customers and offered options for rebooking or refunds.
Air Canada has also canceled all of its RDU flights Saturday, while the two busiest carriers, American and Delta, have reduced their schedules.
Two dozen Friday flights were canceled at RDU, most of them arrivals as airlines avoided leaving planes in the Triangle overnight.
RDU officials urge people to check with their airline before venturing out to catch a departing flight or pick someone up at the airport.
Forecasters expected snow to begin falling in the region late Friday. Now snow isn’t expected to begin falling until Saturday afternoon. Anywhere from 3 to 7 inches are expected, with higher amounts possible in some places, according to the National Weather Service, though Wake County has been in a “dry slot” most of the day.
On top of that, it will be windy, with gusts as high as 30 mph Saturday.
Last weekend’s winter storm brought a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain to RDU, especially on Sunday. Nearly every flight in and out of the airport was canceled Sunday, even as RDU crews worked to keep at least one of the two commercial runways open at all times.
Snow and ice have not forced RDU to shut down for any length of time since the historic snow storm of 2000, when more than 20 inches of snow and lingering cold closed the airport for two days.
This story was originally published January 30, 2026 at 4:09 PM.
