Over 4,000 Flights Delayed or Canceled Around U.S. Due to Winter Storms

A wintry mix of snow and rain that crept up the East Coast on Wednesday slowed travel on one of the busiest days of the year.

According to the website Flightaware.com, 4,548 flights were delayed into, within or out of the U.S. Wednesday and 731 were canceled. While this isn’t a particularly large number of delays, so many people are traveling at present that accommodating stranded passengers could prove problematic, CNN reports.

Winter Storm Cato dropped over a foot of snow in some Mid-Atlantic states with snow also expected in New England, The Weather Channel reports. In parts of Maine, between three and five inches of snow had fallen by Wednesday evening. In West Virginia, according to CNN, up to 18 inches of snow has fallen. The adverse weather conditions mean bad news for drivers who faced slick roads across swaths of the East Coast and Midwest.

An estimated 46 million Americans were expected to travel over 50 miles from home this Thanksgiving, according to the AAA, the highest level since 2007. The majority are expected to travel by car.

As a precaution, governors in New York and New Jersey took steps to ensure traveler safety on Wednesday. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo restricted commercial traffic along I-84 and other parts of the New York State Thruway. In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie issued a precautionary state of emergency and sent more than 1,900 vehicles to plow and treat roads.

Thanksgiving Day looks clearer for most of the country, though the Pacific Northwest are set to face some wet weather that could snarl traffic on Turkey Day.