An unusual flurry of mid-March snow in the Seattle area caused hundreds of canceled and delayed flights at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Friday.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that average delays for flights arriving at Sea-Tac had reached 62 minutes due to the weather. Port of Seattle spokesperson Perry Cooper said the airport's runways were clear, but delays and cancellations were mostly due to poor visibility and a delay in deicing aircraft already at the gates.
As of 6:30 p.m., 459 flights into or out of Sea-Tac were delayed while another 366 flights had been canceled, according to FlightAware.
Temperatures were in the low 30s all morning and snow was expected to turn into rain by late morning. However, snowflakes were still falling in parts of the Seattle area in the early afternoon.
It's lasted longer than what people expected, Cooper said.
Because there was poor visibility headed into the Seattle area and a backup of planes trying to depart the airport, the FAA said there was a ground stop on flights headed to Sea-Tac until at least 2 p.m.
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