Winter storm cancels flights to Phoenix, Tucson and Southern California

Storm cancels Phoenix, Tucson, Calif. flights

PHOENIX — Winter weather stranded thousands of airline passengers on Thursday in a most unusual place: the desert Southwest.

The snow and rain paralyzed parts of the state, forcing the closure of schools and major interstates, and forecasters warned the worst was yet to come with no part of Arizona shielded.

Flights into and out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport were curtailed on Thursday afternoon because of high winds from a winter storm that dumped heavy rain and deep snow on much of Arizona and California. A limited number of Phoenix planes were still taking off and landing.

Southwest Airlines canceled all arriving and departing flights at Sky Harbor and didn’t plan to resume them until around dawn Friday.

The National Weather Service predicted heavy snow for mountainous areas and up to 7 inches of rain could fall on Thursday and Friday in the Phoenix area.

Flagstaff residents already digging out from nearly 3½ feet of snow braced for another 2 feet or more of powder before the storm moves out Saturday. A little ways south in Sedona, officials were preparing for flooding as water levels in rivers and creeks rose steadily and more rain was expected overnight.

“This is a monster storm, which is affecting much of the Southwest right now,” said meteorologist Brian Klimowski in Flagstaff.

Authorities discouraged travel in northern Arizona, and shut down Interstate 40 between Kingman and Flagstaff, Interstate 17 between Sedona and Camp Verde, and State Route 89A between Flagstaff and Sedona, leaving motorists without a direct route between Phoenix and Flagstaff.

“It’s going to be locked down (Friday) morning,” said Department of Public Safety spokesman Robert Bailey.

Parts of the state were under flash flood, winter storm and blizzard warnings. Gov. Jan Brewer declared a state of emergency, citing five counties’ emergency declarations and ordering a statewide response. The Navajo Nation made the same declaration.

Southwest airline also canceled flights in Tucson, Ariz., and at Southern California airports. All Southwest takeoffs and landings at airports in Burbank, Ontario and San Diego in California were suspended, most were canceled at John Wayne airport in Orange County, and some were canceled at Los Angeles International Airport.

Airline spokesman Brad Hawkins said more than 400 California and Arizona flights had been canceled as of early afternoon. Passengers were booked on later Southwest flights. Operations were expected to resume at 4 p.m. in San Diego and at 6 p.m. in Burbank and Ontario.

The exact number of Southwest flights affected in Phoenix wasn’t available, but the airline has 173 daily nonstops from Phoenix to 44 cities and additional service to 22 cities, said spokeswoman Olga Romero. There are a similar number of arrivals.

Southwest said affected travelers would be allowed to rebook their flights without penalty.

US Airways trimmed its Phoenix flight schedule and had canceled 14 mainline and 12 US Airways Express flights. Other operations were continuing as weather allowed, said airline spokeswoman Valerie Wunder. US Airways has 265 daily departures from Phoenix.

United Airlines and other carriers severely curtailed operations at Sky Harbor.

The Federal Aviation Administration stopped allowing aircraft nationwide from departing for Phoenix at about 3:30 p.m. local time because of the weather, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said. A high wind advisory was also issued, telling pilots to expect winds with gusts up to 40 mph into the evening. Aircraft already in the air were being diverted to other airports.

The Phoenix airport’s three runways run east to west, and the wind was coming from the north. Airliners typically don’t take off or land when crosswinds are much above 25 mph, Gregor said. Flying weather was equally tough at other airports in the region.

At Sky Harbor, many passengers with canceled flights sat on the floor with laptops out and cell phones to their ears, trying to figure out what to do overnight.

Megan Makarewicz, 33, made a barrage of calls after her 4:30 p.m. Southwest flight home to Detroit was canceled and rescheduled for Friday morning.

“I’m upset because I don’t want to be stuck here,” she said. “I threw my toothbrush away. I was like, ‘Yep, don’t need this.’”

Makarewicz, who was in Phoenix for a national training conference for hair stylists, said she’ll have to cancel 10 appointments she has booked for Friday.

“I’m shocked because I thought it was just rain,” she said. “In Detroit we fly out in some crazy weather.”

Associated Press Writer Amanda Lee Myers in Phoenix and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this story.