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Nearly 5,000 flights were canceled and more than 15,000 were delayed on Christmas Eve, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.com.
A total of 4,848 were canceled on Saturday (December 24), which includes 2,655 that were within, into or out of the United States as of 4:00 p.m. ET
A total of 15,135 flights were reported to be delayed, which includes 6,180 within, into or out of the U.S.
The massive delays and cancelations come as one of the year's busiest traveling days coincides with severe winter weather continuing to affect the eastern two-thirds of the United States.
Blizzards and an arctic blast are expected to hit the Midwest and Northeast regions of the U.S. through the holiday weekend, which will bring "extremely dangerous" and "at times impossible" travel conditions, the National Weather Service said in a bulletin on Saturday (December 24) via NBC News.
At least 28 people died in relation to the winter storms in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska and Ohio, where four people died and multiple others were injured in relation to a highway car pileup involving at least 46 vehicles, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Millions of Americans were reported to be without power as of 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, according to PowerOutage.us.