Hundreds of flights delayed at NYC’s airports as weather throws a wrench in travel

Hundreds of planes were delayed at New York City’s three major airports on Sunday as thunderstorms rolled toward the region.

The Federal Aviation Administration warned that flights departing Newark Airport experienced delays of more than two hours in the afternoon due to the inclement weather. Data from the tracking website FlightAware showed that 243 flights were delayed and 134 were canceled at the airport as of 2 p.m.

LaGuardia and JFK Airports each saw more than 120 flight delays at the same time, according to FlightAware.

National Weather Service spokesperson Rian Murphy said pouring rain was expected to hit the New York City area by late afternoon on Sunday.

“Today, there is mainly showers and thunderstorms after 5 p.m., that’s where the chance of flash flooding comes from … and then we’re going to see rain between a quarter- and half-an-inch,” Murphy said.

Thunderstorms are expected to end Monday and resume on Tuesday. The NWS forecasts rain and thunder later in the week.

The airports are advising passengers to contact their airlines directly for a status update on their flights.