Thunderstorm days: the six US hubs where your flight is most likely to get cancelled

Last checked 6 October 2026

Of the 24 US hubs ranked (of the 31 we track), flights at six were cancelled on 10.7% to 19.6% of scheduled departures on days the airport reported a thunderstorm, against 0.9% to 2.5% on other days. The period is August and September 2025 and June and July 2026. The seven hubs with fewer than 10 thunderstorm days are not ranked: Las Vegas (9), Boston (6), Seattle (3), and Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco (0).

How weather limits the flights an airport can handle

The FAA says the most common reason for a reduction in an airport's acceptance rate is adverse weather such as low ceilings and visibility. When demand would exceed that rate, it holds flights at their departure airports (a ground delay program) or stops departures to the airport for a short period (a ground stop). On 18 and 21 July the FAA issued repeated ground stops for flights bound for LaGuardia, JFK and Newark, from about 06:00 local time at LaGuardia and Newark and, at JFK, from 12:43 local time on 18 July and from 08:48 local time on 21 July, and ground delay programs for the three; the FAA gave thunderstorms as the impacting condition for all of them. It records what the FAA stated. Why airlines cancelled the flights they did is not in these records.

The six, highest share first

• LaGuardia: 19.6% of flights were cancelled on its thunderstorm days, against 2.5% on other days, and the FAA issued repeated ground stops for LaGuardia-bound flights on 18 and 21 July, both thunderstorm days at the airport.
• JFK: 15.8% of flights were cancelled on its thunderstorm days, against 2.4% on other days, and the FAA issued repeated ground stops for JFK-bound flights on 18 and 21 July, both thunderstorm days at the airport.
• Newark: 15.8% of flights were cancelled on its thunderstorm days, level with JFK at one decimal (both 15.8%), against 1.0% on other days, the lowest other-day share of the first three.
• Washington National: 15.5% of flights were cancelled on its thunderstorm days, against 1.6% on other days, and the FAA issued ground stops for Washington National-bound flights on 18 and 21 July, both thunderstorm days at the airport, with no ground delay program on either day.
• Chicago O'Hare: 13.3% of flights were cancelled on its thunderstorm days, against 0.9% on other days, the largest number of flights behind any of the six shares.
• Philadelphia: 10.7% of flights were cancelled on its thunderstorm days, against 1.0% on other days, the lowest of the six and still well above its other-day share.

The intervals of all six overlap each other and those of Dallas/Fort Worth and Baltimore/Washington, so the order is by measured share and is not a finding. In June to July 2026, in July 2026 alone and across all twelve months we hold, LaGuardia, Washington National, Newark, O'Hare and Philadelphia are among the six hubs with the highest shares; the sixth is JFK or Dallas/Fort Worth. August and September 2025 alone, with 3 to 7 thunderstorm days at these hubs, puts O'Hare highest and other hubs among the six.

Florida's four hubs have the most thunderstorm days and little or no rise

Orlando, Miami, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale logged a thunderstorm on 75, 74, 66 and 63 of the 122 days, the most of the 31 hubs, and the share of flights cancelled on those days shows no clear rise (Orlando 1.3% against 0.9%). Their thunderstorm days had a similar number of clock hours with a thunderstorm reported, 2.0 to 3.2 per thunderstorm day against 1.7 to 3.1 at LaGuardia, Washington National, Newark, JFK and O'Hare. So the number of clock hours with a thunderstorm reported does not explain the difference. The FAA issued a ground stop or ground delay program for flights bound for Fort Lauderdale on 4 of its 63 thunderstorm days, Tampa 8 of 66 and Miami 11 of 74, against every thunderstorm day at Newark, LaGuardia and JFK. Orlando is in between, at 43 of 75. Our data does not show why.

About these figures

Population: the 31 large US hubs we track; the 24 with at least 10 thunderstorm days are ranked. Period: August and September 2025 and June and July 2026, 122 days per hub. A thunderstorm day is a local calendar date on which the airport itself reported a thunderstorm (at least one hourly weather report between 06:00 and 22:59 local time with a thunderstorm in the present weather). Flights are also cancelled for storms at other airports and along routes, so some "other days" carry storm-related cancellations: on 28 July 2026, LaGuardia and JFK each had heavy cancellations (192 and 126) with no thunderstorm reported at either airport. The shares count every cancellation, whatever cause the airline recorded. They describe these four months only. A clock hour counts if a thunderstorm was reported at any time in it; a thunderstorm in the vicinity is not counted, and the figures say nothing about how long a storm lasted. Hubs are ranked by a measured share, with no judgement on how an airport is run, and no airline is ranked. Spotted a wrong number? Email hello@getgatecast.com and we'll check it and correct the page.

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