All flights from Heathrow Airport to New York have been cancelled as a result of Storm Hernando.
More than 5,000 flights on Monday into and out of the United States have been scrapped as the winter storm barrels down on the north-east coastline.
These include 39 flights from Heathrow to all New York airports, operated by Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Jet Blue and American Airlines, which have been cancelled until at least Monday evening.
Additional flights from Manchester Airport, Edinburgh Airport and Dublin Airport have also been affected, with flights to Newark Airport in New Jersey and Boston Airport also experiencing disruption.
Light snow and ‘freezing fog’ with lows of -1C were recorded in New York – Deccio Serrano/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Passengers who have seen their journeys cancelled have taken to social media to complain. They have been advised to contact their airlines for the latest updates.
A spokesman for Virgin Atlantic said: “We’re closely monitoring adverse weather conditions across the East Coast of the USA from Sunday 22 February to Tuesday 24 February.
“Due to severe weather in New York and Boston, the Port Authority of New York and Boston has suspended operations at JFK and BOS Airport, which is impacting our flying programme.”
Visibility has reduced as a result of a winter storm in New York – Charly Triballeau/AFP
Millions of Americans from Washington DC up to the northern state of Maine are preparing for up to two feet of snow.
Meanwhile, states of emergency have been declared in several US states, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
Millions of Americans are preparing for up to two feet of snow – Lev Radin/ZUMA Press/Cover Images
In New York, motorists were ordered off the road and schools were shut down as the city braced itself for the snowstorm. Blizzard warnings are in place until 6pm on Monday local time.
Light snow and “freezing fog” with lows of -1C were recorded there in the early hours of Monday morning, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
The NWS also predicted blizzard conditions would “quickly materialise” from Maryland up to southeastern New England, making travel “extremely treacherous”.
Roads and schools in New York have been shut down due to a major storm – Jeenah Moon/Reuters
The early hours of Monday morning have already seen visibility reduced as a result of conditions, with Wall Street skyscrapers not visible from the adjacent borough of Brooklyn.
Zohran Mamdani, the Left-wing mayor of New York, warned that streets, highways and bridges would be shut down from 9pm on Sunday until noon on Monday.
“New York City has not faced a storm of this scale in the last decade,” he said. “We are asking New Yorkers to avoid all non-essential travel.”
The NWS said: “A major winter storm is expected to bring heavy snow, strong winds, and coastal flooding across the Mid-Atlantic and north-east that may cause impossible travel conditions and power outages.”