now airlines are con tibd to force to cancel thousands of flights as many travelers are trying to get home. winter weather continues grounding hundreds if not thousands more. nbc news correspondent steve patterson has our report. reporter: tonight a travel nightmare forecasted for thousands of americans making the long journey home. more than a thousand flights canceled just today. we ve been in an airport since about 7:30 this morning. reporter: in seattle snow and frigid temperatures putting the airport at the top of an unenviable list, the most cancellations in the world. we re actually on the plane. at the gate. for two and a half hours. reporter: in northern california, a 51-year december sierra snowfall record shattered. thousands left without power. major highways still shut down causing massive traffic jams as officials scramble to clear the roads.
trying to get home. and winter weather continues grounding hundreds if not thousands more. nbc news correspondent steve patterson has our report. reporter: tonight a travel nightmare forecasted for thousands of americans making the long journey home. more than a thousand flights canceled just today. we ve been in an airport since about 7:30 this morning. reporter: in seattle snow and frigid temperatures putting the airport at the top of an unenviable list, the most cancellations in the world. we re actually on the plane. at the gate. for two and a half hours. reporter: in northern california, a 51-year december sierra snowfall record shattered. thousands left without power. major highways still shut down causing massive traffic jams as officials scramble to clear the roads. residents trying their best to shovel out. it is rough because when you come home to this many feet of snow it is days and days of digging out.
many, many more infections than that it s hard to know the exact number, but we could easily be at twice that number and maybe climbing down very, very quickly. our thanks to dr. jha. even higher in the next, you know, week or two. when do you expect this surge to peak? my hope is that in the next couple of weeks, we see a peaking of cases it will probably vary from state to state, but nationally a peaking of cases and then hopefully turning down and hopefully climbing down very, very quickly our thanks to dr. jha well, as covid complicates holiday travel across the country, winter weather is adding to the chaos. another 1,000 u.s. flights were canceled today alone. steve patterson is following all of it. reporter: tonight, a travel nightmare forecasted for thousands of americans making the long journey home. more than 1,000 flights canceled just today we ve been in an airport since about 7:30 this morning. reporter: in seattle, snow and frigid temperatures putting the