How to track how next week's SoCal storm may affect my flight into LAX

February 2, 2024 12:51 PM

I'm going to be flying Delta into LAX (out of JFK) next week, Feb. 6, 2024, arriving at 1:36pm PST. There's a rain forecast in LA for that day, but it's not clear at this point whether it will be a life-changing disaster that will, say, cancel the flight or divert us to another city; or whether it's just going to be ... rain, which might cause a short landing delay.

I'm not asking you to predict the weather or Delta's future flight decisions!

What I'm asking about is an authoritative source of flight-weather information that I can check every day to see what's happening, or is expected to happen, with flights into LAX on Tuesday, 2/6/24.

At what point is Delta likely to start posting their own predictions for that day?

Many thanks.

posted by JimN2TAW to Travel & Transportation (4 answers total)

Best answer: It's not specifically answering the question, but SoCal had a pretty big storm roll through yesterday, and another a week or so ago, both with about the same amount of rainfall as predicted for Mon/Tues of next week (for me, a bit south of LA), so it might be possible to check data from those times on how flights were affected.
posted by LionIndex at 1:34 PM on February 2, 2024

Best answer: Delta and all the other airlines are not only at the mercy of the weather but also the national air traffic control system, which answers to Mother Nature as well as other important events.

It's probably somewhat cryptic but the FAA Airspace Status page is worth checking to see what is happening in and around LAX. If the rain is too heavy at LAX, for example, you will see a ground delay alert and a prediction of impact times. Flights from other airports will be slowed down to lessen the burden on LA's airspace.

The FlightAware Misery Map also tracks cancellations by airport.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:54 PM on February 2, 2024 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Unless there is a major blizzard, hurricane, etc., you're not going to see much from Delta until the day before your flight, at the earliest. Based on the National Weather Service forecast for LAX, it's not looking like that is being forecast. LAX, I think, is one of those airports where there is not enough separation between the runways to operate in poor visibility. So it can get quite delayed when they go down to one runway. But that's going to be due to low clouds, not rain per se. Obviously the two are highly correlated. Also there is the possibility for strong wind, that can slow things down as well. But airlines hate hate hate to delay in advance, they would rather wait until the last minute on the off chance the weather clears and the flight can operate as scheduled. Which, to be fair, is what many people want as well.
posted by wnissen at 2:35 PM on February 2, 2024 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Delta posts the weather events that they think are going to have a major impact on their operations on this page. Right now it doesn't show anything, but if you look at that link in the Wayback Machine you can find advisories for things like Hurricane Ian, various snowstorms, etc.

To be severe enough to make that page, Delta has to be convinced that a large number of flights into a particular airport will be affected, enough so that it's worth their while to offer free rebooking options and waive the usual change fees. A few flights being delayed by a few hours probably wouldn't cut it. But if you do see LAX show up on that list, take it seriously.
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:41 PM on February 2, 2024