Flights to and from San Francisco International (SFO) are being delayed for approximately 3 hours and 3 minutes because weather conditions at the airport are too dangerous to safely land flights on the normal schedule.
At the moment the latest information from the ICAO database states that 1 flights originating from San Francisco International have been canceled and 31 flights are currently delayed. 1% of delayed flights are delayed for 30 minutes or more.
This post is updated every 15 minutes. All times are listed in local time for the airport.
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Will my flight be impacted?
Probability your flight will be impacted based on how far in the future it is scheduled to leave:
60 Minutes | Three Hours | Six Hours |
MEDIUM | MEDIUM | MEDIUM |
Right now we don’t have enough information to tell when the weather will improve, and the current situation is already causing flights to be delayed and canceled.
Travelers should expect these delays and cancellations to continue.
Why Is This Happening?
Here are the current weather conditions at San Francisco International and an overview of what is required for “normal” operations:
Normal | Current | |
Visibility | Greater than 2 | 10.0 |
Wind | Less than 11.8 MPH | 20.0 MPH |
Clouds | Higher than 1,000 | Few at 800 Scattered at 1,300 Broken at 1,500 |
The airport is currently experiencing delays due to low clouds and poor visibility. While airplanes can fly through clouds without an issue, landing usually requires the pilot to be able to see the runway. In situations such as these where pilots can’t see the ground or other airplanes air traffic control will keep flights further apart than normal. This keeps everyone safe, but decreases the number of flights that can take off and land which causes delays.
Cloud conditions are not expected to change significantly between now and 9:00 PM on 5/21.
Visibility is not expected to change significantly.