As an exceptional drought continues in Tallahassee, Mother Nature is dealing the city another weather phenomenon as a number of flights bound for the capitol city has been diverted across the state due to intense fog.
According to Director of Aviation at Tallahassee International Airport, David Pollard, as of Nov. 24 the airport has had six flights impacted.
The traveling issue has come about just before the Thanksgiving holiday, with many flying out of or to Tallahassee to celebrate the holiday.
The fog has been a talking point for many on social media whose own flights were diverted, even Florida State’s football team had their flight home from North Carolina sent off to Jacksonville.
A number of those sharing their experiences have detailed their adventures coming back home from other cities.
“Husband’s flight last night from Charlotte ended up in Gainesville,” wrote one woman under another post on the diverted flights. “American Airlines personnel told everyone to check back in the morning and left, it was midnight. Husband and some other passengers rented a car and drove back to Tallahassee.”
According to social media, people have shared that flights from Dallas, Washington D.C. and from Charlotte all were diverted to a mix of airports spanning from Panama City even down to Miami, where one traveler said she was on the plane ready to go before the flight was cancelled due to fog.
Pollard says there are a number of factors that go into determining if a flight is to be diverted.
“When you get those foggy conditions and conditions deteriorate to under 1,000 feet cloud ceiling and three miles of visibility, that’s when you start to get conditions that require special flight crew certifications, equipment in the aircraft,” he said.
His recommendation to fliers is to pay attention to any alerts from their airlines.
“(I) encourage the public to download and have the app for the airline that they’re traveling on. That allows that airline to stay in close contact with the traveler,” Pollard said.
“(Fliers) always want to check with their airline the status of their flight prior to coming to the airport, so it’s important that they understand the latest conditions.”
How long can we expect the fog?
David Reese, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service of Tallahassee, said the fog has been predominantly in the late nights and early mornings, leading to the impact of flights scheduled during this time. On Monday, the fog clung to the city till about 11 a.m.
“We’re now up to 12 dense fog advisories that we’ve issued (this month),” Reese said.
He talked about how its not just Tallahassee being affected by this problem but other portions of the Big Bend as well and said the cause of it all may be tied to the most recent big chill in Florida.
“A large part of (the fog) is stemming from (the cold blast), believe it or not, what that did is it helps cool off those shelf waters in Apalachee Bay a tremendous amount and then what we have now is warm, moist air going up and over these cooler waters… that’s basically giving us the right recipe for fog.”
Reese said more fog is expected to roll in until Thanksgiving day. He said nothing was set in stone in terms of a forecast for the weekend following the holiday, where many will be traveling back home, but it’s looking to be warm.
“Sunday into Monday is getting a little far out looking at potential fog conditions… if we do see, you know, some warmer weather start to return for the second half of the Thanksgiving weekend, which we are starting to see temperatures climb back up Sunday into Monday,” Reese said. “that could lead into maybe some fog concerns.”
Arianna Otero is the trending and breaking news reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact her via email at AOtero@tallahassee.com and follow her on X: @ari_v_otero.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: How many flights were diverted from TLH due to dense fog?
Reporting by Arianna Otero, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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