Southeast Fog Delays Flights for Second Day

Thousands of travelers camped out at Atlanta’s busy airport and smaller facilities throughout the Southeast Monday as heavy fog delayed flights and tested tempers for a second day.

James Melton, a Spring Valley, N.Y., resident traveling to Montgomery, Ala., for his father’s funeral, stared out at the fog Monday morning as he waited with his sister, Lessie Johnson. They had arrived at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport on Sunday, spent the night at a hotel and were waiting for another connecting flight.

“We didn’t realize how bad it (the fog) was until we stepped outside,” Melton said.

Low Visibility

The fog cut visibility to less than 1,000 feet early Monday, said Marie Powers, a spokeswoman for the airport, one of the world’s busiest. But the fog had cleared by afternoon, and flights--though still delayed--resumed.

The National Weather Service warned that fog could return this morning.

The airport remained open Monday morning, but only one runway was in use and only the largest planes--those equipped with instruments to allow takeoffs and landings with almost no visibility--were able to come and go, Powers said.

Fewer than half the planes operated by the largest airlines could fly in the fog.

Nearly all of Sunday’s 2,000 scheduled flights were delayed, some by as much as five hours. On Monday, airport officials estimated the delays at 30 minutes to two hours.