Ground stop at Washington Dulles (IAD), Oct 16, 2026

EndedThunderstorms halt departures from Washington Dulles for over an hour

Started: Fri, Oct 16, 6:07 PM EDT22:07 UTC
Ended: Fri, Oct 16, 7:15 PM EDT23:15 UTC
Duration: 1 hr 8 min
Cause: thunderstorms

Ended: final numbers are being collected; this page becomes permanent shortly.

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What happened

AI-written · may contain mistakes. Written from the advisory text and weather only.

Cause: Thunderstorms at Washington Dulles, with rain, lightning and low clouds, left too few safe routes for departing flights, so air traffic control held them on the ground.

The ground stop at Washington Dulles began at 22:07 UTC and ended at 23:15 UTC, lasting 1 hour 8 minutes. Departures were held from one air traffic control center, and the stop was set to run until 7:15 pm Eastern. It ended at that scheduled time, and reported delays reached 145 in total, with a maximum of 75 minutes.

Impact by airline

Flights to and from IAD delayed 30+ minutes during the ground stop and the hour after it.

Delayed 30+ min: 26
Arrivals / departures: 13 / 13

Airline	Delayed	Avg delay	On ground	Holding
United Airlines UA	8	52 min	24	—
SkyWest Airlines OO	3	74 min	—	—
CommutAir C5	2	86 min	5	—
American Airlines AA	2	50 min	1	—
Breeze Airways MX	2	32 min	1	—
Republic Airways YX	2	51 min	—	—
Mesa Airlines YV	1	37 min	4	—
Air France AF	1	32 min	1	—
Jazz QK	1	82 min	1	—
Lufthansa LH	1	57 min	—	—
Icelandair FI	1	60 min	—	—
Turkish Airlines TK	1	68 min	—	—
Virgin Atlantic VS	1	48 min	—	—

Delayed 30+ minOn ground / holding: most seen at once.

Held at origin

Flights to IAD still on the ground at their origin 15+ minutes past their scheduled departure while the stop was in effect. Held time is minutes past the scheduled departure.

Held at origin: 0
Average held: —
Longest: —

No inbound flight has been seen held at its origin during this stop.

Inbound in the air and diversions

Flights to IAD that had departed and not yet landed, at each arrivals board sample while the stop was in effect, and inbound flights that landed somewhere else instead.

Diverted: 0

Diversions

No inbound flight has been seen diverting during this stop.

Impact by region

Delayed arrivals by the air traffic control center they departed from. Held: departures from that center were stopped.

Center	Status	Delayed
Cleveland Center (ZOB)	Held	0
Outside the US centers	Not held	7
Boston Center (ZBW)	Not held	1
Washington Center (ZDC)	Not held	1
Fort Worth Center (ZFW)	Not held	1
Los Angeles Center (ZLA)	Not held	1
Minneapolis Center (ZMP)	Not held	1
Oakland Center (ZOA)	Not held	1

Aircraft at the airport

Peak 47 on the ground, 0 holding nearby.

On the ground Holding nearby

Timeline

Every change published while the ground stop was in effect, as seen each minute.

Oct 16, 6:07 PM EDT
Ground stop issued at IAD for thunderstorms, until 7:15 pm EDT. Departures held from ZOB.
Oct 16, 6:09 PM EDT
Reason changed to thunderstorms.
Oct 16, 7:15 PM EDT
Ground stop ended after 1 hr 8 min.

Advisories

The air traffic control advisories issued for this ground stop, as published.

ATCSCC ADVZY 152 IAD/ZDC 10/16/2026 CDM GROUND STOP

CTL ELEMENT: IAD
ELEMENT TYPE: APT
ADL TIME: 2202Z
GROUND STOP PERIOD: 16/2152Z - 16/2315Z
DEP FACILITIES INCLUDED: (Manual) ZOB
PREVIOUS TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 0 / 0 / 0
NEW TOTAL, MAXIMUM, AVERAGE DELAYS: 145 / 75 / 72
PROBABILITY OF EXTENSION: MEDIUM
IMPACTING CONDITION: WEATHER / THUNDERSTORMS
COMMENTS: DUE TO LACK OF ROUTES

Original advisory ↗

Where flights were held

Departures to IAD were held from 1 center (Manual).

Chance of extension: MEDIUM

Weather at the time

METAR, weather alerts and SIGMETs at the airport during the stop.

When it started

VFR

METAR KIAD 162152Z 19009KT 10SM FEW035TCU 27/21 A2971 RMK AO2 SLP059 TCU NW T02670206 · observed Oct 16, 5:52 PM EDT

Severe Thunderstorm Watch · Severe Thunderstorm Watch issued October 16 at 5:09PM EDT until October 16 at 8:00PM EDT by NWS Baltimore MD/Washington DC

Over the airport: Convective SIGMET 64E.

Latest during the stop

IFR

SPECI KIAD 162303Z 33010G20KT 2SM TSRA BR BKN028CB OVC060 19/18 A2982 RMK AO2 OCNL LTGIC OHD TS OHD MOV SE P0001 T01940183 · observed Oct 16, 7:03 PM EDT

Over the airport: Convective SIGMET 74E.

Washington Dulles (IAD) live status →Every ground stop at IAD →Replay Oct 16, 2026 on the map →Read the full advisory ↗What is a ground stop? →

How it is measured

Status, timeline, cause and held centers: the national airspace status feed, checked every minute, and the air traffic control advisories it links to.
Delays by airline and region: departures and arrivals at IAD 30 or more minutes late, by their estimated delay against the schedule, sampled every 10 minutes while the stop is active and once more after it ends.
Totals and cancellations: arrival and departure boards for IAD, every 30 minutes while active and once more after the end. Delayed means 15 or more minutes late at IAD; cancelled is the airline's cancelled status; codeshares count once. Flights scheduled from the start until an hour after the end are counted.
Held at origin: the same arrivals boards, which carry each flight's scheduled and actual departure from its origin. A flight is held when it is still scheduled, not departed, 15 or more minutes past its scheduled departure at a sample taken during the stop. In scope: its origin is in a held center or listed facility; flights from elsewhere are late for other reasons.
Inbound in the air: the same arrivals boards. At each board taken during the stop, a flight to IAD is in the air when it has departed (en route, or with an actual departure time) and not landed, cancelled or diverted; one still shown in the air over an hour past its arrival estimate, or departed more than 18 hours earlier, is treated as stale and left out.
Diversions: an inbound flight marked diverted during the stop or the wrap-up after it (not one marked before it could have departed), or one still shown in the air 30+ minutes past its arrival estimate that ADS-B (by its ICAO call sign) then found on the ground at another airport, not its origin. The diversion airport is the airport ADS-B found it at, else the updated destination. Cancellations never count. Regional flights flown under another call sign can't be found on ADS-B, so their diversion airport may be unknown.
Aircraft on the ground and holding: ADS-B positions around IAD, every 5 minutes; the airline is read from the call sign. Holding counts airline flights only (passenger, regional and cargo), not private, military or medical flights.
Weather: METARs, SIGMETs and weather alerts.
News: headline links filtered to this airport and these days; we show titles and links only.

Data sources are listed on the credits page.