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Are incoming flights to Phoenix Sky Harbor airport delayed due to low rain clouds? Please give me a brief summary.
Executive summary
Incoming flights to Phoenix Sky Harbor are being delayed today in part because of rain and “low ceilings” (low cloud bases), with the airport reporting more than 90 delays and a ground‑delay advisory that set average delays around 40 minutes (12News) [1]. However, broader, ongoing delays and cancellations at Sky Harbor this month are primarily tied in many reports to FAA capacity limits and staffing shortages tied to the federal shutdown; multiple sources show larger disruption numbers and cite controller staffing as a separate, major cause [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. Weather is a clear, immediate cause today
Local coverage on Nov. 18 says Phoenix Sky Harbor issued a “ground delay” advisory and the airport reported more than 90 delays as rainstorms moved across the valley; the bulletin explicitly links the advisory to low ceilings and gives an average delay of roughly 40 minutes, which supports the conclusion that low rain clouds are causing incoming‑flight delays today [1].
2. But this month’s bigger pattern stems from FAA staffing and capacity actions
Separate, contemporaneous reporting documents a series of FAA orders, capacity reductions and temporary closure windows at Sky Harbor tied to controller staffing shortages amid the federal shutdown; those stories list hundreds of delayed or canceled flights and targeted reductions of roughly 4–10% of traffic as part of phased cuts at 40 major airports — indicating an independent, larger source of disruption beyond weather [4] [6] [7] [8].
3. How weather delays and staffing limits interact
News outlets describe both types of disruptions happening at once: rain and low ceilings trigger ground delays or advisories for specific time blocks (today’s case), while FAA capacity caps or ground‑delay programs driven by controller shortages reduce throughput overall and make the system less resilient to weather — so a modest weather event can cause outsized delays when staffing and capacity are already constrained [1] [4] [6].
4. Numbers: today vs. recent peak disruptions
Today’s snapshot: more than 90 delays and a ground delay advisory with ~40‑minute average delays (12News, Nov. 18) [1]. Recent peak disruptions this month: reporting shows episodes of roughly 400 delayed flights and about 100 cancellations in one midday estimate, and other days with hundreds of delays and dozens to hundreds of cancellations tied to FAA actions (AZFamily, ABC15, Visaverge/KJZZ reporting) [5] [8] [6] [7].
5. What authorities and trackers are saying — and what they don’t say
The airport’s live tracker and FlightAware numbers are cited repeatedly for current counts of delays/cancellations; local reporters reference FAA directives and airport statements about reduced capacity [2] [3] [9]. Available sources do not mention that today’s rain‑related delays are the only or primary cause of all recent disruptions — instead, the sources present both weather and FAA staffing actions as contributing factors [1] [4].
6. What travelers should do now
Journalistic reporting here recommends checking your airline’s status and the airport’s live information before heading to the airport; that advice is repeated across coverage of both weather and capacity‑driven delays [4] [9]. Given the combination of weather and capacity constraints, expect longer ripple effects even after rain ends [1] [4].
Limitations and competing viewpoints: local weather reporting attributes the current delay advisory directly to rain and low ceilings (12News) [1], while multiple outlets place this day’s numbers into a larger context of FAA‑ordered reductions and controller staffing problems (AZCentral, AZFamily, Visaverge/KJZZ) [2] [5] [6] [7]. Both explanations appear in the reporting; neither set of sources claims the other is false. Available sources do not mention any official FAA statement today attributing these specific delays solely to weather rather than the combination described above.