Christmas Eve sees another day of bitter cold, harsh weather for travelers

Severe winter weather is affecting travel for the fourth consecutive day as travelers make their last-minute journeys on Christmas Eve.

As of 8:00 AM, Saturday has seen 1,522 flights canceled within, coming into, or flying out of the United States, according to tracking service Flight Aware. 

An additional 1,123 flights have been delayed at the time of this report.

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A massive winter storm moving east across the United States is bringing bitter cold and life-threatening temperatures to dozens of states. A widespread flash freeze is forecast in the Midwest, East and South as heavy rain is accompanied by below-freezing temperatures all the way to Florida.

This continues airline frustrations that began Wednesday as wind chills, icy conditions, and snow descend on large areas of the United States.

As of Friday morning, more than 10,415 flights were delayed and 5,732 were canceled.

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Dangerous wind chills and accumulating snow are expected across a large swath of the U.S., leading to various warnings and cold weather alerts for over 150 million Americans, FOX Weather reported.

On Thursday, more than 10,000 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were delayed, and more than 2,500 were canceled. On Wednesday, FlightAware reported more than 8,100 delayed flights.

Roughly 54 million passengers are expected to depart from U.S airports over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday period. Thursday and Friday have been projected as the busiest travel days of the year-end holiday period, with 3.34 million passengers scheduled to fly out each day, according to travel app Hopper. 

Heavy snow, ice and powerful winds hit various parts of the U.S., from the Plains and Midwest to the East Coast, as early as Thursday. 

Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories have also been issued from the central and northern Plains eastward to the Midwest, Great Lakes, mid-South, central Appalachians and interior Northeast, including the cities of Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City in Missouri, Milwaukee, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Memphis and Nashville in Tennessee.

The dangerous weather is expected to last through Saturday, with a surge of arctic air to follow.

Fox News’ Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.