Dozens Of Christmas Eve MA Flight Delays Amid Snow, American Airlines Ground Stop

BOSTON — A Christmas Eve morning blast of snow and a temporary ground stop of American Airlines flights because of a technical issue combined to make things slow going at Logan Airport for those looking to get out of town — or arrive home — for the holiday.

There were 63 flight delays as of 9:55 a.m., according to website FlightAware, with a quarter of American Airlines flights still experiencing disruptions after what the airline said was a technical problem that caused a ground stop of flights nationwide earlier in the morning.

The good news was there were only three reported cancellations as of mid-morning with both the airline issue and the weather expected to improve throughout the morning and into the afternoon.

The latest winter blast was expected to bring up to 2 inches of snow across Massachusetts on Tuesday morning. While it was not a crippling storm by any New England standard, it did come at a tough time for those who had to commute to work on Christmas Eve and those looking to get an early start on last-minute errands and evening festivities.

A band of steady snow moved through Massachusetts during the morning with it expected to clear Boston before noon. Things should be smooth sailing from there with clouds clearing and temperatures not as cold as recent days with highs in the 30s.

Things continue to look merry and bright for the days ahead with Christmas Day shaping up as sunny with highs in the 30s — and a slow warming trend into the weekend with little chance of precipitation and high temperatures pushing back into the 40s.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)