Comparative Analysis of the Impact of Weather Factors on Flight Delays: Northern vs. Southern United States Airports (2018–2024)

Comparative Analysis of the Impact of Weather Factors on Flight Delays: Northern vs. Southern United States Airports (2018–2024) | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Comparative Analysis of the Impact of Weather Factors on Flight Delays: Northern vs. Southern United States Airports (2018–2024) Ananda Achmad Muzakky, Budi Triadi, Nasrullah Nasrullah, Ananta Saputra This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8256204/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Extreme weather continues to intensify globally and poses significant challenges to aviation operations, where flight delays driven by meteorological disturbances remain a critical threat to schedule reliability, airport capacity, and passenger satisfaction. Recognizing the need for a comprehensive understanding of how climatic variability influences operational performance, this study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the impact of weather factors on flight delays between Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) in the northern United States and Miami International Airport (MIA) in the southern United States, two regions characterized by contrasting atmospheric regimes. The research utilizes monthly operational datasets from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (2018–2024), including weather-related delays, total delays, and total arrivals, combined with monthly precipitation and near-surface wind speed data obtained from the NASA POWER climate database. A structured methodology integrating time-series analysis, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) spectral analysis, and correlation modeling is employed to identify dominant temporal patterns, seasonal cycles, and meteorological drivers influencing delay formation. The results reveal strongly seasonal and predictable delay peaks in Chicago associated with winter storms, snow, freezing precipitation, and wind, whereas delays in Miami are shaped primarily by convective rainfall and tropical cyclone activity, producing more irregular and episodic patterns. Spectral analysis confirms that precipitation exhibits a dominant annual frequency in both regions, while wind speed demonstrates weaker and more complex frequency distributions. Correlation analysis further identifies precipitation as the strongest determinant of weather-related delay variability, with wind contributing secondary, event-based effects. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that climatic contrasts significantly shape delay behavior across airports, emphasizing the importance of region-specific operational strategies and climate-adaptive planning to improve resilience, forecast accuracy, and national aviation performance amid increasing weather extremes. Weather-Related Delays FFT Spectral Analysis Precipitation Wind Speed Climate Variability Comparative Study ORD MIA Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8256204","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":558964052,"identity":"67fcbaf7-ee60-4e22-869c-1c76f575e22b","order_by":0,"name":"Ananda Achmad 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(2018–2024)","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Weather-Related Delays, FFT Spectral Analysis, Precipitation, Wind Speed, Climate Variability, 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Recognizing the need for a comprehensive understanding of how climatic variability influences operational performance, this study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the impact of weather factors on flight delays between Chicago O\u0026rsquo;Hare International Airport (ORD) in the northern United States and Miami International Airport (MIA) in the southern United States, two regions characterized by contrasting atmospheric regimes. The research utilizes monthly operational datasets from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (2018\u0026ndash;2024), including weather-related delays, total delays, and total arrivals, combined with monthly precipitation and near-surface wind speed data obtained from the NASA POWER climate database. 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