# How bad does the weather have to be to close an airport?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-does-the-weather-have-to-be-to-close-an-airport/289013>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 8, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-does-the-weather-have-to-be-to-close-an-airport/289013 "2005-02-08T16:17:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-does-the-weather-have-to-be-to-close-an-airport/289013/21 "2005-02-09T20:49:14Z")

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Logan officially ‘closed’ during the last big storm, so it does happen.  
That storm was around 2 feet or so and windy, so even a freshy plowed runway would be covered in blown snow very quickly.

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**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-does-the-weather-have-to-be-to-close-an-airport/289013/22 "2005-02-10T01:44:18Z")

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Well, there’s closed and then there’s Officially Closed.

If the runway is under two feet of snow the airport is effectively closed - whatever the official status - except to airplanes on skis.

They don’t usually need to officially close airports due to weather in part because MOST pilots know better than to fly in extreme weather. Official airport closures due to weather, therefore, are extremely rare - in anticipation of hurricanes, for example, or during real blizzards.

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