Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014 | 2:29 p.m.
Strong winds prompted several airlines to cancel 30 flights at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, officials said.
Flight problems started at about 10 p.m. Wednesday after Southwest Airlines notified airport officials of its decision cancel flights, spokesman Brian Kulpin said. That could still continue on into the afternoon, he said.
"It's really up to the airlines and Mother Nature now," Kulpin said. "We'd like to see the snow hit the area later today because the precipitation will mean the winds to dissipate."
"We'd actually prefer to deal with snow and rain," he said. "We can move snow, but there's nothing we can do about severe winds."
Despite the mass flight cancellations, Kulpin said there weren't any "throngs of people milling about" at the airport.
"The airlines are very good about contacting passengers via their emails or cell phones to alert them that the flights have been canceled, and we've been working all night to let airlines know what's going on," Kulpin said.
"Most of them have been alerted and are probably at home and aren't waiting around for their flights," he said.
Despite the problems with flights, Kulpin said he hopes the storm brings lots of new snow.
"That will attract more people to the area down the road," he said.
Southwest Airlines canceled departures from Reno-Tahoe International Airport for Thursday before 2 p.m., and several other flights are being affected as well, including several United and Alaska Airlines flights.
The cancellations are due to the high winds forecast for the area, Reno airport spokesperson Heidi Jared said.
"Multiple airlines have canceled multiple flights in anticipation of the high winds," Jared said. "Safety always comes first, so they're being proactive."
As of 7 a.m., there were 18 flights canceled for Southwest Airlines, eight cancellations for United Airlines and a couple more for Alaska Airlines, Jared said.
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