Federal officials grounded flights at Denver International Airport for three hours on Thursday because of high winds, causing flight hundreds of flight delays as thunderstorms and hail hit Colorado’s Eastern Plains.
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The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the DIA ground stop at 5 p.m. and extended it twice because of ongoing high winds, according to the alert. The ground stop was lifted as of 8 p.m.
Wind gusts at the airport hit 45 mph at 5:18 p.m. and blowing dust is limiting visibility, according to the National Weather Service., and was still gusting at 29 mph just before 7 p.m.
Colorado weather: Severe thunderstorm watch, possible tornadoes for Eastern Plains
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Airlines reported 744 flight delays at the Denver airport as of 8:05 p.m., including 263 delays on Southwest, 214 on United, 154 on SkyWest, 33 on Frontier and 25 on American Airlines, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
Severe thunderstorms were expected to bring wind gusts up to 70 mph, golf ball-sized hail and the potential for tornadoes to the Eastern Plains, NWS forecasters said.
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