‘Leave now,’ Biden warns Americans traveling during winter storm

 President Joe Biden urged Americans with travel plans for the holiday weekend to “leave now” to avoid being stranded — or worse — by a massive winter storm that will hit a huge portion of the central US.

“If you all have travel plans, leave now. Not a joke,” Biden said Thursday at the White House, where he was briefed by advisers on the winter weather. “I’m telling my staff if they have plans, to leave tonight or tomorrow. You can talk to me on the phone, it’s not life or death. It will be if they don’t get out.” 

The storm, which is bringing snow and dangerously low temperatures, is already wreaking havoc on Americans’ travel plans ahead of Christmas.

As of early Thursday, more than 1,200 flights into and around the US had been canceled, with the majority of those in Chicago and Denver, according to airline tracking service FlightAware. 

According to AAA, an estimated 112.7 million people are set to travel at least 50 miles through Jan. 2.

Biden cautioned Americans to take the storm “extremely seriously.”

“It is dangerous and threatening. This is really very serious weather,” he said.

Biden, who is being briefed by National Weather Service Director Ken Graham and Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell, said his team is prepared to help and has reached out to governors of states that will be affected.

“I encourage everyone, everyone, to please heed the local warnings. We’ve tried to contact 26 governors so far in affected regions,” he said. “This is not like a snow day, you know, when you’re a kid. This is serious stuff.”

The Arctic front is remarkable for its size, with snow, freeze and flood warnings and advisories stretching from Washington state to Maine and down to the Gulf of Mexico. In some places, snow from the storm will not be extreme, but high winds or coastal flooding could pose a danger.