Flight cancellations surge past 3,000 for Christmas Day

More than 3,000 flights were canceled across the U.S. on Christmas Day as a brutal winter storm and frigid cold weather swept much of the country over the weekend.

Flight-tracking website FlightAware reported 3,181 cancellations on Sunday and 7,163 delays in the United States.

As of Monday morning, another 1,452 flights were canceled and 980 were delayed across the country.

Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed just out of New York City over the weekend.

In Buffalo, N.Y., at least 12 people died after 43 inches of snow blanketed the city over the weekend.

The powerful winter storm, which began developing late last week, brought hurricane-force winds from the central U.S. to the Eastern Seaboard.

The storm conditions are expected to ease over the week across much of the country, providing relief to Americans after a frigid weekend.

But the storm already disrupted travel plans for many Americans on Christmas weekend.

Other cities with widespread delays and cancellations this weekend include Dallas, Phoenix and Miami.

Hundreds of flights were also delayed and canceled out of Denver on Sunday, as temperatures remained cold and snowfall continued.

Extremely cold temperatures killed at least two people in the Colorado Springs, Colo., area over the weekend.

On Christmas Day, Southwest Airlines canceled more than 1,600 flights — 43 percent of its scheduled departures.

Delta Air Lines canceled 483 flights, or 24 percent of its departures on Christmas Day, while Spirit Airlines canceled 207, or 25 percent, of its flights scheduled for Sunday.