A breathtaking blanket of fog covered the D.C. area Monday morning, providing gorgeous views for weather watchers but creating travel headaches for flyers.
With visibility reduced to a sixteenth of a mile, no planes could fly in to Ronald Reagan National Airport Monday morning, forcing planes to circle and divert to Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pa., to refuel.
Several planes were able to depart from the airport.
The airport reopened to air traffic at about noon.
At about 10 a.m., 15 flights had been diverted to BWI. At about noon, three or four diverted planes still were waiting to depart from BWI.
On typical days, about 100 flights arrive at National before noon, according to Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority spokesman Rob Yingling. Airport officials expected a busy afternoon.
Delays continued throughout the day, and some travelers, upon finally making it to National, were separated from their luggage.
