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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend November 24, 2005 Cathy Gilbert, left, waits with her children Abigail, 7, and Emily, 2, at the Medford airport on Wednesday. Their flight to San Francisco was canceled and they eventually rented a car to drive to the Bay Area so they could fly home to Hawaii. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven GROUNDED: Travel (NOT) Up in the air By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune Thick fog socked in the Medford airport Wednesday, leading to nine canceled flights and frustrating passengers on the busiest travel day of the year. "You hear some choice words once in a while," said 86-year-old Eileen Cook, whose flight to Portland to visit family for Thanksgiving was canceled. The Grants Pass resident, along with other passengers, found out they would have to be bused to their destinations or to another airport to escape the fog. "We’re getting people in by bus and out by bus," said airport director Bern Case, who finally saw the sun breaking through by 1 p.m. Case, who expected Wednesday to be the busiest travel day of the year, said the fog would likely be back this morning, leading to potentially more canceled flights if the visibility falls below the federal limit of 1,700 feet. Advertisement He estimated that 9 outgoing flights were canceled Wednesday morning, and incoming flights were delayed or routed to other airports. Case estimated that up to 600 passengers were inconvenienced. About 2,200 passengers were expected to go through Medford airport Wednesday, and Case said he anticipated the fog would return by nightfall, inconveniencing still more travelers. The fog also blocked about five incoming flights Tuesday night, and some passengers were bussed down from Portland. The inversion that plagued Medford extended up the state to Eugene and Portland. "The whole region had some impact," he said. Case said it’s a little unusual to get such heavy fog so early in the season. Typically, he said, December and January are the most troublesome months. "This is the worst week in recent years," he said. The airport couldn’t use cloud seeding to break up the fog because the temperature has hovered above the 32 degree temperature. Dispensing dry ice pellets only works effectively below that temperature. Dennis Hess, a spokesperson for the National Weather Service in Medford, said the fog would likely persist this morning, but should break up earlier than it did Wednesday A weather system should move into the valley, bringing some wind that will break up the fog. "Thursday looks like a sunny day," he said Wednesday afternoon. But by tonight, the front is expected to bring rain, said Hess. Even though the break in weather should help travelers, it didn’t help Cathy Gilbert and her family return home to Hawaii. Around noon Wednesday, they found out their flight was canceled. "There went our hope," said Gilbert, who was in the Medford area visiting family and friends. "We’re driving now." The Gilbert family rented a car, heading to San Francisco to catch a flight to Hawaii to join some elderly family members for Thanksgiving. "We’ve got some dinner that’s got to be eaten," she said. Inversion still hasn’t budged, although winds shifting The Rogue Valley’s air quality continued to worsen Wednesday and is nearing unhealthy levels for the general population, according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Pollution levels could worsen still today as people hit the roads for holiday travel ahead of a cold front expected to bring winds tonight that could flush out the foul air. Wednesday marked the fourth straight day pollution levels have registered as unhealthy for "sensitive groups," according to the DEQ’s Web site. The inversion that has settled over the valley has kept particulates from burned wood and car exhausts trapped in the area. The DEQ’s Air Quality Index for Medford hovered near the "unhealthy" range Wednesday, which means the valley’s air could be unhealthy for anyone to breathe. After the 8 p.m. hourly update, the air for the Medford area was listed with an AQI 0f 136, the worst in the state. By contrast, Shady Cove’s AQI of 49 was safely in the "good" classification. Meteorologists are predicting a weather system moving in from the Pacific Ocean late tonight may produce enough wind to push the stagnant air out of the valley and improve local air quality. http://www.deq.state.or.us/aq/api/Index.asp Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail GROUNDED: TRAVEL (NOT) UP IN THE AIR ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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