Weather complicates post-caucus Iowa getaway

The traditional exodus of campaign staffers and members of the media from Iowa the day after the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses is being complicated on Tuesday by a snow storm that is forecasted for the area around Des Moines International Airport, the Des Moines register reports. 

The day after voting in Iowa is typically the second busiest day of the year at the Des Moines airport, behind only the day before Thanksgiving, according to the report.  

The website FlightAware.com said Tuesday that the Des Moines airport had the 10th-highest number of flight cancellations in the world, with 12 percent of its normal flights canceled and another 2 percent experiencing delays.

{mosads}The Des Moines airport typically averages 180,000 passengers a month and more than two million per year, according to statistics that were compiled by airport officials. 

Airport officials said they brought in extra personnel to deal with the increase in traffic that was anticipated after the conclusion of the Iowa caucuses, according to the report.  

“We have a lot of people trying to leave Iowa all at the same time,” Des Moines Airport Executive Director Kevin Foley told the paper. “We started planning for this about six months ago.”

Foley said the Des Moines airport could handle up to 1,500 passengers in its first two hours of operation on Tuesday, according to the report. Officials said the airport normally processes about 1,300–1,400 people in the early morning of a weekday, the paper said.