Thunderstorms caused a ground stop at CLT from 2:15 to 4 pm yesterday. Plenty of flights also diverted to other airports. That’s not something they could fix in a couple of hours even if the weather was “fine” later in the evening.
I was in the international baggage area for two hours yesterday waiting to get my bags. My connecting flight was delayed by an hour because while the incoming aircraft landed before the thunderstorms, ground crews couldn’t be outside for two hours. When we arrived at RDU we had to wait for a gate because the same thunderstorm had caused ground stops there later in the afternoon and they were still trying to get diverted flights off the ground and onto CLT.