[QUOTE=gsupstate]In a similar vein, how does snow affect hub operations up North? I mean, there are so many northern hubs - DTW, CLE, EWR, ORD, MSP just to name a few. How much snow does it take to really clog the system up?

Based on my experience most northern airports are equiped to handle snow, now how much falls clearly will have a negative effect. A few inches will delay things a little but most flights will get through. More that 6 or 8 inches usually result in some flights being cancelled.

I find that most of the time a snow storm is not a suprise event and when I am traveling into or out of winter weather I am a little more proactive in my travel planning. It never ceases to amaze me when people fly during "predicted" winter weather and then are mad at the airlines when they cancel flights or they are significantly delayed.

Personally I prefer to fly in the winter as opposed to summer as snow storms are relatively predictable where T-storms are not... I have more problems in the summer than the winter with delays and such.