July 14, 2026

The FAA pulled Dallas from today's ground-stop plan, but Houston and Atlanta remain in it on World Cup semifinal morning

ADVZY 026, written at 4:39 AM ET, removed DFW and DAL terminal initiatives with the updated forecast. IAH and HOU ground stops are possible after 7 AM ET (now). ATL has low ceilings already, with thunderstorms expected around 2 PM ET. The Northeast is quiet for the first time in over a week. No airline has issued a new waiver.

The FAA's morning operations plan (ADVZY 026, dated July 14, written 08:39Z) did something the seven prior days of convective forecasts never managed: it cleared the Northeast entirely. "Light winds in the Northeast from PCT to PHL," the advisory reads, "initiatives not anticipated." The afternoon wall that fired only twice in seven days from DC to Boston is gone from today's plan, and the DCA ground stop that led every morning forecast since July 7 does not appear at all.

What replaced it is a Texas-and-Southeast focus, with one notable deletion. The overnight plan (ADVZY 011, written 9:21 PM ET Sunday) had "the Texas markets, ATL, CLT, MCO and TPA all in the plan." This morning's update kept IAH, HOU, ATL, TPA, and MCO but pulled DFW and DAL. "With the updated forecast," ADVZY 026 says, "DFW/DAL terminal initiatives removed from the plan, however en route TMIs for ZFW endure with thunderstorms potentially hindering operations to the south." Translation: the FAA no longer expects a ground stop at the Dallas airports themselves, but thunderstorms in the Dallas center airspace could still slow arrivals and departures passing through the region.

Nothing is active on the FAA's NAS status page at this hour. The advisory lists terminal active as none. But the first planned window is open now: IAH and HOU ground stops or delay programs are possible after 1100Z, which is 7 AM ET. Houston's two airports went into ground stops just yesterday morning (Houston Chronicle, Jul 13) when thunderstorms and microbursts crossed southeast Texas, with IAH departure delays averaging 45 minutes and climbing. The FAA's plan for today keeps that same risk on the table.

Atlanta is the other hub in the plan, and the FAA frames it as more developed. "ATL, low level ceilings present with thunderstorms expected around 1800Z, terminal and en route initiatives planned," the advisory says. That puts the ground stop or delay program window at after 1600Z (noon ET), with storms building toward 1800Z (2 PM ET). Atlanta weather today calls for thunderstorms with over 30 millimeters of precipitation. ATL took three ground stops over the weekend (July 9, 11, and 12), and tomorrow's World Cup semifinal between England and Argentina is at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which means today's ATL disruption could compound into tomorrow's fan positioning.

The SFO ground delay program is probable after 1500Z (11 AM ET), the same routine low-ceiling program that has run most mornings this week. TPA and MCO ground stops are possible after 1700Z (1 PM ET). PHX enters the plan late, after 2300Z (7 PM ET). CLT, which went into a ground stop last Friday afternoon, is not in today's terminal plan but appears in the en route swap routes after 1700Z.

The Dallas deletion is the story that ties today together. The FIFA World Cup semifinal between France and Spain kicks off at 2 PM CT (3 PM ET) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, a 20-minute drive from DFW. USA Today and NBC Dallas-Fort Worth both confirm the time and venue. France arrives unbeaten, having beaten Morocco 2-0 in the quarterfinal. Spain advanced with a late winner against Belgium.

Fans flying into DFW or DAL this morning will find the terminal ground-stop risk downgraded, which is the FAA's honest read of the updated forecast. But the NWS Fort Worth office has a Flood Watch in effect for portions of Central Texas through Tuesday evening, with scattered storms expected mainly in the afternoon and evening. Dallas forecast shows a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms, mainly after 1 PM, and the hourly breakdown has storms already in the area this morning between 6 and 8 AM CT. The FAA's en route note about ZFW thunderstorms "hindering operations to the south" means flights routed through Dallas center airspace could see reroutes and delays even without a terminal ground stop. Yesterday, DFW recorded 589 delays (FlightAware), compounding Sunday's ground stop that made DFW the global leader in cancellations.

The pattern shift is worth pausing on. For seven straight days (July 7 through July 13), the FAA's forecast centered on a Northeast afternoon wall: DCA ground stop expected at 8:30 AM, then JFK, LGA, PHL, EWR, and the DC satellites after 2 PM. That wall fired exactly twice (July 9 and July 11) and fizzled five times. Meanwhile the Southeast and Texas fired repeatedly: ATL on July 9, 11, and 12, CLT on July 10, DFW on July 12, and IAH and HOU on July 13. Today's advisory confirms the shift is structural, not a one-day wobble. The Northeast is out of the plan. The staffing triggers that compounded weather on July 7 (ZNY Area D, F11 TRACON, N90) are absent: ADVZY 026 lists staffing triggers as none.

A SpaceX Starlink 10-45 launch from Cape Canaveral is underway (0715Z to 1157Z), with route structure published and Atlantic Y route closures to the MCO, TPA, and RSW areas active until 1157Z. That is a separate, scheduled constraint compounding the Florida terminal plan.

No airline has issued a new travel waiver for today. American's travel alerts page (current as of July 13) lists only Caracas, Tel Aviv, and Doha. The DFW severe weather waiver American posted on Sunday was specifically for July 12 travel, with rebooking through July 16, and it required same-day changes. United, Delta, and JetBlue have not posted new advisories for July 14 in search. The FAA's next planning webinar is at 1115Z (11:15 AM UTC, which is 7:15 AM ET), and airlines often wait for the post-webinar advisory to firm up before issuing waivers. If the IAH, HOU, or ATL windows sharpen, expect a carrier alert by midday.

The honest caveat: convective forecasts fizzle. The Northeast wall proved that five of seven days. But the Southeast and Texas forecasts have verified far more reliably this week, and ATL has taken a ground stop three times since last Wednesday. The FAA advisory is the primary source for whether a window goes live, and FlightAware tracks the cancellation and delay counts once it does. If you are flying through Houston, Atlanta, or Dallas today, check your airline's travel alerts page directly and your flight status before leaving for the airport.