Raleigh-Durham is in a thunderstorm ground stop as the FAA puts O'Hare and Midway up next

The afternoon thunderstorm plan fired unevenly across the Southeast: Orlando went into and out of a ground stop as a tropical rainband crossed the field, Raleigh-Durham is in a live weather ground stop to 5:30 PM ET, Boston opened a wind ground delay program averaging 32 minutes, and the FAA's 3:20 PM plan puts O'Hare and Midway ground stops up after 6 PM with Charlotte still possible to 8 PM. Tropical Depression Two is still over the Gulf south of Panama City, forecast to become Tropical Storm Bertha tonight, with a watch from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana.

Raleigh-Durham is in a live thunderstorm ground stop to 5:30 PM ET

The FAA's Command Center issued a CDM ground stop for Raleigh-Durham at 4:01 PM ET, holding 156 inbound flights with a 49-minute maximum and 39-minute average delay, with a medium probability of extension past the 5:30 PM ET scheduled end (FAA ADVZY 115, signed 4:14 PM ET). The cause is thunderstorms over the terminal. Departures from Atlanta Center, Jacksonville Center, and Miami Center are being held on the ground before they can launch toward RDU, so anyone connecting through the Southeast hubs into the Triangle should expect holds. FlightAware counts 7 cancellations and 6 delays at RDU so far today (FlightAware).

RDU is an American Airlines focus city, and the stop sits inside the same Southeast convection band that hit Orlando an hour earlier, so Charlotte and Atlanta connections are the most likely to ripple if the medium-extension probability pays off. The FAA labeled the impacting condition weather and thunderstorms.

Orlando went into and out of a ground stop as a tropical band crossed the field

Orlando International went into a ground stop at 2:25 PM ET, was scheduled to run to 3:15 PM ET, and was cancelled at 2:47 PM ET once the outer rainband moved over the field (FAA ADVZY 090, ADVZY 096). The FAA tagged the cause as weather and tornado-hurricane and tied it to a Flow Constrained Area for Jacksonville Center, the FCAJX1 AFP, rather than a routine thunderstorm reroute. Jacksonville Center warned it may keep holding its own internal departures while the band passes. FlightAware shows 0 cancellations at MCO today and 9 delays, a sign the band moved through fast enough to hold traffic rather than scrap it (FlightAware).

The Central Florida Hotline is now active for Miami Center, Jacksonville Center, MCO, Daytona Beach, and Tampa through 10 PM ET (FAA ADVZY 095), and the FAA's 3:20 PM plan keeps TPA and MCO ground stops possible until 7 PM ET (FAA ADVZY 104).

Boston opened a wind ground delay program averaging 32 minutes

Boston Logan is in a ground delay program from 4 PM to 11:59 PM ET, averaging 32 minutes with a 142-minute maximum, run at a rate of 40 arrivals an hour because of wind and the runway configuration, arrivals 22L and departures 22R (FAA ADVZY 112). This is a wind program, not the Southeast thunderstorm chain, but it stacks on top of the same afternoon block. FlightAware counts 139 delays at BOS today (FlightAware). The GDP replaced an earlier Boston ground stop as the airport settled into the wind-driven runway configuration.

The FAA's evening plan puts O'Hare and Midway ground stops up after 6 PM ET

The 3:20 PM ET operations plan (FAA ADVZY 104) lays out the rest of the evening. Terminal programs possible: an O'Hare ground stop or delay program after 6 PM ET, a Midway ground stop after 6 PM, a Charlotte ground stop until 8 PM, and a San Francisco ground delay program after 10 PM. The SFO ground delay program already running stays active until 6:59 PM ET on low ceilings and construction. The plan drops the Northeast entirely from the terminal list and shifts the convection west and north toward the Chicago hubs.

En route, the radar picture is busy. Washington Center's Atlantic routes, the AR and Y-routes, are closed for thunderstorms from 3:30 to 6:30 PM ET (FAA ADVZY 105). New York Center's oceanic tracks L451 through L455 plus Y493, and Washington Center's AR8, are closed until 10 PM (FAA ADVZY 110). The Gulf routes through Houston and Miami Centers are closed for storms, a South-to-DC metering route and an ORD_JVL weather route are running, and Minneapolis Center posted a severe-weather-avoidance plan for after 7 PM. The NY Metro and Central Florida hotlines stay open until 10 PM. There are no staffing triggers in the plan.

Tracking: Tropical Depression Two, still over the Gulf

Still Tropical Depression Two as of the 2 PM ET NHC advisory, Public Advisory 5-A, centered about 120 miles south of Panama City with 35 mph sustained winds drifting northwest at 3 mph (NHC, Tallahassee Democrat). The Hurricane Center still expects it to become Tropical Storm Bertha tonight, peaking near 50 mph by early Wednesday before Saharan dust and wind shear cap it below hurricane strength. The tropical storm watch from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana and the westward track toward New Orleans by Wednesday are unchanged from this afternoon's earlier advisory (ABC News).

What is new for flying is the airport exposure as the storm drifts west: Pensacola and Panama City are most exposed through tonight, then Mobile and New Orleans Tuesday into Wednesday. So far no terminal ground stop has been tied directly to the tropical system itself; today's Florida stops are thunderstorm-driven, fed by the system's moisture but not categorized as tropical-cyclone stops.

Rebooking: no Bertha waiver yet, so check your airline's alerts page

No Bertha-specific rebooking waiver had been posted by Monday afternoon. JetBlue's alerts page, last updated July 19, lists only the expired July 18 New York thunderstorm and July 17-18 air quality waivers (JetBlue). American's current alert is the East Coast storm waiver tied to travel July 17-19 with rebooking by July 19, which has now passed (American). When Tropical Storm Arthur hit the Gulf in June, American, Delta, Southwest, and United all issued penalty-free rebooking waivers for the affected Florida airports, and the same playbook is expected once Bertha is named or a warning is issued, typically 24 to 48 hours before conditions reach a given airport.

If you are flying this week, check your carrier's travel alerts page directly: American, Delta, United, JetBlue. Under DOT rules, if your flight is cancelled for any reason, including weather, you are entitled to a full cash refund if you choose not to rebook.