Sandy grounds thousands of flights

>> let's go to tom costello now, the approaching storm already disrupting air travel on the east coast . tom is at reagan national airport . how many cancellations, how many delays can we expect at this point, sir?

>> reporter: we're looking at about 5,500 as of right now. we've got really the winds picking up dramatically in d.c. in the last hour and the temperature has developed. we have about 1,400 flights canceled today, tomorrow about 4,500 flights canceled. that's the big players on the east coast , united, delta, us airways , jetblue, all canceling flights as early as tomorrow. the next 24 to 36 hours and be jond as they try to get their planes out of the way of this on coming storm. this is flightaware.com. you can see we've got significant delays right now in philadelphia and also in new york. anywhere from 45 minutes to two-hour delays on inbound traffic. that tells you those planes are having a hard time getting into these cities, and the reason is because of the delays and the wind, and we're already seeing significant cancellations this afternoon and this evening. one more i want to show you, one more website. take a look at flight radar 24.com. that shows you every flight in the air right now over the united states . we are going to see this number or these -- all these planes start to dramatically empty out over the east coast as more and more planes come down and they're grounded out of the way. sf you're booked on a flight, you can expect to rebook and you will hopefully see your fee as hand waived. the airlines are promising that. also amtrak up and down the northeast corridor has shut down service from the washington to new york route. behind me you will see we've got quite a bit of activity on the tarmac, quite a bit of planes. i think starting this evening you'll see an empty tarmac behind me. craig, back to you.

>> nbc's tom costello from reagan national airport with the latest on air travel or should i say lack thereof. thank you, sir. do appreciate it as always.