LEE COUNTY, Fla.-- Yet another blast of winter weather is grounding flights across the northeast, and it's having a trickle down effect locally.

At around lunch time, there were nearly 20 delays and cancellations at Southwest Florida International Airport.

Snow is piled high in places like Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and New York City.

Major airports including JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark have cancelled more than a thousand flights.

Newark Airport was closed until noon and JFK was closed until 10 am Thursday.

A group of stranded passengers trying to get to Newark from RSW were told their flight may not get off the ground until Saturday. They were considering renting a car and driving instead.

Another traveler, Kevin Lopera, was trying to figure out how to get to New York where his father was about to go in to surgery. His options were either fly to a different airport and take a cab to New York, or wait until Friday.

The New York area received up to 18 inches of snow in a storm that stretched from early Wednesday until nearly dawn Thursday.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the three airports, is hoping to avoid the situation that accompanied an even bigger storm on Dec. 26. Then, flights were backed up for days.

More than a thousand passengers will likely fill the airport in Philadelphia today.

At Boston's Logan Airport, delays and cancellations are likely as the area has seen a 270 percent increase in snowfall this winter.     

If you plan on flying out remember the most basic travel advice-- contact your airline before heading to the airport.

Click here to view the latest delays and cancellations in and out of RSW: http://www.flylcpa.com/flightinfo/departures/