Snowstorm in Northeast disrupts flights into and out of LAX

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Visitors enjoy the snow on Broadway in Times Square. (Don Emmert / AFP/Getty Images)

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Pedestrians and motorists brave wind and snow on Fifth Avenue. The city’s public schools were closed Friday after several inches of snow fell in the first storm of the winter. (John Minchillo / Associated Press)

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Leo Lajqi blows snow off a sidewalk in Brooklyn. (Justin Lane / EPA)

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Workers clear a plaza of snow. (Seth Wenig / Associated Press)

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A homeless man seeks shelter under an umbrella as he sits begging in front of a store. (Sebastian Gabriel / EPA)

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A man uses a snow blower to clear a sidewalk in Brooklyn. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

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Bruce Penland pulls his daughter Jordan on a sled on an ice-covered street in Accomac, Va., on the Delmarva Peninsula. (Jay Diem / Associated Press)

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A woman walks down the middle of a snow-covered street in Brooklyn. (Michael Heiman / Getty Images)

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A man digs his car out in Brooklyn after a winter storm left several inches of snow in New York. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

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A bicycle is buried by overnight snow in Queens. (John Minchillo / Associated Press)

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A tattered flag flies above a flooded yard along the shore of Scituate Harbor, south of Boston. A blustering winter storm that dropped nearly 2 feet of snow just north of Boston, shut down major highways in New York and Pennsylvania and forced U.S. airlines to cancel thousands of flights nationwide. (Michael Dwyer / Associated Press)

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A man shovels snow in Brooklyn. (Justin Lane / EPA)

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A man takes photos of snowmen with the Capitol in the background. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

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A light dusting of snow covers statutes of soldiers at the Korean War Memorial. (J. David Ake / Associated Press)

By Ari Bloomekatz

Jan. 3, 2014 8 AM PT

Officials at Los Angeles International Airport -- and the travelers who want to use it as a gateway -- are hoping Friday will bring fewer flight cancellations to and from northeastern airports affected by a severe winter storm.

In a statement released early Friday, Los Angeles World Airports officials said airlines were reporting just five flight cancellations between midnight and noon, including four arriving flights from northeastern airports and one departing flight to New York’s JFK airport.

“Unless weather conditions in the Northeast change significantly from what is currently forecast, airlines do not expect additional flight cancellations after ... noon today,” according to the statement.

PHOTOS: Winter storm pounds East Coast

Friday’s prediction of roughly five canceled flights would be far lower than Thursday, which saw 41 departing and arriving flights canceled because of the storm.

The cancellations affected an estimated 5,535 passengers on what was the final -- and one of the busiest -- days of the 14-day holiday travel period that began Dec. 20, according to LAWA officials.

They advised travelers to check the status of their flights with their airline.

Airlines are expected to reroute passengers displaced by Thursday’s canceled flights throughout this weekend.

Across the nation on Thursday, a total 2,366 flights were canceled within, into or out of the U.S., according to the website FlightAware, which tracks flight cancellations and delays.

According to the National Weather Service, heavy snowfall was forecast to slow down Friday morning across the Northeastern states, but there will still be temperatures “well below normal.”

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Twitter: @aribloomekatz | Facebook

ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com