Christmas Storms Halt Holiday Travelers A series of storms set to barrel across america, possibly producing christmas day tornadoes in the south and then a huge mess in the northeast. Just as people are trying to get home after the holiday. In parts of the country, the action has already begun, and here's abc's alex perez. Reporter: It's the night mare before christmas travelers were hoping to avoid. Blankets of snow from central new york to northern california creating christmas chaos for some parts of the country. We're hoping we don't sit on the runway, we did that last time and it's not fun. Reporter: In chicago, paula gagerman and her three daughters arrived early for their christmas eve flight. They are among the millions taking to the crowded skies today. What's that stress like when you got to get somewhere and mother nature is not cooperating? Extremely stressful. Come on, come on. We just want to get there. We are going to be late. It's really annoying. Reporter: In northern california, a huge storm cause a wrench in weekend travelers' plans. After I found out my flight had been canceled after four hours of waiting in the airport, I had to wait in another three-hour customer service line. Reporter: And it's not just in the air. On the roads, holiday travel is up 1.6 million percent this year. Some 84.4 million americans getting behind the wheel, and another 5.6 million traveling by plane. It's actually the most people traveling for the holiday in six years. This means that any wad weather that we might be seeing in the coming days could result in serious disruptions. Reporter: Expect to see those disruptions wednesday, the day after christmas, one of the busiest travel days of the season. Bad weather leading to major airport delays in cities like cleveland, detroit, st. Louis and chicago o'hare. Where santa arrived early today, hoping to give travelers big and small the gift of patience. Reporter: And tonight here at o'hare, things are moving smoothly for the last minute travelers trying to make it home on time for christmas. The bion remains, what will they face on the way back? Alex, thank you. Joining me now, meteorologist lee goldberg of our new york city station, wabc. Thank you for copping in. So, you've got actually three storms you're looking at right now. A real mine field for the next week or so. The first storm on the map is a weak storm coming up the coast right now. That's going to be rain for the coast. Some one to three inch amount among I of 90, in the northeast. Maybe a coating, outside of new york city for a white christmas. Number two is the big problem. So, really big, this problem. And it starts down south. Yes, we know about the big snow it produced out west. Now, if you look at tuesday, in the midday, you see the severe line going through louisiana and mississippi. That could cause tornadoes there. There's snow on this, that's christmas eve into christmas morning, six inches of snow in places like oklahoma city, by the time you get to late week, that's coming up the northeast. An then, storm number three, more snow? Hasn't come on the pacific coast yet. That's a nor'easter saturday into sunday. That could be big snows, interior northeast. A big mess for a lot of people trying to get home after christmas and also potentially a busy week for guys like you. Lots of snags. All right, lee, thank you. You bet. And tonight, we have late word on the passing of one of