Hi there- Wondering if anyone out there would know why all of the traffic I see today (10/18/25) heading into ORD from the east is taking such a northern route, almost out of the way, to then make an abrupt turn southward. I live in northern MI and so I am used to seeing all international traffic headed to ORD or even DFW coming right over my head. But today everything seems to be staying north for much longer than normal and turning hard south. These are not normal paths for the 100s of flights I see overhead.
I have attached screenshots of many examples.
Even flights BOS to ORD seem to be taking a course way out of the way to the north. I understand there was an incident at ORD just yesterday but I don’t know how this would play into that. Is it just weather? Some sort of no fly restriction? Flights in and out of Detroit are still happening so it doesn’t seem to be that they are restricting that area. Related to government shutdown/air traffic control limitations? Just an ADS-B glitch in the shown path(s)?
Thanks for any info. I tried my own searching and couldn’t come up with anything conclusive. I’m a very amateur FlightAware enthusiast, just like seeing what is flying over my head, seeing the pictures, and learning more about the craft by reading from all of you.
