The weather woes of holiday travelers coming to and leaving San Francisco continue to mount — and they are not over.

Blizzards on the East Coast led to the cancellation of dozens of flights for travelers trying to leave San Francisco International Airport on Sunday, and a new weather front coming to the Bay Area might cause more of the same later this week.

A cold front is expected to bring heavy rainfall to the Bay Area starting Tuesday afternoon, with about 1½ inches of precipitation forecast from 4 to 10 p.m., according to Steve Anderson, a forecaster for the National Weather Service.

Those showers could linger until Wednesday afternoon and will likely play a factor in flights leaving SFO, Anderson said.

“You can count on being delayed Tuesday night,” he said. “Passengers flying out of SFO should definitely be prepared for that.”

The predicted delays will come on the heels of snow blizzards on the East Coast that snarled travel nationwide Sunday.

Eastern cities from Boston to Philadelphia were beset with heavy snowfall, leading to the cancellation of 29 flights out of San Francisco, according to Michael McCarron, a spokesman for SFO.

United Airlines was the hardest hit, with 11 flights being canceled, including four to New York and three to Newark, N.J. Delta and American Airlines both canceled four of their five flights to New York.

Airlines canceled flights throughout the Northeast and at airports in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Chicago and the Carolinas.

Airlines are expecting more cancellations today, but were trying to rebook passengers and hoped to resume normal operations Tuesday.

Storms on Christmas Day had already led to travel misery in parts of the South, which was hit with a white Christmas for the record books.

Also, rainy weather in the Bay Area caused delays for people traveling before Christmas.

On Dec. 20, the busiest air travel day before the holiday, a large storm here delayed flights into and out of SFO. Planes destined for San Francisco were delayed for up to two hours.

Checking it twice

With nasty weather snarling air travel nationwide, a quick check of your flight before you leave can prevent a headache at the airport.

Flights at SFO
www.flysfo.com/web/page/airline

FAA flight delays
www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa

Flight status, airport delays
www.flightstats.com

wreisman@sfexaminer.com

The Associated Press contributed to this report.