WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn. -- John Murphy watched his Daytona 500 trip suffer a false start of sorts. Winter storm Agatha's ice shut down Bradley International Airport early Wednesday morning.

"They tried sending us to other places. Everything is full until Monday or Tuesday going to that area of Florida because of school vacations, holidays and the race and all that," Murphy said. "My race weekend is done. It's going to be taken in Wolcott watching it on HDTV."

Video: How Snow Turns To Ice
Video: Bradley Airport Talks About Closing

Check: Bradley Flight Status

Bradley spokesman John Wallace told Eyewitness News via telephone that they are seeing primarily icy conditions on the runways. The airport reopened by the morning rush hour at about 8:40.

"The airlines are probably not going to fly in this kind of weather, and we're not going to take any chances," he said.

Wallace said the airport closed at 2:30 a.m., and officials hope to reopen at about 8:30 a.m. U.S. Airways canceled all but two flights, 455 and 791, by the early morning.

Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Len Besthoff reported that the real fly in the ointment for the airport was that only half the regularly scheduled planes arrived at Bradley on Tuesday night, which resulted in a reduced number of planes that could take off Wednesday morning.

Still, for the planes that were at the airport, the ice proved too treacherous. Wallace said crews are using special rubber-tipped plows and special sand in an effort to clear the runways.

Airport officials ask travelers for patience and they suggest contacting the airline for flight status.

"We pride ourselves here at Bradley on keeping the airport open, but we don't take chances with the safety and security of travelers," Wallace said. "We're looking for, probably (Thursday) maybe into the night before we get things back to a normal setting."

Lauren Laparia and Stephanie Meffert, both of Branford, found a beach towel has become a blanket until they can get on their flight to the Virgin Islands. They were supposed to take off at 6 a.m.

"You can't really be in a bad mood because if you are, it just going to ruin your day," Meffert said.

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