"The decision was made soon after to send many of the network heavy hitters to Virginia, a decision complicated by the fact that the Sunday storm continued to mangle travel throughout the Northeast, including New York," THR reports.

NBC Nightly News EP Alex Wallace explains: "It was very tough to find an open airport to take off from and an airport to land in."

Paul Gough adds: "The network eventually chartered a plane from White Plains, N.Y., to Roanoke, Va., the only airport nearby that wasn't closed..."