The busiest Thanksgiving travel season anticipated to date will experience inclement weather that is expected to complicate many travelers’ journeys.
On November 27, the National Weather Service noted that a storm is predicted to “push from the Mid Mississippi/Ohio Valley today into the Northeast on Thursday [November 28, Thanksgiving Day].” Moreover, “scattered showers and thunderstorms” are expected to develop throughout “the Mid/Lower Mississippi Valley and Ohio/Tennessee Valleys” before venturing more eastward into the East Coast on Thanksgiving Day.
The Associated Press reported that Hayden Frank, a meteorologist with the Massachusetts Weather Service+, commented on the rainy weather anticipated in the Southeast and Northeast. According to Frank, stormy weather — rain or snow — isn’t expected to persist past Friday. With that in mind, hopefully, returns from the Thanksgiving holiday will be less weather-impacted.
“The system doesn’t look like a powerhouse right now,” he reportedly said. “Basically, this is going to bring rain to the I-95 corridor, so travelers should prepare for wet weather. Unless the system trends a lot colder, it looks like rain.”
It’s said that parts of California, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado could also get rain or snow. Per The National Weather Service, heavy snowfall in the Colorado Rockies will end on the morning of November 27. However, the storm that causes the snow is anticipated to develop and spread into the Midwest and Northeast Coast on Turkey Day. While parts of the interior Northeast might experience “moderate snowfall” (one to four inches) the Northern Appalachians are expected to receive four to eight inches of snow by the time most wake up on Black Friday. The Upper Great Lakes can reportedly expect around the same amount of snow.
How Thanksgiving Weather May Impact Travel
NBC News reported that 17,000 flights were canceled or delayed between November 22 and 25 due to severe weather.
“Storms on the West Coast, storms in the Northeast, and now a storm in the Mountain West,” said CBS News senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave on November 26. “So airports from San Francisco to Las Vegas, Salt Lake, Denver, and here in the Northeast, D.C. to Boston, could all see delays today as these various storm systems are moving around.”
