In order to get to loved ones for Thanksgiving, millions of travelers will have to contend with bad weather and clogged roads on Tuesday. Forecasters also predict that it will be chilly for many.
In an early-morning update, the National meteorological Service (NWS) predicted that two meteorological systems will spread a “Arctic outbreak” throughout the Central United States on Wednesday and into Thanksgiving Thursday.
Only Tuesday and Wednesday will see temperatures in the Northern Great Plains fall to the upper teens and 20s, which is 15 to 25 degrees below the seasonal average. Low temperatures on Thursday might range from 0 to 13 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Twin Cities’ NWS office.
An atmospheric river event—an aerial flow of moisture that can bring heavy precipitation—was predicted to deliver rain and up to three feet of snow to the southern Sierra Nevada, the Great Basin, and central and southern California.
With 4 to 8 inches of snow predicted, Thanksgiving will be chilly in places downwind of Lake Ontario and on the Upper Michigan Peninsula.
Airports appeared to be managing the surge of Thanksgiving travelers as of 7 a.m. Tuesday; according to FlightAware’s Misery Map of airline disruption, there was only one flight cancellation nationwide on Tuesday morning, with only 55 delays.
On Monday, travel hubs also appeared to be able to handle an increase in travelers. Father Jeff Couture, a Catholic priest who had just returned from a pilgrimage trip to Portugal, told NBC New York on Monday, “I grew up in Connecticut, so I’ve been through this airport thousands of times, and I’ve never seen it this easy getting through customs. No line today.”
Due to the unavailability of direct flights from Newark, Janis and Ken Allen took the train from Philadelphia to San Francisco on Monday to visit their daughter. They had not encountered any difficulties. They told NBC New York that, in accordance with advice from consumer travel organizations like the AAA, they scheduled their return trip for Tuesday, December 3, to escape the post-holiday rush.
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