While some people have already started their journey over the river and through the woods of the holiday this week, others waited until the last minute to lock up their homes to get to family for Thanksgiving.
A record-setting 82 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home during the Thanksgiving holiday week this year, according to the American Automobile Association.
For those traveling this week, there were plenty of delays across the country due to snow, rain, and even extreme cold. The good news is that the forecast for most of the U.S. looks bright on Thanksgiving Thursday. The bad news is, depending on when you’re headed home, you might experience the same headache home.
Traveling on Thanksgiving Day
If you held out on traveling until Wednesday or even Thanksgiving itself, you’re in a better position than others who headed out on Monday and Tuesday.
In fact, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, homeowners in states such as New Jersey and New York can expect a crisp, sunny Thanksgiving. While temperatures may be colder than usual, rain and snow should stay away.
However, bands of heavy lake-effect snow and strong winds could continue in the Great Lakes snowbelts on the holiday, while the Pacific Northwest should expect some showers and possibly strong winds in Western Washington and Oregon.
While it’s looking like it will remain wet along the Northwest, the brunt of the storm should have passed before Turkey Day, making traveling on the holiday itself a better option. But things will take a turn after that.
Post-Thanksgiving travel looks snowy and messy
Earlier in the week, an intense storm moved in across the northern tier of the central United States, bringing blizzard conditions to places like Michigan and the like. According to AccuWeather, that same system will trigger heavy lake-effect snow and squalls in parts of the Midwest and Northeast on the holiday and throughout part of the extended weekend.
From the Great Plains and even the Upper Midwest, snow and a wintry mix will make heading home Friday or Saturday a real struggle.
The heaviest snow bands are expected across northern and Western Michigan, northeastern Ohio, Northwestern Pennsylvania, and western, central, and northern New York on Friday.
But even farther south, snow showers will pop up in places like Philadelphia and New York City on Friday, though gusty winds from the west and northwest may be the real reason behind airline delays at some of the Northeast hubs.
There’s also another system off to the West creating snowy conditions for folks in places like Omaha, NB, and Huron, SD. While not as intense, this front could eventually usher in the first snowfall of the season in Denver, according to AccuWeather, before moving eastward to Chicago and parts of the northern Ohio River Valley by Saturday.