Topline
Winter storm warnings going into the week of Thanksgiving stretch from California to the East Coast and the potential for snow—particularly in the Northeast—could impact plans as travel is expected to rebound to pre-pandemic levels for the first time.
Key Facts
A cold front is expected to sweep the Midwest and South starting Wednesday night and spread eastward on Thanksgiving Day, bringing precipitation and frigid temperatures.
Winter storms hit California and Nevada’s Sierra Nevada Tuesday and moved to Colorado and Utah Wednesday, where up to 36 inches of snow is expected to fall in parts of the mountains by the evening and up to 4 inches could fall in the Denver metro area.
The storm is expected to continue moving east and move into the Midwest and Ohio Valley, which could see up to an inch of snow, and then into the Northeast, where low pressure tracking near New England is bringing the potential for widespread rain and snow from Thursday into Friday morning.
Snowfall on Thursday and into Friday is possible in northern New York and Vermont, and rain and high-elevation snow could be seen on Thanksgiving in northwestern Connecticut, western Massachusetts and eastern New York.
A winter storm watch is in effect from late Thursday through Friday morning in western New York, the eastern Catskills, parts of Vermont and Delaware, and extends to the Eastern Lake Onatrio region from Friday afternoon through Monday.
Those traveling by car in areas from Boston to New York City should be prepared for a wet drive, be it snow or heavy rain.
A surge of cold the weekend after Thanksgiving will send freezing weather to the Great Lakes Midwest and Northeast with high temperatures in the 20s expected in Chicago, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio.
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What To Watch For
How weather impacts travel. Almost 80 million people are expected to travel more than 50 miles between Tuesday and next Monday for the holiday. Car travel is expected to overtake pre-pandemic levels—70.6 million people drove to their Thanksgiving destinations in 2019, AAA reports, and 71.7 million are expected to do so this year. Almost 6 million people are expected to fly domestically, up 11% from 2019 and international bookings are up 23% compared to last Thanksgiving. Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons are the worst time to travel by car, AAA reported, with road congestion also expected almost all day Sunday, particularly after 1 p.m.
Surprising Fact
It’s been five years since Thanksgiving brought seriously destructive winter weather to portions of the United States. In 2019, a bomb cyclone brought almost hurricane-force winds to the West Coast and rains that flooded San Diego. Hail fell in Los Angeles the day before Thanksgiving, and three members of an Arizona family died after their truck was swept away in a flooded creek. The year before, in 2018, New York City saw the coldest Thanksgiving since 1901 when temperatures in Central Park hit 19 degrees and East Coast other cities, including Washington D.C., also had near record-breakingly cold temperatures.
Further Reading
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