Early Look at the Pre-Thanksgiving Travel Forecast

The AAA estimates that almost 80 million Americans will take to the road or the skies over the Thanksgiving holiday week. Will Mother Nature lend a helping hand or will the Grinch make an early appearance? Here is an overview of the forecast for one of the busiest weeks of travel of the entire year.

What is Ahead for Weekend Travel

The U.S. will see a mixed bag of weather in the coming days with some areas experiencing smooth sailing for the holiday and other communities likely to experience significant disruptions to travel plans. Travelers headed out early this weekend will enjoy pleasant conditions for the central and southern portions of the nation.

The South Central U.S. is forecast to see daytime highs climb several degrees over the norm for this time of the year. For instance, Dallas is forecast to reach a high of about 80 degrees by Sunday under sunny skies. It will be a bit breezy in the metroplex over the weekend with winds coming in at 10 to 20 mph. But travel should be a breeze for the most part in this corner of the country.

It will be a different situation for the Northeast with the late week storm system expected to linger through the weekend before it finally moves onshore. Those heading up to the mountains in the interior Northeast could experience delays due to slushy road conditions thanks to the impacts of this low-pressure system.

While the moisture will remain as rain across the Interstate 95 corridor, gusty winds could translate to some problems on the roads. These winds could trigger some airport delays.

The western U.S. will continue to see the active storm track that has been in place for several days. The atmospheric river that has been unleashing across the Pacific Northwest and Northern California is forecast to dip to the south by Sunday, bringing the first significant rain in months to places such as Los Angeles.

The storm-weary western U.S. may finally see a respite from the weather by later next week. The days leading up to the holiday may still see some hiccups as a new storm system is predicted to bring rain to the coastal areas and snow to the mountains. How quickly this weather maker arrives in the West will impact what type of effects the central and eastern U.S. experiences ahead of the holiday.