Map shows ‘Poor Travel Conditions’ for 14 states ahead of Thanksgiving

Poor travel conditions will be in place for 14 states in the days leading up to Thanksgiving, with Tuesday and Wednesday expected to be the busiest days of the holiday.

An updated forecast from AccuWeather shows the expected weather impacts across the nation as nearly 80 million Americans are set to travel for the holidays, AAA reported. AccuWeather predicts that “significant travel disruption is expected for tens of millions” of travelers.

The poor travel conditions will affect 11 states on Tuesday and six states on Wednesday. Some states will be affected on both days.

Travel forecast Tuesday

In the northeastern United States, poor travel conditions will occur in northwestern Maine, northern New Hampshire, northern Vermont, and northwestern New York. National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists had a winter weather advisory in place for those states Monday afternoon.

Precipitation will fall as sleet, snow or rain, depending on the location.

“Although icing amounts will be small, the freezing rain is expected to fall on cold bare pavement. This will lead to the potential for icing on untreated roads leading to extremely hazardous travel conditions,” the NWS office in Gray, Maine, said in the winter weather advisory , which will take effect early Tuesday morning.

“Even small amounts of snowfall can accumulate on the roads and cause hazardous driving conditions due to snow-covered roads. The hazardous conditions could affect the Tuesday morning commute,” the office said.

In the central United States, poor travel conditions will prevail in western Colorado, far southern and southeastern Wyoming, far northern New Mexico, central Utah, northern Nevada, far southern Oregon, and northern and eastern California.

An atmospheric river will bring high-elevation snow and widespread rain across California early this week, NWS Weather Prediction Center meteorologist Allison Santorelli said Newsweek. That moisture will track further east on Wednesday.

Wednesday travel forecast

On Wednesday, there will be fewer impacts in the Northeast and on the West Coast. Meanwhile, worse conditions will spread further east from the West Coast into the Intermountain West.

AccuWeather’s travel conditions map shows poor travel conditions Wednesday for southern Wyoming, most of Colorado, western Kansas, western Oklahoma, northern Texas, northern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona and southeastern Utah.

Then the lake-effect snow could move into the Northeast later this weekend, Santorelli said. It can prove dangerous for families returning home after the holidays.

“Low pressure tracking near New England late Thursday and Friday will bring the potential for widespread wintry precipitation and travel impacts to the region,” the NWS office in Gray, Maine, said in a hazardous weather forecast. “Confidence in the finer details of storm tracks, resulting precipitation types and timing is low at this point.”