The latest Thanksgiving forecast calls for snow, rain and bitter cold as millions travel

A cross-country storm, a blast of arctic air and an outbreak of showers and thunderstorms are threatening to snarl traffic and pile up delays at airports through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, one of the nation’s busiest travel periods.

A sweeping storm that brought snow across the West and Colorado Rockies is expected to intensify as it barrels eastward, dumping heavy rain across the Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio valleys Wednesday night before dropping 4 to 8 inches of snow across the northern Appalachians on Friday. morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Winter storm warnings were in place across Colorado and Utah as heavy showers were expected to drop 1 to 2 feet of snow across the Intermountain West — the heaviest bands lasting through Wednesday morning. The major travel hub of Denver may only see a few inches, but it could be enough to disrupt travel plans, forecasters warned.

Major cities across the Northeast will not be spared from the stormy weather. Showers and thunderstorms are expected to drench much of the I-95 corridor late Wednesday and into Turkey Day, affecting Philadelphia, New York City, Boston and Washington DC, according to AccuWeather meteorologists. Rain is also in the forecast for parts of the Southeast, including northern Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Over the long holiday weekend and into next week, communities throughout the Great Lakes region could see several feet of snow pile up. In parts of Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio and western New York, snow could fall at rates as high as 2 to 3 inches per hour, with the heaviest bands dropping visibility to near zero, creating a dangerous hazard.

Bitter cold in the forecast for states in the central, eastern United States

An arctic blast is dropping temperatures across the Northern Plains, Midwest and eastern US to lows not seen since last winter.

As the first sub-zero temperatures set in across the Dakotas and Minnesota ahead of Thanksgiving, temperatures in and around Dallas, Texas and Atlanta could dip near freezing for the first time this season. Friday morning, Chicago could see single digit temperatures.

“The cold blast will feel like January and will provide a significant shock to hundreds of millions of people who may have become accustomed to warm conditions for most of the fall.” AccuWeather meteorologist Paul Pastelok said.

Meteorologists with AccuWeather say the cold air will come in waves in December, which is on track to be much colder than last year for the Midwest and Northeast. “In December, we think the temperature will be maybe a few degrees below the historical average, with an approximate difference of 15 degrees for the month as a whole,” Pastelok said.

A record number of people are traveling for Thanksgiving

Around 79.9 million people will travel 50 miles or more from their homes for Thanksgiving from Tuesday to Monday, according to the American Automobile Association. This is an increase of 1.7 million compared to last year and 2 million more than in 2019.

Stacey Barber, vice president of AAA Travel, said she expects to see “new records across the board, from driving to flying and cruising.”

The Transportation Security Administration also said it expects the busiest Thanksgiving travel period on record, and it estimates its agents will screen 18.3 million people from Tuesday through Dec. 2. TSA Administrator David Pekoske said the 10 busiest travel days in TSA history have all occurred in 2024, adding that “we expect this trend to continue.”

Starring: John Bacon, Doyle Rice and Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Thanksgiving storm forecast calls for snow, rain and bitter cold