Stormy weather forecast will affect travel after Christmas when millions return home

NEW YORK – As millions begin the journey home after the Christmas holidays, they will have to deal with stormy conditions to finish the week with rain, severe weather and snow expected in parts of the country.

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Stormy weather will plague the south until Saturday

Thursday was a tough day for travel in Texas as severe thunderstorms caused several flight delays and cancellations in Dallas and Houston.

The swath of severe weather slid eastward out of Texas Thursday night, leaving for calmer weather Friday in the Lone Star State.

But that’s not the case for the rest of the South, which now faces a two-day threat of severe weather. While Friday’s severe weather threat is subdued – just a Level 1 threat along the Gulf Coast, thunderstorms could slow travel from Nashville to New Orleans with showers reaching north into the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes.

But the severe weather threat increases until Saturday. Large areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama are in Level 2 or 3 out of 5 severe weather threats, according to the SPC.

While details of the burgeoning threat are still being sorted out, the SPC warns that strong tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds are on the table for Saturday, and residents should closely monitor the forecast.

Sleepy end to the holiday week in the north-east with a short ice threat

Just as quickly as New York City experienced its first white Christmas in 15 years, mild temperatures and rounds of rain are coming to melt it all away. The FOX Forecast Center is monitoring several systems to track into the Northeast starting Friday, which will keep the forecast wet and turbulent through the end of the year as millions try to travel home.

Round 1 will be in the form of light and scattered showers as the system that produced severe weather on the southern plains on Thursday weakens and tracks northeast on Friday.

That system could bring a light glaze of freezing rain across northern New Jersey, northeastern Pennsylvania and into south-central New York. Winter weather advisories have been issued from 19 Friday to Saturday morning.

Round 2 arrives Sunday as the energy tracks out of the Rockies, pulling additional moisture from the Gulf north into New England, creating a flood risk for the interior Northeast.

A third system could disrupt New Year’s Eve plans and force umbrellas to be required for anyone going out to celebrate the end of 2024 in style.

Storm after storm continues to batter the West Coast

The Pacific Northwest continues to live up to its rainy reputation this week as it remains in the middle of a series of storms moving in off the Pacific Ocean into Saturday. This weekend, seven different systems will have impacted the Northwest with atmospheric rivers of varying strengths. Thursday marked 15 consecutive days of reported precipitation in Seattle.

Several inches of rain will fall over western Washington, Oregon and northern California. At lower elevations, the cumulative effect of the repeated rounds of rain will heighten concerns about flooding and landslides during the week.

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Up in the mountains, more than 7 feet of snow could fall along the higher peaks of the Cascades.

Driving across mountain passes has ranged from difficult to impossible at times as heavy snow causes multiple spinouts.