Winter weather can put a damper on holiday travel

CNN
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As Christmas approaches and an expected record number of people across the country embark on their journeys, they may encounter travel problems as winter storms threaten delays.

While no major winter storms are expected in the days leading up to Christmas, several smaller storms could create challenges for last-minute shoppers and travelers alike.

More than 119 million people are expected to travel at least 50 miles from their homes between Saturday and New Year’s Day, AAA projectswhich would make it the busiest year-end holiday travel season ever. And TSA said it expects to screen nearly 40 million people between now and January 2, with the busiest days expected to be Friday, December 27 and December 30.

Fortunately, with a government shutdown averted early Saturday, TSA agents and air traffic controllers working during the travel rush won’t be without a paycheck. There were earlier fears that a shutdown would potentially affect one of the busiest travel periods of the year, but the Senate passed a funding bill overnight.

With that headache averted, all eyes are on Mother Nature as she prepares to deliver a dose of winter weather that could affect travel in parts of the country.

A storm that moved through the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest earlier this week will continue to affect the Northeast into Saturday, allowing for a few inches of snow in inland parts of the Northeast and a chance for rain and light snow in larger metropolitan areas.

The storm will affect large metropolitan areas in the Northeast through Saturday, the National Weather Service says. Washington, DC, New York City, Philadelphia and Boston could see snow Saturday, but skies should clear in the afternoon. Snowfall for these major cities should not exceed an inch, while interior parts of the Northeast and parts of the Appalachians could see up to 6 inches of snowfall.

Cold accompanying this storm will bring coldest temperatures of the season to parts of the East at the weekend.

High temperatures for some will drop by 30 degrees from the peak earlier this week. Atlanta’s high on Saturday is 47 degrees, down from 73 degrees Wednesday. The high in Raleigh, North Carolina, hit 73 degrees on Wednesday, but will continue to dip through the weekend to a high in the low 40s on Sunday.

Cities in the south such as Atlanta, Dallas, Little Rock, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee, may experience overnight temperatures at or below freezing this weekend.

New York City hit 53 degrees on Wednesday, but will see their high drop below freezing on Sunday, with a low in the teens. This cold will not be as long-lasting in the Northeast as it has been in the Midwest and will begin to warm early next week, especially by Christmas. Minneapolis has been below freezing since Monday and is not expected to stay above freezing until next Monday with a temperature of 34 degrees.

Travelers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has already felt the effects of the winter weather, as two ground stops were ordered there Thursday due to snow and ice.

“We left our house around 9am sharp and it was supposed to be a 30-minute trip but it turned into an hour,” traveler Sam Lilija told CNN affiliate WCCO.

Chicago O’Hare International Airport was put under earth stop for 45 minutes early Friday morning due to the hazardous weather conditions. At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, planes were de-iced on Friday morning, the The FAA reported.

As this storm moves offshore and precipitation ends Saturday, the first of a series of new storm systems will begin to affect much of the West Coast, bringing precipitation opportunities from San Francisco to Seattle.

This first storm could bring snowfall and rain at higher elevations through the Rockies and eventually move into the Midwest and Great Lakes to start the Christmas week. Cities like Chicago and Detroit could see a chance of rain and snow on Monday.

This storm will move east over the Great Lakes on Monday, increasing the chances of precipitation from the Southern Plains to the Ohio River Valley. There will be a chance of rain and snow in the northeast. Precipitation chances shift slightly east by Christmas Day, from Louisiana to Massachusetts.

The second westerly storm should follow in the footsteps of the first and move ashore on Christmas Eve. It could bring higher elevation snowfall and valley rain across the West Coast on Tuesday before moving into the Intermountain West on Wednesday and entering the central United States on Thursday.