Thanksgiving Week Forecast: Weather can affect Thanksgiving travel

With Thanksgiving just days away, there could be issues for travelers across parts of the country due to cold temperatures and possible rain and snow across the country.

In terms of temperatures, unseasonably cool weather is expected to move across most of the country for most of next week. While it won’t break any record low temperatures, a cold snap is arriving in time for Thanksgiving in several cities.

Early this week, a system developing over the Great Lakes will move across the eastern United States, bringing another round of precipitation that stretches from the Deep South up through the Midwest and Northeast.

At the same time, another system will move in over the West Coast, bringing more rain and heavy mountain snow over the Cascades and Rockies. This system will regenerate over the central US midweek before moving towards the East Coast on Thursday and Friday.

While parts of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic look set to see heavy rain heading into Thanksgiving Day, this system could bring more wintry weather to parts of the Midwest and Northeast Thursday through Friday.

Monday

In the west, moderate rain and mountain snow are expected to continue, while a new storm is beginning to form over the Great Lakes. This storm appears to be fairly weak, but could still bring rain and some wet snow to parts of Michigan and Wisconsin.

Tuesday

As that storm moves from the Great Lakes to the northeast Monday night into Tuesday, we see the chance for rain extending up and down the East Coast. This storm, along with a lingering cold front, will bring a chance of rain on Tuesday to cities such as New York, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Charlotte and Atlanta.

This storm looks like it may not cause severe weather, but could still lead to scattered travel delays in the east.

Meanwhile in the West, a significant winter storm in the Rockies could drop heavy snow in the mountains, while also potentially affecting cities like Denver as well as the major airport there. That snow threat continues into Wednesday in the Denver area.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, a new storm is expected to form over the central United States, bringing the possibility of wet snow to the Chicago area with precipitation in cities such as St. Louis and Memphis.

The storm will move east, possibly bringing snow and rain late Wednesday in parts of the Great Lakes and Northeast.

This storm has the potential to disrupt both road and air travel across most of the East around Thanksgiving.

Thursday

This storm could bring a mix of rain and snow to parts of the Northeast, with rain possible across much of the South.

There is still a lot that can change with this forecast, but right now there is potential travel disruption for Thanksgiving in the east.

This storm does not look like a major historical snowstorm, but a mixed precipitation event during a busy travel week is possible.

Friday

Depending on how fast the storm moves, there could be persistent impacts across the eastern US on Friday, with the morning possibly still bringing very active weather to the Northeast. Some weather models show a mix of rain and snow.

After the storm moves out, cold weather fills in.

The outlook for the end of the week in early December looks chilly across the eastern 2/3 of the country, so it could start to really feel like winter as we welcome in the last month of 2024.