Turkey Day Trouble Spots

Thanksgiving is on Thursday, which means for many of us, the next 5 days or so are going to be jam packed with travel to and from our family’s houses. Fortunately for me, this year my family is staying local, but that doesn’t mean everyone will be so fortunate. Indeed, this year misfortune will befall many travelers.

Wednesday, of course, is one of the busier travel days of the year, and it was already a headache. Even at the late hour that I am writing this, there is a blob of precipitation moving from the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys northeast towards New England. There is an oscillating warm front extending from an area of low pressure centered south of Memphis, extending northeastward towards Pittsburgh. Right now, this blob is all rain, and it’s causing some flight headaches to areas in and around the shower activity, including hubs like Cincinnati.

Of course, I have to say “right now” because that is going to change, even overnight in some of the areas where rain is falling. Cold air is blowing in from the north. Where skies are still clear, it’s already down to the 30s, on it’s way colder, and ready to bring snow to the southern Great Lakes by tomorrow morning, and even some Lake effect snow to western New York.

Compounding the issue is that the low is going to be following the boundary to the northeast. By the time the turkey is served tomorrow, the system will be centered around New York City. This means wind and amplified rain all along the I-95 Corridor, but also, as low pressure gets significantly more focused, the cold air will wrap in more assertively. More substantial snow is coming for interior New England and New York through the day tomorrow, and it is expected to be wind driven and very disruptive. Plans to get home tomorrow without any problems are probably a fool’s errand at this point. Snow won’t really wind down in New England until after midnight, even if rain cuts off along the Seaboard before that time.

The good news, on the other hand, is that this feature is going to scoot out pretty quick. You won’t be trapped with inlaws all weekend. In fact, if you are in a reasonably sized town, I would say that you will have a good chance of still making it to the mall for Black Friday, if that is still a thing that people do. Cold air is then going to dive into the middle of the country, and continue to blow over the Great Lakes, meaning more snow in the UP, western Michigan and around Buffalo, but a pretty decent weekend to decompress from the holidays.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Leave a Reply