Travelers already at their holiday destinations have much to be thankful for as a Thanksgiving Day storm dumps snow and rain on the East Coast, creating travel woes for thousands still on their journeys.
A “dynamic mid-latitude cyclone” created scattered showers and thunderstorms that spread into the East Coast Thursday, the National Weather Service said. Rain along the Mid-Atlantic and coastal New England will gradually end by the afternoon into the evening.
In the interior Northeast, heavy snow will continue through evening, with lingering snow showers possible overnight across Maine. Winter storm warnings are in effect from eastern New York through central and northern New England, with over one foot of fresh snow possible, NWS forecaster said.
Thanksgiving Eve morning saw relatively smooth travel by air and roads, until a storm in the Rockies with heavy snow led to deicing of departing flights in Denver and Salt Lake City. Denver International Airport clocked over 700 flight delays yesterday, according to FlightAware data.
Newark Liberty International Airport, a critical hub for United Airlines, saw 95-minute delays Wednesday amid a shortage of air traffic controllers. That delay was lifted as of Thursday morning. There were over 400 delays at Newark Wednesday, and 20 as of 9 a.m. Thursday.
Chris Wilbanks, the FAA safety & technical training deputy vice president, told NBC News’ Tom Costello it’ll take “five to seven years” to be fully staffed and “comfortable” with new air traffic controllers.
Major airports at Boston, Newark, Atlanta and New York’s John F. Kennedy airports were experiencing flight delays in the morning. By afternoon Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco were leading with delays, according to FlightAware’s Misery Map.
Meanwhile, a record 71.1 million people are expected to travel by car for the Thanksgiving holiday, according to AAA, and it’s already led to packed roads and trafficked highways.
Angel Ruiz, said he was on the road for hours to head from Tulare, California, to Los Angeles International Airport, from where he’ll go on to Guatemala to visit family. He said his journey to the airport, which typically should take three hours, was longer than his flight will be.
“I’ve been on the road for maybe 6 hours already prior to me getting on the plane to Guatemala City,” Ruiz said. “Not a good time to travel but I got to visit my family so I’m excited.”
Drivers should be wary of rainy and sometimes snowy conditions heading into the East Coast on Thursday.
Meanwhile, alerts are in effect through Sunday for lake effect snow downwind of Lake Ontario and Erie, including for Cleveland, Erie and Buffalo. Hazardous travel conditions are anticipated as snowfall rates up to 2 inches per hour will be possible. Totals through the weekend will range from 4 to 6 inches to multiple feet where the most intense snowbands will develop.
More cold is on the way as Siberian air drawn to the south will bring frigid temperatures — the coldest air of the season — to swaths of the country.
This cold will bring daytime highs that are 10 to 20 degrees below average, in the 30s and low 40s, from Omaha to New York and stretching to the south.
Overnight lows will be below freezing to the Gulf Coast. From Saturday to Monday, temperatures will be in the teens overnight in Chicago, in the 20s in New York, St. Louis, Charleston, Nashville, Raleigh, and low 30s in Atlanta.
The biggest task will likely be Sunday, when an anticipated 3 million people are expected to pass through TSA to head back home.
For those traveling back by road, Sunday 12 to 6 p.m. and Monday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. will be the worst times to drive, NBC’s Tom Costello said.
