Early Christmas travel plans are threatened by storms, with rain and snow forecast

As millions of Americans begin to journey home for the holidays, stormy weather forecast across the US this week could impede their efforts.

Nearly 120 million people will travel over the year-end holidays, according to the nonprofit AAA. Of those, nearly 90 percent will drive and a record amount of air travelers are expected to take to the skies this year.

The nonprofit said that this year’s domestic travel projection narrowly surpasses the previous record set in 2019. This year, the organization expects an additional 3 million travelers compared to last year.

“This year, with Christmas Day falling on a Wednesday, we’re anticipating record-breaking travel numbers the weekend before and the weekend after the holiday,” Stacey Barber, Vice President of AAA Travel, said in a statement.

But, travelers hoping to beat the rush during the last work week before the Christmas holiday, could be met with delays like last year.

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Snow and rain will fall across large swaths of the US.

Moderate rainfall is falling over the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, and showers and thunderstorms are developing over the Ohio Valley and through the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley.

“Some moderate to locally heavy rainfall will be possible, particularly for the Ohio Valley,” national forecasters warned. They said the system would lead to another wave of rain through the Mid-Atlantic Monday night and into New England on Tuesday morning. A wintry mix was possible in interior locations.

More showers and storms will kick off from the Ohio Valley through the Southern Plains on Tuesday.

In the West, an atmospheric river pattern is anticipated over the next couple of days, bringing heavy coastal rain, a wintry mix inland, and higher elevation snow on Monday over the Northwest, northern California, and the northern Great Basin and Rockies.

On Tuesday, heavier rain will pound Washington state and the northern Cascades could see between four and eight inches of snow. The highest peaks could get even more.

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Snow will also fall on the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains regions on Tuesday, with lake-effect showers still pummeling Lakes Erie and Ontario and places downwind of the Great Lakes.

Lake-effect snow has already hit the Great Lakes, Midwest, and Northeast this month, stranding vehicles and forcing New York Governor Kathy Hochul to declare a state of emergency.

Previous atmospheric river events resulted in flood warnings across California. Storms this weekend also brought a surprise: an EF-1 tornado that touched down in Central California.

The City of San Francisco got its first tornado warning on record.

During the Thanksgiving holiday travel period last month, more than 3 million travelers were screened at US airports in a single day. That tally broke the previous record

The Transportation Security Administration said Monday that it handled 3.09 million travelers on Sunday, breaking the previous record for the most travelers in a single day by about 74,000.