Smoother travel expected this weekend at Logan and on Mass. roads

The first snowstorm of the season last week complicated plans for many holiday travelers in Massachusetts. But this weekend, experts say both drivers and air travelers will likely experience smoother trips.

Jillian Young with AAA’s Northeast district said they received a lot of battery service calls last week when the temperatures dipped below freezing.

“We did see that kind of right at the beginning of the week, ahead of the holiday,” she said. “So folks really hopefully got that out of the way before before they did a lot of their road tripping.”

The National Weather Service is not expecting any weekend snow in Massachusetts, but there is
a winter weather advisory through 1 p.m. Saturday for freezing rain, which could lead to icy conditions.

For anyone driving home this weekend, AAA expects Saturday and Sunday afternoons to be the busiest travel times. Young predicted the lightest roadway travel on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Things also appear to be running more smoothly at Logan Airport after the last round of winter weather led to delays and cancellations.

Still, David Ishihara, director of aviation services at Logan, reminded flyers to check the conditions at their destination to get a more accurate idea of the timing for their travels.

And he said the recent grounded flights and delays didn’t get in the way of Logan’s overall numbers.

“We set a record this month, actually, with 43 million annual passengers,” Ishihara said. “Our pre-COVID record was 42.5 million. So we’re pretty happy about hitting that new milestone.”