Thanksgiving Forecast For RI: Will Storms Disrupt Travel, Delay Flight

RHODE ISLAND — Multiple forecasts point to a difficult Thanksgiving travel week for parts of the country for millions of Americans who plan to travel for the holiday.

Nearly 80 million Americans are expected to travel over the Thanksgiving weekend, the busiest travel period of the year. They will mainly drive to their destinations, but about 5.84 million will fly.

Those taking air travel could see delays and cancellations at busy hub airports in the Northeast due to windy and potentially stormy conditions, as well as in San Francisco because of rain and low clouds, forecasters predict.

In Rhode Island, rain is possible, but the chance of major storms seems less than in some other parts of the United States.In its six- to 10-day outlook, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center said conditions are favorable for above-average rain for most of the country through the end of Thanksgiving week. Exceptions are parts of the Pacific Northwest, far Northeast and the extreme Southwest and Southeast.

AccuWeather suggests turbulent weather systems from one coast to the other could bring rain, wind and perhaps snow to some major cities during the travel period.

Early travelers may see flight delays and cancellations due to a couple of brewing storms — a bomb cyclone-fueled atmospheric river slamming parts of California and the Pacific Northwest, and a potent winter storm expected to deliver needed rain, and perhaps snow, to the Northeast later this week.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the busiest days on the road, the eastern half of the country is expected to be wet, with rain and snow across the Great Lakes, and rain in the Northeast along the Interstate 95 corridor. Stormy weather could persist in some parts of the east on Thanksgiving Day.

In its Thanksgiving travel forecast, The Weather Channel predicts most of the interior U.S. will be dry this weekend, but turbulent weather on the West Coast and in the Northeast could cause some airport hub delays on Saturday due to high winds.

The private weather company said that while forecast models don’t depict a major winter storm, parts of the East and West could have to contend with wet holiday weather due to weaker weather disturbances.

A pre-Thanksgiving weekend forecast from The Washington Post said a dozen states from Wisconsin to Maine and as far south as the mountains of North Carolina could see heavy, wet snow later this week. Temperatures could also turn sharply colder in those areas by week’s end as the first outbreak of Arctic air reaches the eastern U.S.

The best chances for accumulating snow are at high elevations in the mountainous regions of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, according to The Post.

The storm system is expected to move into Canada by Sunday, but the cool, windy weather will remain in the eastern U.S. Those areas are at increased risk for stormy conditions, potentially disrupting mid- to-late Thanksgiving week travel plans. However, The Post said the timing and intensity of that storm system is uncertain.

Also, a new series of storms next week could whip up rain, snow and wind along the West Coast, and Arctic air could move into central states late next week.

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