Thanksgiving week forecast: Weather could impact Thanksgiving travel

With Thanksgiving just days away, there may be issues for travelers across parts of the country due to cold temperatures and possible rain and snow across the country.

In terms of temperatures, seasonably chilly weather is expected to move in across much of the country for much of next week. While it won’t be shattering any record low temperatures, a cold snap arrives in time for Thanksgiving in several cities.

Early in the week, a system developing over the Great Lakes will move over the eastern U.S. bringing another round of precipitation stretching from the deep South up through the Midwest and Northeast.

At the same time, another system will move in over the West Coast bringing more rain and heavy mountain snow over the Cascades and the Rockies. This system will regenerate over the Central U.S. midweek before heading towards the East Coast by Thursday and Friday.

While parts of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic look to see heavy rain heading into Thanksgiving Day, this system could bring more wintry weather for portions of the Midwest and Northeast Thursday into Friday.

Monday

In the west, moderate rain and mountain snow are set to continue, while a new storm begins forming over the Great Lakes. This storm looks to be fairly weak, but could still bring rain and some wet snow to portions of Michigan and Wisconsin.

Tuesday

As that storm moves from the great Lakes into the northeast on Monday night into Tuesday, we see the chance for rain stretching up and down the east coast. This storm, along with a lengthy cold front, will bring a rain chance on Tuesday to cities like New York, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Charlotte and Atlanta.

This storm looks like it may not cause severe weather conditions, but could still lead to scattered travel delays in the East.

Meanwhile in the West, a significant winter storm in the Rockies may be dropping heavy snow totals in the mountains, while also potentially impacting cities like Denver, as well as the major airport there. That snow threat continues into Wednesday in the Denver area.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, a new storm is expected to form over the central U.S., bringing a chance for wet snow to the Chicago area, with rainfall for cities like St. Louis and Memphis.

The storm will move eastward, possibly leading to snow and rain by late Wednesday in parts of the Great Lakes and Northeast.

This storm has the potential to disrupt both road and air travel across much of the east around Thanksgiving.

Thursday

This storm could be giving a mix of rain and snow to portions of the northeast, with rain possible across much of the South.

There is still a lot that can change about this forecast, but as of now there is potential travel disruption for Thanksgiving across the East.

This storm does not look like a major historic snowstorm, but a mixed-precipitation event during a busy travel week is possible.

Friday

Depending on how quickly the storm moves, there may be lingering impacts in the eastern U.S. on Friday, with the morning possibly still bringing very active weather in the Northeast. Some weather models show a rain and snow mix.

After that storm moves out, cold weather fills in.

The outlook for the end of the week into early December is looking chilly across the eastern 2/3 of the country, so it may start to really feel like winter as we welcome in the final month of 2024.