CNN
—
Thanksgiving is here and whether you’re hitting the road or taking to the skies, I hope you made it to your destination with minimal headaches. Thanks in large part to relatively calm weather so far this week, airlines have reported minimal delays and cancellations.
Unfortunately, that could change in the coming days as a more active weather pattern emerges across the eastern United States.
But first, some good news. The weather for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade looks great. Mostly sunny skies are in store and more importantly winds will remain light so there should be no restrictions on balloons.
Active time begins in the Southern Plains on Thanksgiving Day.
“The primary area of concern heading into the Thanksgiving holiday will be the possibility of a dynamic low pressure system affecting parts of the Southern Plains and lower Mississippi Valley with heavy rain, snow and thunderstorms. “said the Weather Prediction Center.
Cities such as Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Memphis, Tennessee, Shreveport, Louisiana and Little Rock, Arkansas will all experience rain and a chance of thunderstorms throughout the day, which could impact all outdoor kitchen plans.
Even though the timing of the rain may not be the best, almost 70% of the South continues to be in drought, so the rain will be beneficial. Widespread totals of 1 to 2 inches, with higher isolated amounts are expected from eastern Texas to Mississippi.
Rain showers will spread north along a cold front late Thursday afternoon and into Thursday evening for the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes. This rain will be more scattered and much lighter compared to the lower Mississippi Valley.
Heavier rain from the Mississippi Valley spreads into the deep south Thursday evening and Friday morning while light rain in the Ohio Valley spreads into the northeast. The majority of this rain will push seaward by mid-afternoon Friday.
While the western United States will experience calm weather for Thanksgiving Day, Southern California is expecting another Santa Ana event that will bring elevated fire to the Los Angeles area, especially the mountains. of San Gabriel in the Ventura Valley. Wind gusts are expected to exceed 40 mph and could even reach 60 mph on some of the higher ground. These winds combine with low relative humidity to produce unfavorable fire conditions.
As the rain heads east, the tenacious upper level low will bring temperatures cold enough to snow in parts of West Texas.
“The back side of the upper low over the Southern High Plains is expected to have enough cold air to produce punchy snow accumulations in parts of eastern New Mexico and extreme western Texas through from Thanksgiving night through Friday,” the Weather Prediction Center said. “Snow accumulations of 3 to 8 inches, with locally higher amounts, particularly on higher ground, are possible with hazardous travel conditions likely.”
“There is still some uncertainty as to the timing and location of the heaviest band of snow associated with this system, but people vacation shopping or traveling in the Texas Panhandle should consider the impacts of snow Thursday night through Friday morning,” Weather Prediction said. Center says.
“We have the potential with snow bands where one area may receive little or no snow, and within a short distance another area may receive several inches of snow,” the National Weather Service in Amarillo said.
Further east, it will be all rain in central Texas on Friday. Rain will spread across East Texas and the lower Mississippi Valley late Friday and Saturday when the snow ends. Another widespread 1-2 inches is expected, bringing some places to 4 inches between Thursday and Saturday.
On Saturday evening, the rain will push east again into the Ohio Valley and the Deep South.
Throughout Sunday, the rain will continue to move further east, affecting much of the east coast from northern Florida to New England.
This will likely cause travel delays at many major hubs, from Chicago, Detroit and Charlotte early in the day, to New York, Philadelphia and Washington for the afternoon.
While rain is expected to cause travel delays on the East Coast, very little snow is expected this time around.
“The good news is that temperatures should be warm enough that almost all precipitation falls as rain in the United States, but the bad news is that rain and strong winds will make roads wet and potentially long delays from the airport on Sunday for major hubs in the Northeast,” CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen said.