Thanksgiving storm could deliver rain, snow to part of the East
A new storm packing the potential for accumulating snow is set to take shape across the eastern half of the nation on Thanksgiving and Black Friday that could result in widespread disruptions for travel and holiday festivities, AccuWeather meteorologists say.
Two scenarios will be at play as the holiday week progresses, one of which could produce accumulating snow across portions of the Ohio Valley and Northeast.
The first scenario involves a slow-moving storm, meaning potentially longer-lasting impacts from the Tennessee and Ohio valleys through the Northeast.
The second scenario sends the same storm farther south and off the Carolina coast through Thanksgiving. This would be a less intense storm with rounds of rain and even some snow which could spread from the Tennessee Valley eastward to the East Coast.
Even if the cold air out of Canada is slow to advance southward as far as the Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic region, any drenching rain accompanied by blustery winds that may impact the region could still prove challenging for Thanksgiving Day parades and those heading down the road to Grandma's house for dinner.
"A storm has the potential to snarl transit for those even traveling locally across portions of the Midwest and Northeast on Thanksgiving Day, even those chasing Black Friday deals could contend with travel challenges," explained AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Tyler Roys.
Depending upon how the storm takes shape, winds spanning from the Tennessee Valley to the Virginia coastline could gust upwards of 20 mph later this week. Winds to this magnitude may not be grandiose on an average day, but for locations such as New York City or Philadelphia that host major parades with large balloons, anything exceeding sustained winds of 23 mph or gusts to 34 mph would result in unsafe conditions.
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The snow threat across the interior Northeast will remain a possibility later this week if the storm's core tracks far enough northward into the corridor of chilly air. As a dip in the jet stream, intense winds that blow at the upper levels of the atmosphere, nudges southward later this week, this may prove beneficial for chilly air nudging southward across the Northeast.
"The possibility may still remain for some to wake up to a white Thanksgiving or see snowflakes fly in areas that typically do not see snow for the late-November holiday," noted Roys.
Even locations surrounding the Great Lakes may get flakes by the next weekend, forecasters say.
Depending on which storm scenario comes to fruition, the weather pattern through the rest of the extended Thanksgiving weekend can vary dramatically. A fast-tracking system could open the door for drier weather by that weekend while a slow-moving storm could linger several days along the Northeast coast and continue to produce impacts.
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While many sales have already begun to kick off, those who plan on traveling to the stores for Black Friday itself are urged to monitor the upcoming pattern and check AccuWeather often for the latest storm potential updates.
Likewise, those traveling out of the East and back to their homes following the holiday may need to monitor for any flight delays or cancellations later this week into the upcoming weekend.
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