The dish on your Thanksgiving week travel weather!

‘Tis the season! Traveling to Grandmother’s house is kicking into high gear this week as millions hit the roads and pack airports ahead of Thanksgiving. And foul (pun intended) weather could be looming for millions of travelers over the Thanksgiving holiday. 

This Thanksgiving week is serving up sloppy weather including snow, and some of the coldest temperatures since February. And a potentially disruptive storm is on the way through the holiday weekend.

Possible Wednesday travel issues: Snow will continue in the mountains of Colorado, with some light snow possible in the adjacent Front Range. Some light rain and perhaps a few thunderstorms will develop in the mid-Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley and Mid-South region. This activity will spread into the East Wednesday night.

Possible airport weather delays: Denver (light snow); Chicago (low clouds, drizzle); New York City (low clouds, rain late) Good weather: Most of the Plains from the Dakotas to Texas and the West Coast.

On Thanksgiving Day some possible travel issues: accumulating snow is expected mainly in the higher elevations from West Virginia to Pennsylvania, upstate New York and northern New England. Some lake-effect snow is likely to develop in the Great Lakes snow belts. Otherwise, some showers and a few thunderstorms are possible in the Southeast.

Possible airport weather delays: New York City (low clouds, rain, wind mainly early) Good weather: Most of the Plains and West will be dry, though stiff cold winds will blow through the Northern Plains and upper Midwest. If you’re headed to New York City to see the Thanksgiving Day Parade, plan on packing rain gear. Thanksgiving is looking wet and chilly. Most areas will see showers by early morning with periods of rain straight through the evening.

As you head out on Black Friday, there could be some possible travel issues: Lake-effect snow bands could be heavy and winds could be strong in parts of the Great Lakes snow belts from Upper Michigan to western and upstate New York. These could make for significant travel problems along small stretches of Interstate 90 from northeast Ohio east of Cleveland to southwest New York and Interstate 81 north of Syracuse, New York. Brisk, cold winds are also expected in the rest of the Midwest.

A blast of cold, Arctic air is looming for a huge part of the US. Chilly air will start to filter into the northern states early this week before a significant push of winter-like air becomes widespread Thursday. Millions from coast to coast will be frigid by Friday. Low temperatures early Friday morning will plummet below zero in the Dakotas and drop to the teens and single digits in much of the north-central US.

High temperatures as far south as the Gulf Coast will likely be 10 or more degrees below normal and some locations might not reach the 60s. Many spots in the central and eastern US will experience their coldest conditions so far this season over the weekend. The first freeze of the season could come across the South as well.

Saturday

Possible travel issues: Heavy lake-effect snow bands are likely to continue in parts of the Great Lakes snow belts from Upper Michigan to upstate New York. Once again, there could be significant travel problems within these bands of snow. An area of light snow is possible in parts of the central Plains and mid-Mississippi Valley that could lead to some slippery travel. Possible airport weather delays: Kansas City (if light snow develops)

Sunday

Possible travel issues: Heavy lake-effect snow bands will likely continue in parts of the Great Lakes snow belts from Upper Michigan to upstate New York. Given the previous several days of lake snow, there could be locally major travel problems in these areas. Possible airport weather delays: None are expected at major hubs.

Last week, the Transportation Security Administration said this year will be the busiest Thanksgiving travel period on record, estimating 18.3 million air travelers will be screened from Tuesday through Dec. 2. That’s a 6% increase from 2023.

Not all the holiday weather news is bad. The Pacific Northwest, which has been slammed with a series of brutal atmospheric rivers and a bomb cyclone in recent days, should finally get a break. For the eastern part of the US, cold air will stick around as the calendar flips to December and could last through the first week of the new month, according to the Climate Prediction Center.