Thanksgiving travel forecast looks “weak” with a major storm possible next week
The weather forecast for Thanksgiving travelers next week has shifted from “fair” to “poor” for people in the New Jersey area and other eastern states, with AccuWeather meteorologists growing more confident that a large storm system could disrupt ground and air travel next week.
For those who will be getting an early jump on Thanksgiving travel this weekend, a cold front will likely bring some rain showers to the Garden State area Friday night and early Saturday.
Forecasters from AccuWeather, the National Weather Service and NY NJ PA Weather say they expect the bulk of the heavy rain from the coastal storm to stay far enough offshore to limit impacts to our area.
“The bad news is, if you’re traveling into New England, that’s going to bring some snow and some rain toward northern New England,” he said. Steven DiMartinoa meteorologist who heads a weather forecasting company in New York, New Jersey.
Once the cold front passes, dry but cool conditions are expected across New Jersey on Sunday and Monday, forecasters say. Next, they will keep a close eye on what AccuWeather described as a “major storm” that may be brewing in the central and eastern United States.
“The storm will develop along a slow-moving cold front and produce moderate to heavy rain from the Ohio and Tennessee valleys (on Tuesday) to the East Coast,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said in a forecast report on AccuWeather.com.
The storm system is expected to move east across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York by Wednesday, “resulting in an uptick in weather-related delays across more than a dozen states,” according to AccuWeather.
Based on the latest computer routing models, DiMartino believes the first part of the day before Thanksgiving — typically a heavy travel day for holiday gatherings — will be the most problematic travel time.
“The morning hours will be very humid, with heavy rain at times,” Di Martino said in a video forecast. “You might want to plan on being late.”
If forecasts hold between now and next week, a gradual clearing will occur in the New Jersey area Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday evening, DiMartino said.
Right now, the forecast for Thanksgiving is looking pretty good, with AccuWeather predicting mostly sunny skies in northern, central and southern New Jersey. Although the morning will be cool, with low temperatures ranging from 29 degrees to the mid 30s, afternoon highs are expected to rise into the low 50s.
This is normal in late November.
Current weather radar
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Len Melisurgo can be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com or @LensReality.
