Although winter weather hazards will be few and far between, parts of the country will contend with slowed travel from rain, thunderstorms and fog.
How can you prepare for busy airports and flight delays amid holiday travel? We speak with FlightAware to find out.
Although winter weather hazards will be few and far between around the hustle and bustle of Christmas, parts of the country will contend with slowed travel from rain, thunderstorms and fog into the end of the week, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.
Much of the eastern part of the country will be in the weather express lane, free of wet or wintry conditions into the end of Christmas week. A quick-hitting storm that moved through the Northeast late Monday night into Tuesday morning was the Interstate 95 corridor’s last gasp for a potential white Christmas. This storm brought a dusting of snow from Boston to Baltimore, with sleet reported in Washington, D.C. Accumulations of an inch or two were reported in the far northwestern suburbs of New York City.
“This year marked the first time since 2009 that Central Park had one inch of snow on the ground Christmas morning,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Alex DaSilva said.
An area of high pressure will set up shop across New England into the end of the week, resulting in good weather for holiday travelers into and out of the major hubs of the Northeast. However, motorists traveling westbound on Interstates 70, 80 or 90 or air passengers with routes through Chicago may run into some weather-related slowdowns.
“Across the Midwest, areas of rain and drizzle and widespread fog could produce slower-than-normal travel around the holiday,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said. Fog can become dense, with untreated bridges and overpasses being particularly prone to becoming slippery.
Farther south, a zone of rain and thunderstorms is expected to soak the middle and lower part of the Mississippi Valley Friday, with the rain spreading into the Appalachians into Friday night. The primary hazard for motorists along Interstates 10 and 20 will be reduced visibility due to heavy downpours and blowing spray.
“Across the Northwest, there will be wet and snowy roads to contend with, depending on your elevation, that will result in difficult travel through the end of the week as storms pummel the region,” Buckingham said.
Each of the storms will track far enough inland to produce rounds of accumulating snow and slippery travel across the central Rockies into the weekend.
Motorists are encouraged to use the free AccuWeather app to monitor the forecast at various points along their journey, especially if the route includes significant elevation changes.
This weekend, travelers in the East will contend with wet weather returning as moisture slowly advances eastward from the middle of the country.
Mild air building into the region later this week should limit wintry precipitation to upstate New York and New England, though there can be a brief period of freezing rain Friday night into Saturday morning across part of northeastern Pennsylvania, northwestern New Jersey and into neighboring parts of New York state. As heavy rain, including the potential for gusty thunderstorms, reaches the major hubs along the Atlantic Seaboard, substantial flight delays and cancellations are possible. AccuWeather has prepared a more detailed outlook on the Saturday to Monday storm for the East.
In the South-Central and Southeast states, rounds of severe weather may have some motorists dodging flash flooding and struggling with high winds. There is also the potential for a few tornadoes each day through Sunday.
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