All throughout the Northeastern U.S., winter snow and rain fall is expected to alter Thanksgiving travel plans.
According to NBC News, the nor'easter is extending all the way down to the Carolinas, though they are mostly experiencing rain. The brunt of the storm is expected Wednesday as rain will turn to snow and parts of New England can expect as much as half a foot by the end of the day.
While more than 200 fights were cancelled in New York and Philadelphia due to the storm, the weather may actually be clear on Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, that does no good for anyone who planned to set out on Wednesday, as the wet stuff is expected to fall all day.
"If this was any other day of the year, it would be a pretty big storm but nothing too out of the ordinary," Kevin Roth, a meteorologist at The Weather Channel (TWC), told NBC News. "But it's come at one of the worst possible times, the day before Thanksgiving. It's going to be very, very tricky for anyone planning to travel today."
Roth said the storm worsens the farther north it extends, as TWC radars show most of the Northeast north of Virginia covered in a winter storm warning.
"Someone could go from an inch in the southeast of a city and drive 10 miles northwest and find themselves in more than 10 inches," Roth said.
Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told Reuters "travel is not going to be in a good state," whether that be on the ground or in the air. FlightAware.com has found that more than 1,000 flights have been cancelled while 800 were outright cancelled.
Thanksgiving is a travel-heavy holiday, as students get one last respite before final exams and the more substantial winter break to follow. Experts estimate more than 46 million Americans travel for Thanksgiving, the vast majority by car.
