The National Weather Service is forecasting that weather will disrupt Thanksgiving travel in parts of the country. A mix of rain and snow is expected in the Pacific Northwest, which is still recovering from a major storm that killed two people last week, and in the Northeast, where temperatures will finally drop.
The East Coast will see the worst weather by the end of this week. A low-pressure system is expected to bring rain to the region on Thursday and may bring snow to higher elevations and colder states like Maine and New Hampshire.
The Southeast is also expecting rain on Thursday along with a cold front.
In the Midwest and Great Lakes region, there is a possibility of heavy snow over the weekend.
Even the western U.S. will not be spared from rainy weather.
The coldest air of the season is on the way
A widespread wave of Canadian cold air is arriving for a large part of the U.S.
The cold air will begin to filter into the northern states early this week before spreading on Thursday.
Chicago will not exceed 30 degrees Fahrenheit on Thanksgiving—a late December temperature. Parts of North Dakota will not reach 20 F and will feel like January.
The truth is that millions of people from coast to coast will be quite cold by the end of this week.
Even temperatures in the southern Gulf Coast are likely to be 10 or more degrees below normal, and in some places may not reach 60 degrees.
Many locations in the central and eastern U.S. will experience their coldest conditions so far.
Philadelphia, for example, has not recorded temperatures in the 30s since February, but it could come close this Saturday and Sunday. The same can be said for New York City.
The cold air will remain over much of the East as the calendar turns to December and may last into the first week of the new month, according to forecasts from the Climate Prediction Center.
Sources: Weather and CNN