While many are looking forward to Thanksgiving in the United States, weather forecast for the East Coast might act as a dampener.
Travellers in the region are being put on alert for a potentially hazardous winter storm that is likely to unfold on the day before Thanksgiving 2014, the busiest travel day of the year. Satellite imagery shows a storm system set to travel up or parallel to the East Coast at midweek – something that might prove to be a nightmare for travellers trying to reach their Thanksgiving Day destinations, AccuWeather reports citing authentic data.
The storm system currently seen in satellite image will be responsible for bringing rain and thunderstorms across Florida Peninsula on Tuesday. The storm will slowly travel upward through Tuesday night until the start of Thanksgiving and impact the rest of the East Coast, according to weather forecast for the week.
Travel will be slow and hazardous both on the ground as well as in the air in the Southeast on Wednesday along the I-95 corridor. Travel nightmares can be expected in Miami, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Norfolk, Virginia, according to AccuWeather.
The storm is also likely to impact mid-Atlantic and Northeast area although the exact intensity is yet to be determined. However, there are growing concerns that the system will be close enough to the coast to cause a wide area to experience heavy rain and snow leading to travel nightmares.
The air will be cold enough ahead of Thanksgiving for the storm to take the shape of rain mixed with snow or pure snow in many communities in mid-Atlantic and Northeast. A swathe of Virginia's I-81 corridor to New England is expected to be covered by heavy and disruptive snow through Wednesday and Thursday.
The Washington Post also confirmed on Monday that a coastal storm is likely to threaten pre-Thanksgiving travel. How much rain and how much snow will fall, is still very difficult to say, the newspaper notes.
The National Weather Service was cited by various newspapers such as the local Patch.com as saying the snowstorm could hit New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania on Wednesday and Thanksgiving Day. The weather service said in a statement on Saturday that "plowable snow" and freezing temperatures will hit the areas especially in the Interstate 95 corridor.
According to estimates, 1.2 million New Jerseyans will travel this holiday week for at least 50 miles or more and that the snowstorm could be a real nightmare.
According to latest indications, places west of the Northeast's I-95 corridor are at risk of six inches or more of snow, which is likely to cause flight cancellations and treacherous conditions on roads. Even Washington, D.C, New York City and Boston will accumulate decent amount of snow on days nearing Thanksgiving 2014.
"The storm should rapidly strengthen off the coast of New England Wednesday night, leading to strong and gusty winds, especially near the coast. This would lead to some blowing and drifting of the snow, making travel Wednesday night very difficult," AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Ben Noll was quoted as saying.
"There is also an increasing likelihood for a swath of heavy snow stretching from eastern Pennsylvania through New York's Hudson Valley and across much of New England before all is said and done," he further stated.
