The weather can often have an adverse impact on Thanksgiving travel, but that doesn’t look to be the case this year.

 

Fairly quiet weather is expected across much of the nation during the upcoming week. A cold front will move off the East Coast today with some showers ahead of it otherwise, most of the nation will be dry into Wednesday. By Wednesday night and Thanksgiving, another cold front will be moving across Great Lakes and Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, producing some showers, with snow showers in parts of Great Lakes, but none of the precipitation looks heavy except possibly from Texas into the Lower Mississippi Valley, so it shouldn’t impact travel too much. As that front reaches the East Coast on Friday it will produce some showers, with lake-effect snow showers behind it, downwind of the Great Lakes. Our next system will also be bringing some light rain and mountain snow into parts of the Northwest.

 

Temperatures will be riding a rollercoaster this week with chilly air in the East to start the week, with very mild air across the Plains and Rockies. While the East Coast will remain chilly into Wednesday, that warm air over the Plains will spread into the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys as well as the Southern Plains by mid-week, while much cooler air returns to the West and especially into the Northern Plains. By the end of the week, the East will turn much milder for a day or two while the cold air settles into the Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley, before reaching the East Coast next weekend. Meanwhile, another significant warmup is expected in parts of the Plains and the Rockies as well as much of the West.

 

While temperatures have been variable across the Lower 48, very cold air has settled into Alaska over the last week or two, and it will remain in place for the next week at least. Temperatures over the next 7 days will average 15-35 degrees below normal across much of the state. Parts of northern Alaska could see low temperatures dropping to -40F or colder over the next several nights.