(Adnkronos) – ‘Thanksgiving Day’ has arrived, one of the most heartfelt holidays for the American people, which takes place every fourth Thursday in November. For one part of the country that comes to a standstill – schools, universities, public offices and banks are closed – there is another part that tries to take advantage of the holidays to reunite with distant family and friends. Many have already reached their destinations, while ‘last minute’ travelers will have to find a way to dodge the copious ‘arctic’ storm of rain and snow that is hitting between the northern Rocky Mountains to the Midwest, with serious repercussions on flights and roads.
The Transportation Security Administration has predicted that approximately 71.7 million people will travel by car over Thanksgiving, over a million more than last year. The storm, which brought heavy snowfall over the Rocky Mountains, is now spreading east and into the Midwest, bringing rain with a chance of ice and snow, which will intensify in the evening from St. Louis to Indianapolis and into Pittsburgh. Overnight, the storm continued to move east, bringing cold rain along the I-95 corridor from Richmond to Boston in the early hours of Thanksgiving morning.
According to FlightAware, the storm caused nearly 4,000 delays and 45 cancellations for domestic flights, inbound or outbound from the United States yesterday. The ‘epicenter’ of the flight chaos was Newark Airport in New Jersey, which was paralyzed from 1 p.m. to 2 a.m. due to a shortage of air traffic controllers, causing over 300 delays of at least 95 minutes. The Federal Aviation Administration reported on X that delays are expected in Denver and Salt Lake City due to snow and ice ahead of Thanksgiving. In the Colorado city alone, there were over 600 flight delays yesterday. Boston, Dallas and Las Vegas were also hit with delays of over 100 minutes, FlightAware reports. For today, airports to watch out for are Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Pittsburgh and Buffalo.
Things are not much better for those traveling by road, with the I-80, I-64 and I-75 highways being flooded by rain, and I-25 and I-70 experiencing heavy slowdowns due to snow in the Rocky Mountains. Very heavy rain is expected on the I-95 corridor from Florida to Maine today, with heavy snow in inland areas of the Northeast and New England. North of the Hudson Valley, in upstate New York and inland New England, 1 to 3 inches of slush is expected, with peaks of over 6 inches on the highest peaks. Between northeastern Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, 6 inches of snow is possible, and potentially even more, with strong winds that could lead to power outages in the area.
