Storms to make Thanksgiving travel ‘impossible’ in U.S. West
Rain, snow, and wind storms across the U.S. are disrupting travel on one of the busiest days of the year.
(Bloomberg) — Flooding rains, heavy snows and gusty winds across the U.S. are disrupting travel on one of the busiest days of the year and threatening to keep Thanksgiving Day parade balloons from flying.
Two large storms are sweeping the nation, causing widespread travel problems as close to 55 million people are expected to take to the roads and air, according to the AAA website. Areas around Denver received 8 to 12 inches of snow, causing treacherous road conditions, numerous accidents, multiple closures and the cancellation of almost 500 flights on Wednesday.
Both coasts, meanwhile, are facing their own weather issues. In New York City, winds could reach 25 miles per hour on Thursday, threatening to ground the massive balloons traditional to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. In Oregon and California, a powerful Pacific Ocean storm is threatening to bring snow by the foot across the Sierra Nevadas and torrential rains to southern California that could touch off mudslides, said Brian Hurley, a senior branch forecaster at the U.S. Weather Prediction Center.
“Where it is not snow, it is going to be very windy,” said Dan Pydynowski, a meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania. “In a place like Chicago, they are already seeing wind gusts of 50 miles per hour. Those winds will spread eastward tonight and tomorrow.”
New York is forecast to be warm and rainy Wednesday before the sun and wind arrive Thursday in time for the parade that winds through the streets of Manhattan and famously includes large balloons guided by crews on the ground. “The Macy’s balloons will be a concern,” Hurley said.
New York has balloon-flight regulations that have been in place since 1997 that will determine on Thursday whether the balloons, which can be as high as 60 feet and are maneuvered by ground crews holding ropes, will be allowed to fly. The regulations ban flight in sustained winds of 23 mph, or with gusts of 34 mph, according to the New York Times.
Denver saw the most canceled flights of anywhere in the world on Tuesday, according to the website for FlightAware. The treacherous road conditions contributed to at least one fatal accident when three tractor-trailers and a pickup truck collided on the interstate in Eagle County, home to popular ski resorts west of Denver, according to Trooper Gary Cutler of the Colorado State Patrol. The highway was closed much of the day.
In California, snow could fall at lower elevations, making travel along Interstate 5 — a major north-south route across the state — troublesome and likely causing problems for anyone crossing the mountains. “There will certainly be impacts in both air and ground travel in a lot of California,” Accuweather’s Pydynowski said.
— With assistance from Christopher Martin.
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