Eastern US could have a stormy Thanksgiving holiday

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Jon Porter looks ahead to next week when the Thanksgiving holiday could be stormy for many regions in the eastern half of the United States while bringing rain and snow.

Transcript

00:00You and I met with the long-range team yesterday, Joe Lumberg, the crystal ball, and also Paul

00:06Pastelok.

00:07And, you know, we noticed such a huge change in the weather pattern that's underway.

00:12And we're really starting to highlight that first week in December.

00:18That's right.

00:19Paul has been highlighting this threat for months ahead of all other node sources, that

00:23the coldest week in December can be the first week of December.

00:27And we're going to be going into a much colder pattern here in the central and eastern part

00:32of the United States with some threats for snow.

00:35Yeah, now the question is, as we go forward here, we certainly think this is going to

00:39be, probably, John, the first significant amount of lake effect snow.

00:44Oftentimes, when you get the cold air in place, then you worry about snow.

00:49While it doesn't look like there's going to be any big storms, at least for the first

00:53few days of December, it's the latter half of that week, the 5th, 6th, or 7th, that we're

01:00at least going to keep an eye on the possibility for a coastal storm.

01:03Right.

01:04It looks like it could be cold enough for snow even at the coast if we get a storm.

01:09If the storm is too far to the east, then that would minimize the threat.

01:12But that's certainly something to watch.

01:14And as you mentioned, as that cold air pours over the unfrozen Great Lakes, we're going

01:19to have multiple opportunities for some significant lake effect snow downwind of the lakes.

01:24All right.

01:25Before we get to December, let's talk about next week.

01:27Big dip in the jet stream, John, and with that, hey, listen, you get that huge temperature

01:31contrast that starts northern plains, it's cold, southeastern United States, it's going

01:36to be on the warm side here.

01:38We're going to get, with that dip in the jet stream, what that's going to do for Thanksgiving,

01:41John.

01:42But of course, hey, listen, we've been talking about this, big travel week upcoming next

01:47week.

01:48It sure is.

01:49And as you get that variation in the air masses, that creates sort of a storm highway that

01:53you can get impulses to come from the central part of the United States to the east.

01:57There's going to be just enough cold air to the north that on the northern side of this

02:01storm we're going to be looking at the risk for some snow and even some ice.

02:05That's problems start on Tuesday out across the Intermountain West and the West Coast

02:11and also near the Great Lakes where we can deal with some travel challenges and spots.

02:16But then during the day on Wednesday, some more challenges in the interior northeast.

02:20But here's our next storm system organizing in the central plains.

02:23Now yesterday, John, we drew a scenario map here that, you know, if the storm's a little

02:29stronger, it heads a little farther toward the north.

02:32If it's a little weaker, it heads toward the southeast.

02:35What we've decided to do was kind of take a little compromise between the two.

02:39Not a huge storm, but an impactful one Thursday into Friday.

02:45I think that's the key point.

02:46It's not going to be a huge storm, but it is going and it's going to be moving right

02:50along.

02:51So that means that the impacts can spread from the central part of the United States

02:53on Wednesday out to the east coast here by Friday.

02:57And look on the northern side of this from parts of the upper Midwest in toward the interior

03:03northeast.

03:04There's going to be just enough cold air so there can be some snow on the northern side

03:08of this.

03:09Otherwise, we're looking at rain and some travel disruptions to the south associated

03:12with that.

03:13But the big story will be the cold air that follows that storm.

03:16In fact, we want to end with that, John.

03:18You know, if there's one thing we want you to take away from this as we get in to next

03:23weekend and that first week of December, we're looking at, dare I say, January cold, but

03:32certainly winter cold across much of the eastern half of the United States.

03:36Yeah, I think this is going to be a shock to the system for many people here with this

03:40widespread cold, the snow near the lakes.

03:43And then we are going to be watching for a couple of storm threats here, even along the

03:48east coast.

03:49So you want to be with us frequently here on the AccuWeather network, AccuWeather.com

03:52and the AccuWeather app.

03:53We've got great features for tracking snow and ice, including that winter cast feature

03:58that provides information right down to your backyard, how much snow is expected, what

04:02is the prospects for a little bit more, a little bit less.

04:05Great resource, especially as we head into a very active travel time period.

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