National Holiday Travel Forecast

I was struck by the fact that no one must have been at work when I stopped by a shopping mall in Annapolis, Maryland on Friday after I arrived at the BWI airport. Every parking space was filled and the roads were jammed with traffic at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. I am sure that this will be a hectic week at local shopping malls, as well as on highways and in the air. I even checked AMTRAK for a possible train ride home Tuesday, but all of the sleeping accommodations were sold out. Let’s take a peek at travel weather for the coming week:
Today, snow showers will spread across the northern tier of states from Idaho to the Great Lakes and over to New England. Some significant lake effect snows will occur in the lee of the Great Lakes. Sunny skies will prevail from the Southwest to the Atlantic Coast. By Tuesday, a big storm system will be taking shape over the Mississippi Valley as moisture returns on the backside of high pressure. Showers will be breaking out from the Lower Mississippi Valley up to the Ohio Valley. Snow showers will fall over the Rockies and around the Great Lakes. On Wednesday, the big storm system will spread inclement weather from the Great Lakes to Texas, with a wintry mix on the backside of the precipitation shield from Detroit across the Indiana into Missouri and down to North Texas. The Atlanta and Dallas hubs may have some delays by then.

On Thursday, the storm system will head east. We could see a little wintry precip along the I-65 corridor from Alabama into Indiana. Rain will overspread the East Coast from New England to Florida. Snow showers will continue over the Great Lakes and over the Rocky Mountain states. The travel weather news is good by Christmas Eve, with much of the country expecting fine weather. Showers will be limited to the immediate Atlantic coast, with snow showers near the Great Lakes.

By Christmas Day, you will be hard pressed to find any precipitation across the country. There will be some lake effect snows in the lee of the Great Lakes and a few showers over extreme South Florida. By Sunday, nice conditions will continue across much of the country east of the Rockies and over the Southwest United States. The only inclement weather by then will be over the Pacific Northwest where a large storm system will be slamming ashore. I wish you good travels this holiday week!