Cold Turkey? Wintry Weather Threatening Thanksgiving Travel, Festivities

Holiday travel plans may run into a roadblock with a potential spate of winter storms looming over the horizon, CNN reported on Friday.

According to forecasts, rain and snow showers will begin largely on the West Coast before creeping steadily eastward. There are expected storms in parts of the Northeast also, but most of the East Coast should be clear for plans to fly or drive to your holiday destination.

The best day for travel may be Saturday. Tentative forecasts suggest that the rain will be mostly absent and any snow storms will be concentrated around areas in the upper Rockies, leaving the rest of the country safe to travel.

From this coming Sunday, two major storm systems will begin to make their descent, according to the National Weather Prediction Center. In a tweet, the agency said the first will exit the Northeast region by Tuesday, but the second will begin crossing the Plains region by the following day.

Any severe storm has the potential to be very disruptive to travel plans at one of the busiest travel seasons in the U.S.

The American Auto Association is estimating that 53.4 million people will travel for Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, travel data firm Hopper predicts that U.S. airports will see around 1.9 million people daily throughout the holiday.

Hopper anticipates that the amount of travel will be around 75% of 2019 passenger levels of 2.5 million per day, and double the levels seen last year when the COVID-19 pandemic forced many to cancel their travel plans.

How these storms develop is still uncertain. Warmer temperatures could be the difference between snow or rain in some states, which could mean more delays whether you’re traveling by air or on the road.

"There's certainly the potential for some impacts. It's going to really depend on how exactly this storm system evolves," National Weather Service meteorologist Marc Chenard told NBC News.

If there is one thing that may be certain about the weather on Thanksgiving, it's that it might feel more like Christmas.