Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: High Winds May Ground Biggest Balloons

Big balloons blowing in the wind. That's the biggest fear of Thanksgiving Day parade organizers, who are responsible for preventing 40-foot-tall Kermit the Frog, Pokemon, Garfield and other classic colossal-sized cartoon characters marching through the streets from knocking down lamp posts, or worse, injuring and innocent parade-goer.

The National Weather Service forecasts clear skies and a high of 52 degrees on the day of the parade, Thursday, Nov. 24. Weather forecasts would be ideal if it weren't for the 15-24 mph winds that are also expected. If wind speeds exceed 23 mph, or if gusts are stronger than 34 mph, the parade balloons would be grounded, according to the New York Daily News.

Every year at this point there's a prediction of high winds and ever year the balloons fly, Macy's spokesman Orlando Veras told the Daily News. Veras also said that the last time balloons were grounded because of high winds was back in the 1990s and, before that, the only other hitch the parade ever faced was in the 1940s when organizers ran out of helium and were forced to fill the biggest balloons with air and move them through the city on cranes.

Even if high winds ground the biggest balloons this year, the Thanksgiving Day parade has 44 smaller balloons that will still be brought through the parade. Looks like the show must go on.