Go Back
  • For Business
  • |
  • Warnings
  • Data Suite
  • Newsletters
  • Advertising
  • Superior Accuracy™
Dangerous heat wave to expand east early this week, affecting 170 million people. Details here Chevron right

Ashburn, VA

75°F
Location Chevron down
Location News Videos
Use Current Location
Recent

Ashburn

Virginia

75°
No results found.
Try searching for a city, zip code or point of interest.
settings
Ashburn, VA Weather
Today WinterCast Local {stormName} Tracker Hourly Daily Radar MinuteCast Monthly Air Quality Health & Activities

Around the Globe

Hurricane Tracker

Severe Weather

Radar & Maps

News

News & Features

Astronomy

Business

Climate

Health

Recreation

Sports

Travel

For Business

Warnings

Data Suite

Newsletters

Advertising

Superior Accuracy™

Video

Winter Center

AccuWeather Early Hurricane Center Top Stories Trending Today Astronomy Heat Climate Health Recreation In Memoriam Case Studies Blogs & Webinars
2
Extreme Heat Warning

News / Travel

Major storm system may threaten Thanksgiving trips on busiest day of holiday travel

By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist

Updated Aug 7, 2020 2:19 PM EDT

Copied

Travel conditions on the notoriously worst day to move around the country for the Thanksgiving holiday will depend on the severity and track of a storm currently forecast to rage over the central and northeastern United States from Tuesday to Wednesday.

While an active storm track will bring rain to part of the South and rain, ice and snow to parts of the Midwest and Northeast this weekend, a potentially very disruptive storm has its eyes on the Mississippi Valley and Midwest spanning next Tuesday and Wednesday -- at the very height of the Thanksgiving travel rush.

Travelers wait in line to board a bus ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

The latest indications are that the storm is likely to move along at a swift pace and have most of its impact on the Heartland during Tuesday and Tuesday night, which might spare these areas the worst weather conditions for the craziest Thanksgiving travel day, which is Wednesday.

"Should the storm develop to its full potential and take a northward track toward the Great Lakes, heavy, windswept snow would fall just northwest of the storm's center with heavy rain and perhaps severe thunderstorms to its south and east," AccuWeather Meteorologist Courtney Travis said.

However, the stormy weather on Tuesday and Tuesday night could produce even a heavier volume of travelers on the Wednesday in the immediate wake of the storm.

In this strong storm scenario, the swath from Denver to Omaha, Nebraska; Des Moines, Iowa; and Wausau, Wisconsin, would be in the heavy snow zone, but it could be a close call between rain and snow in Kansas City, Missouri and the Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois to near Chicago and Milwaukee.

High winds could be the major cause of flight disruptions in lieu of snow, low visibility and thunderstorms over a broad area of the Central states, including Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh.

During high winds and other adverse weather conditions, aircraft often must be more spaced out when landing and taking off, if not totally grounded or detoured. This can lead to major delays and even flight cancellations. Crews and aircraft are then displaced, which can lead to ripple-effect problems across much of the nation.

The strong winds may linger into at least part of Wednesday over the Midwest and may be more of a problem from the eastern Great Lakes to New England and the mid-Atlantic region at midweek.

"Depending on how quickly this storm system strengthens, we could be contending with severe thunderstorms from Arkansas and Louisiana through southern Indiana and western portions of Kentucky and Tennessee," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Randy Adkins said.

Related:

Top 10 Thanksgiving travel destinations (almost) all share a common weather theme
Slew of sloppy, winterlike weather to slow Thanksgiving travelers in the Golden State
Snow, ice to threaten slippery start to Thanksgiving travel for parts of Northeast

The timing of the severe weather depends on the forward speed of the storm. It is possible the severe weather threat may be limited to Tuesday and Tuesday evening, just like wintry conditions farther north.

There is a second scenario that is being weighed in.

"Should the storm end up being weaker, it would tend to move much farther to the east at a very swift pace," Travis said.

In this scenario, colder air, snow and slippery travel would also spread farther to the south and east along the Interstate 70, 80 and 90 corridors and reach parts of the Ohio Valley, eastern Great Lakes and the central and northern Appalachians during Tuesday night and Wednesday.

"In this faster, weaker scenario, there is a chance the storm turns far enough to the east to allow some snow and/or a quick freeze-up in parts of Indiana, Ohio and western and northern Pennsylvania during Tuesday night," AccuWeather Meteorologist Max Gawryla said.

Regardless, if either of the two scenarios occur, or something in between, major travel disruptions are likely over part of the Central states and the risk of some weather-related disruptions will exist in parts of the South and the East just prior to and during the middle of the week of Thanksgiving.

Even a brief period of gusty winds pivoting through the major airport hubs of the Northeast with only spotty rain and snow can be detrimental to airline schedules.

So, not only may there be normal heavy holiday traffic on the roads and at the airports, a storm may really throw a wrench into plans during the day and night before Thanksgiving over the Central and Eastern states.

As if the storm east of the Rockies was not enough, it appears a second potent storm will move in from the Pacific Ocean and impact a large part of the West, including California at midweek.

Snow is likely to cause disruptions over the major passes, including along I-80 and perhaps I-5. While rain may greatly benefit fire-ravaged areas of Northern California, slick roads may create dangerous travel for a time.

More than 55 million travelers have plans to venture at least 50 miles away from home from the Friday before Thanksgiving to the Sunday after Thanksgiving, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). The holiday travel volume is expected to be second-highest behind 2005 since tracking began in 2000, AAA said.

In terms of Thanksgiving travel, in lieu of any bad weather, there's "nothing worse than Wednesday," the AAA said in its statement. Trips made on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving can be four times longer as commuters mix with holiday travelers, according to AAA.

AccuWeather will continue to provide updates for Thanksgiving travel in the coming days.

Download the free AccuWeather app to check the forecast in your area. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.

Report a Typo
Comments that don't add to the conversation may be automatically or manually removed by Facebook or AccuWeather. Profanity, personal attacks, and spam will not be tolerated.
Comments
Hide Comments

Weather News

Severe Weather

Juneau, Alaska gets rare 'tornado' and severe thunderstorm

Jun. 20, 2025
Recreation

Lightning strikes hikers, prompts record rescue on Colorado mountain

Jun. 19, 2025
Weather Forecasts

Major cooldown eyes West as fire weather increases for Great Basin

Jun. 22, 2025
Show more Show less Chevron down

Topics

AccuWeather Early

Hurricane Center

Top Stories

Trending Today

Astronomy

Heat

Climate

Health

Recreation

In Memoriam

Case Studies

Blogs & Webinars

Top Stories

Weather Forecasts

Dangerous heat wave to envelop 170 million Americans through late June

6 minutes ago

Severe Weather

Storms sweep Northeast, teen struck by lightning in Central Park

2 days ago

Severe Weather

Severe storms to continue riding edge of heat dome into new week

12 hours ago

Astronomy

Meteorological summer vs. astronomical summer explained

6 days ago

Astronomy

NASA raises chance for asteroid to hit moon

2 days ago

More Stories

Featured Stories

Astronomy

Summer solstice: Everything to know about the year's longest day

2 days ago

Health

‘Nimbus’ COVID-19 variant arrives in U.S. after China surge

2 days ago

Severe Weather

Rare high-elevation tornado confirmed at Pikes Peak

4 days ago

Weather News

First methane-powered sea spiders found crawling on the ocean floor

4 days ago

Weather News

‘Dragon Man’ DNA revelation puts a face to group of ancient humans

2 days ago

AccuWeather Travel Major storm system may threaten Thanksgiving trips on busiest day of holiday travel
Company
Proven Superior Accuracy About AccuWeather Digital Advertising Careers Press Contact Us
Products & Services
For Business For Partners For Advertising AccuWeather APIs AccuWeather Connect RealFeel® and RealFeel Shade™ Personal Weather Stations
Apps & Downloads
iPhone App Android App See all Apps & Downloads
Subscription Services
AccuWeather Premium AccuWeather Professional
More
AccuWeather Ready Business Health Hurricane Leisure and Recreation Severe Weather Space and Astronomy Sports Travel Weather News Winter Center
Company
Proven Superior Accuracy About AccuWeather Digital Advertising Careers Press Contact Us
Products & Services
For Business For Partners For Advertising AccuWeather APIs AccuWeather Connect RealFeel® and RealFeel Shade™ Personal Weather Stations
Apps & Downloads
iPhone App Android App See all Apps & Downloads
Subscription Services
AccuWeather Premium AccuWeather Professional
More
AccuWeather Ready Business Health Hurricane Leisure and Recreation Severe Weather Space and Astronomy Sports Travel Weather News Winter Center
© 2025 AccuWeather, Inc. "AccuWeather" and sun design are registered trademarks of AccuWeather, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | About Your Privacy Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

...

...

...