A powerful winter storm and heavy rain in the northern United States threaten to complicate the start this Tuesday of what is expected to be a record Thanksgiving travel season, the busiest in 15 years, with forecasts of more than 81 million passengers until next Monday.
At least nine northern states, from Montana to New York, have issued alerts due to the powerful snow system, which could bring a total of 30 centimeters of snow to the Dakotas and the Great Lakes area, according to the national weather service.
This Tuesday, the day with the highest volume of air traffic in the coming days, some 52,000 flights are forecast, as anticipated on Monday by the Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, who assured that operations have returned to normal in the US terminals after interruptions during the recent federal government shutdown.
So far, the tracking site FlightAware reports more than 1,700 delays and only about 56 cancellations at U.S. airports.
Continue reading: Thanksgiving air travel plans are curtailed by US government shutdown
Heavy rainfall could also make flights difficult at busy airports such as those in New York, Boston and Chicago in the afternoon and evening today, conditions that will last until Wednesday morning, one day before Thanksgiving, considered one of the most important holidays of the year in American culture.
While the Oregon cities of Seattle and Portland are expected to receive steady, cold rain from an approaching storm system, no travel disruptions are forecast for the rest of the country’s West Coast.
The American Automobile Association (AAA) predicts that a total of 81.8 million Americans will travel at least 80 kilometers due to the holiday, which means 1.6 million more compared to the 2024 season. The organization predicts that about 73 million passengers will drive these days.
AAA data agree that the greatest flow of traffic on roads will occur this Tuesday, tomorrow, Wednesday, November 26, and Sunday, November 30, when the bulk of people who traveled outside their places of residence are expected to return, either to foreign destinations or back to their family homes.
For his part, the Secretary of Transportation reported this Monday that some 31 million travelers are expected at the country’s airports throughout the week, in the busiest season in more than a decade and a half, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which also foresees a busy Sunday at airports.
Duffy added that they also expect about 1.2 million passengers on the national rail system.
With information from EFE
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