Thanksgiving weather live: Airport workers strike amid snow, rain forecast

Las Vegas facing rain and snow today

National Weather Service (NWS) Las Vegas is reporting that the city will be facing “light rain and mountain snow today.”

Warnings in effect across the country

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that winter weather systems are making their way across the country.

Winter weather threatens Thanksgiving travel and parades

An impactful storm system is poised to disrupt Thanksgiving travel plans and holiday festivities across multiple regions of the United States, with particular concerns for major parades and travel hubs in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions, according to forecasters.

This year’s holiday is expected to see record-breaking travel numbers, with AAA projecting 79.9 million Americans taking to the roads and skies throughout the week.

However, the developing weather system could bring strong wind, heavy rain and accumulating snow to parts of the country during Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Read the full story by Tom Howarth on Newsweek.

80 million Americans expected to travel this week, TSA predicts

The American Automobile Association (AAA) forecasts that over 80 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home between Tuesday and next Monday. The majority of them will travel by vehicle.

The Transportation Security Administration anticipates screening 18.3 million travelers at U.S. airports during the same seven-day period. That would be 6% more than the same days last year, but it would be consistent with a pattern established until 2024.

The TSA expects that 3 million passengers will travel through airport security checkpoints on Sunday, with more than that potentially breaking the record of 3.01 million established on the Sunday following the July Fourth holiday. Tuesday and Wednesday are predicted to be the next busiest air travel days during Thanksgiving week.

Thanksgiving winter storm map shows states forecast to get heavy snow

The National Weather Service (NWS) has predicted an increased risk for cold and unsettled weather, including heavy snow for 11 states, for the post-Thanksgiving travel period, as shown by the map below.

Heavy snow, part of a winter storm, could blanket much of the northern and northeastern United States just as many Americans hit the roads and skies following Thanksgiving.

Forecasters warn that Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine are at risk of significant snowfall.

“Unsettled wintry weather is possible with this system, and a slight risk (20 to 40 percent chance) of heavy snow is indicated across parts of the Great Lakes and interior Northeast the day after Thanksgiving into the holiday weekend,” said the NWS Climate Prediction Center in an update on Sunday, forecasting from November 29 through to December 5.

“There is an additional risk of high winds and much below normal temperatures across much of the East during the post-Thanksgiving travel period, which could contribute to lower wind chill values,” NWS said.

Newsweek contacted the NWS via email last week for comment.

Read the full story by Emma Marsden on Newsweek.

National Weather Service looks to post-Thanksgiving conditions

The National Weather Service has looked to the end of November, predicting “below normal temperatures” as December looms.

Chance of rain for at least 6 cities Tuesday

As a Monday storm moves from the Great Lakes to the northeast into Tuesday, people can expect rain throughout the East Coast. Cities including New York, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Charlotte, and Atlanta will see rain due to this storm and a protracted cold front.

This storm appears to be less likely to generate severe weather, although it may create some scattered travel delays in the East, ABC News predicts.

Pete Buttigieg outlines what travelers are entitled to if flights are canceled or delayed

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg shared a tweet, outlining what travelers who face flight delays or cancelations are entitled to.

He added that record travel is expected on the week of Thanksgiving.

Staffing shortages in FAA could cause delays

Last week, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Mike Whitaker said that his agency plans to take extraordinary measures to address shortages at select locations. Previously, this included airports in New York City and Florida.

“If we are short on staff, we will slow traffic as needed to keep the system safe,” Whitaker said.

The FAA has been grappling with a controller shortfall, which airline officials predict will endure for years despite the agency’s ambitious hiring targets.

More about the Charlotte Douglas International Airport strike

The strike highlights growing frustration among airport workers who say their wages cannot keep up with the cost of living.

Many workers earn between $12.50 and $19 an hour—well below what the MIT Living Wage Calculator considers sufficient for a single person with no children in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“We’re on strike today because this is our last resort. We can’t keep living like this,” ABM cabin cleaner Priscilla Hoyle said in a statement. “We’re taking action because our families can’t survive.”

Charlotte Douglas International Airport expects to process more than one million passengers between last Thursday and the Monday after Thanksgiving, making this holiday travel season the busiest on record.

Demonstrations include an 11 a.m. rally and a 1 p.m. “Strikesgiving” lunch “in place of the Thanksgiving meal that many of the workers won’t be able to afford later this week,” union officials confirmed.

Read the full story by Shannon McDonagh on Newsweek.

Southeast to see low pressure system before heading to Northeast

A low-pressure system is expected to deliver rain to the Southeast early Thursday before traveling northeast. Rain and windy weather are expected from Boston to New York, with snowfall likely in northern New Hampshire, Maine, and the Adirondacks. If the system moves further inland, forecasts predict less snow and more rain in the Alps.

“The system doesn’t look like a powerhouse right now,” a meteorologist with the weather service in Massachusetts, Hayden Frank, said. “Basically, this is going to bring rain to the I-95 corridor so travelers should prepare for wet weather. Unless the system trends a lot colder, it looks like rain.”

Strikes threaten traveling conditions

North Carolina Charlotte Douglas International Airport service workers walked off the job at 5 a.m. on Monday after voting to strike on Friday due to wanting to “end to poverty wages,” demanding “respect on the job during the holiday travel season,” NBC News reported.

The striking workers are from ABM and Prospect Airport Services, and their jobs include cleaning inside flights and aiding passengers in wheelchairs. Workers there were also on strike in May.

California braced for extreme weather with more to come

According to projections across the U.S., another bout of snowy weather might hinder travel in the run-up to Thanksgiving, as California and Washington State continue to recover from storm damage and outages.

Authorities in California, where two people were found dead in floods on Saturday, braced for additional rain as they dealt with flooding and minor landslides from the last storm, per the AP.

The National Weather Service office in Sacramento, California, issued a winter storm warning for the Sierra Nevada through Tuesday, with heavy snow forecast at higher elevations and wind gusts up to 55 mph (88 kph). A total of around 4 feet (1.2 meters) of snow was projected, with the biggest accumulations expected on Monday and Tuesday.

TSA predicts this will be the ‘busiest Thanksgiving on record’

Transportation Security Administrator David Pekoske said on X, “This will be the busiest Thanksgiving on record.”

He added that this has already been the busiest year in TSA history.

Joe Biden reassures travelers ahead of Thanksgiving

U.S. President Joe Biden shared a tweet, reassuring travelers that his administration is attempting to ban airline junk fees and require refunds for those who need them.

Winter weather system developing over the Great Lakes

Seasonably cold weather is forecast to settle in throughout parts of the country during the following week. A chilly wave hits in numerous cities just in time for Thanksgiving, but it won’t set any new records for low temperatures.

Early in the week, a storm building over the Great Lakes will travel over the eastern U.S., bringing another wave of precipitation from the deep South to the Midwest and Northeast.