Story highlights
Rain or snow expected to cause travel problems in the Northeast Tuesday, Wednesday
"I-95 corridor may end up being the dividing line" between snow, rain, meteorologist says
American Airlines is waiving rebooking charges for travelers using 18 Northeastern airports
AAA expects 46 million people to travel over Thanksgiving, most since 2007
If you’re heading to the airport to fly to the East Coast for Thanksgiving, expect delays of three to six hours.
A nor’easter is expected to dump heavy rain and snow on the eastern United States late Tuesday into Wednesday and cause severe delays on what’s traditionally the busiest travel day of the year, CNN meteorologists say. About 30 million people from the mountains of North Carolina to Maine could be affected.
“All of the major metro areas in the Northeast will be impacted by either heavy rain or heavy snow, along with high winds,” said CNN senior meteorologist Dave Hennen.
He said it’s too early to predict which metro areas will be hit hardest, but airport delays are predicted Wednesday in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C.
“The I-95 corridor may end up being the dividing line between heavy snow and heavy rain,” Hennen said. “Either way travel in the Northeast will become dangerous, especially interior sections of the Northeast with heavy snow.”
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Flights canceled
“Customers ticketed on American Airlines, American Eagle or US Airways or US Airways Express flights on November 26 to, from, or through (18 affected airports) may change flights without penalty, have the ticket-reissue charge waived for one ticket change, and begin travel as early as November 25 or as late as November 27 under American’s current travel waiver,” according to an airline release.
The Northeast wasn’t the only region hit by bad weather. Light snow was forecast until Thursday in Minneapolis, Chicago and other parts of the upper Midwest.
On the bright side, people traveling by car will probably pay less for gas than in recent years, AAA says.
The current average price of gasoline in the United States is $2.85 per gallon, 43 cents per gallon lower than the average price at the same time last year.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said a European computer model calls for a foot of snow in Connecticut and Massachusetts, whereas an American computer model doesn’t predict as much snow.
“This is going to be a rainmaker more than a snowmaker,” he said. “It isn’t quite cold enough to make that big snow event. You’ll see snow in the Poconos and the Alleghenies and in Vermont, but along the I-95 corridor (expect) rain-snow mix.”