If you're planning to travel across the country for Thanksgiving this week, there's some good news and some bad news.
If you're doing any long-distance traveling for Thanksgiving this week, either by car or by plane, there's some good news and some bad news.
The good news: The weather conditions are looking great here in New Jersey and throughout most of the eastern seaboard. The bad news: The further west you travel, the more likelihood you'll be running into some messy weather and facing travel delays.
That's how this week's weather forecast is shaping up. AccuWeather forecasters are predicting a widespread area of rain, wind and light snow in western states, from Colorado to California. Here in New Jersey, it should be mostly sunny and dry on the biggest travel day -- Wednesday -- and partly sunny and dry on Thanksgiving Day as temperatures continue to climb.
"A large chunk of the East is going to be dry," said Tom Kines, an AccuWeather meteorologist, who noted temperatures in New Jersey will be running higher than usual on Thanksgiving. "There should be an abundance of sunshine."
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As for Black Friday, the long-range forecast originally called for a chance of rain, but now it's looking likely the big shopping day will be dry and pleasant, with partly sunny skies and the temperature reaching a spring-like 62 degrees in northern New Jersey and as high as 67 in southern New Jersey. (Sounds like a better day for outdoor activities than for indoor shopping sprees.)
"The major airports and smaller hubs from Atlanta to Boston, New York City, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., are not likely to experience direct weather-related delays," said Alex Sosnowski, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. "An exception to the snow-free weather will be a round of snow showers from northern Minnesota to western and northern New York state, northwestern Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio from Monday into Tuesday. However, there will not be a significant snowfall."
Jerseyans traveling to Chicago and other parts of the Midwest on Wednesday may encounter rain, but not snow, Kines said. Further west, several inches of snow could fall in the high mountain areas of Colorado, Utah and western Kansas, but no blockbuster snowstorms -- like the one that clobbered that region last week -- are expected this week.
Here is a look at the latest weather projections for northern, central and southern New Jersey heading into the holiday weekend.
Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @LensReality. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
