Visiting family members could be difficult this week since much of the East Coast is expected to feel the wrath of Winter Storm Cato the day before Thanksgiving.
A cold front is currently sweeping toward the East Coast, which is expected to stall just offshore late Tuesday. Low pressure will then spin up along the tail end of the front over the Gulf of Mexico, according to Weather.com.
That low pressure will then cross Florida Tuesday night and then intensely move north-northeastward later on in the night and into Wednesday. The storm is expected to stay off the Eastern Seaboard, though a number of questions still remain.
No one knows what to expect on Wednesday and Thursday, and the small details could force people to change their travel plans, especially those planning on driving somewhere in the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast on Wednesday or Wednesday night.
Winter storm watches have been issued by the National Weather Service for more than 20 million people in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The watches mean large amount of snow accumulations could happen sometime during the next 48 hours or so, according to Weather.com.
Here's what you should expect (based on recent weather forecasts):
Tuesday night:
Snow will start falling over the Smoky Mountains near the North Carolina-Tennessee border Tuesday night. It will then spread to the eastern West Virginia mountains later on, though the exact amounts in these locations should be light.
Most of the precipitation should be in the form of rain Tuesday night into Wednesday morning for the north New York City area.
Wednesday:
Snowfall will likely expand its footprint dramatically over the Northeast. A mix of rain and snow will likely hover close to the Interstate 95 corridor.
Though it seems like it will be cold enough for snow to cover from West Virginia through central Pennsylvania, the Catskills of N.Y. and New England, some areas closer to I-95 have ground-level air temperatures a few degrees above freezing.
"In this case, we'll be watching for heavy snowfall rates caused by fast-rising air associated with the low-pressure system," the Weather.com report reads. "If it snows hard enough, air temperatures may cool enough for the snow to reach the ground and accumulate quickly."
In places where precipitation isn't that bad, the air could stay just warm enough to melt snowflakes before they even reach the ground. This would result in cold rain or a rain/snow mix.
Snowfall amounts could vary for most of the Washington-to-Boston corridor.
In any event, major airports are likely to be affected by the weather one way or another Tuesday night, so expect severe delays.
Wednesday night:
The storm is expected to keep traveling to the northeast, moving cold air southward on its back side, according to Weather.com. This should let the snow/rain line advance southeastward somewhere over the Northeast Megalopolis.
Snowfall should come to an end in New York City and New Jersey around or a few hours after midnight. Farther north however, snow will continue over much of New England into the evening, ending from west to east later on in the night.
Thanksgiving Day:
Expect the last of the snow to slow down in the morning over certain parts of Maine.
Temperatures will be close to the 32-degree mark for most of the affected areas and snow will likely be heavy and wet. Broken tree limbs and power outages are expected in areas where the snow is heaviest, so be safe.
Roads will also be very slushy or wet on Thanksgiving in affected areas.
Check out Weather.com for the most up-to-date information on the weather in your town.
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
