Thanksgiving Day weather forecast: Winter storm to cover Midwest, Northeast in snow

Swaths of the country will get a white Thanksgiving this year as a winter storm moving towards the Northeast is expected to blanket parts of the Midwest and Northeast in snow on Thursday evening, threatening to snarl travel plans after the holiday.

The Thanksgiving Day storm will unleash rain and snow on New Englanders as they sit down to Turkey dinners on Thursday. Parts of New York west of the Hudson Valley and southern Vermont could see the heaviest snowfall, according to the National Weather Service.

Blasts of frigid air moving east could also trigger heavy "lake-effect snowfall" beginning on Thursday evening in areas across the upper Midwest and the Northeast, including Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo, New York, AccuWeather forecasters said.

Marchers in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade wore raincoats and ponchos on Thursday morning as a sheet of chilly rain hit the New York City metro area.

The Midwest could see "the coldest air of the season so far," according to the weather service. Temperatures in the northern Plains are expected to drop to their lowest levels since mid-February, a sudden departure from this year's near-record hot autumn.

Some areas, including Minnesota, the Twin Cities, and the Dakotas, could see dangerously freezing wind chills as low as negative 40 degrees.

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'Life-threatening situation' on some interstates

The snow could cause delays for holiday travelers and create dangerous conditions on major highways.

Blizzard-like conditions could drop visibility to near zero, putting drivers at risk of multi-car pileups or drifting off the road, AccuWeather forecasters wrote. Drivers on sections of Interstate 81 and 90 running through New York could face a "life-threatening situation."

Large highways traveling by the Great Lakes, including Interstate 79, 81, 86 and 90, could receive up to 3 inches of snow every hour, according to AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter.

Earlier this week, snow already spread across California's Sierra Nevada mountains and the Colorado Rockies. The snowfall closed down multiple roads around Denver and Boulder in Colorado and delayed some flights at the Denver International Airport.

But the snow is good news for skiers – western New York's popular ski resorts are likely to get their first major dose of good powder this season.

Opening ski day at Holiday Valley Ski Resort in Elicottville, New York, around 50 miles south of Buffalo, is expected to begin next Wednesday after the area will likely see days of heavy snowfall, the resort announced on Tuesday.

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"Guess what we’re getting ready for… SNOW!" the Buffalo Ski Center announced on Wednesday.

Arctic chill could impact 196 million people

As the first major Arctic chill of the season sweeps across the country, around 196 million people are expected to wake up to below freezing temperatures on Thanksgiving, according to Weather.com.

Wind chills in the northern Plains and upper Midwest will likely fall below zero, according to the weather service. In the Dakotas, they could stay at negative 15 degrees, posing a risk of hypothermia and frostbite.

In some colder parts of the Northeast, including the Great Lakes, Northeast and Ohio Valley, even high temperatures could stay below freezing, Cory Baggett, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center, told USA TODAY on Monday.

The coldest temperatures could last into early next week, but below-normal temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic could persist until Dec. 9, Baggett said.

Rainfall hits New York

The Thanksgiving Day storm hit a broad stretch of New York with frigid rainfall.

As of 8 a.m., while snow dropped on higher areas, parts of the state at lower elevation picked up as much as 5 inches of rain, according to New York's State Weather Risk Communication Center. By 10 p.m., when the storm moves out of the state, New York City, Long Island, and the Hudson Valley could rack up another three quarters of an inch, at most.

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Meanwhile, parts of the Southeast could see a few strong to potentially severe thunderstorms, according to the weather service's Storm Prediction Center. Parts of southern Georgia and Alabama and northern Florida are at a marginal risk.

"A brief tornado or two may occur," according to the center's forecast.

Northern lights come out on Thanksgiving

Some areas of the country facing a frigid Thanksgiving Day have something to look forward to – the northern lights.

The breathtaking sight will be visible on Thursday and Friday from some parts of the northern U.S. from New York to Idaho, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The visual phenomenon, also called aurora borealis, is caused by a coronal mass ejection, an eruption of solar material.

When particles ejected by the sun run into Earth's magnetic atmosphere, their interactions with gas molecules cause the colorful displays to become visible.

Generally, when weather is clear, they are most visible an hour or two before or after midnight, according to NOAA.

Thanksgiving holiday to see record number of drivers, fliers

Nearly 80 million Americans are expected to travel over the Thanksgiving holiday, from the Tuesday before Thanksgiving Day to the Monday after, according to the American Automobile Association.

The estimated 79.9 million people traveling across the country represents an increase of 1.7 million from last year and 2 million from 2019, according to AAA.

This year's holiday period is expected to set a record in the number of drivers and fliers – 71.7 million people will travel by car and 5.8 million will travel by plane, a respective increase of 1.9% and 2.1% from last year.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Thanksgiving Day weather forecast: Snow storm slams Midwest, Northeast