A powerful winter storm is expected to throw a wrench into Thanksgiving travel plans for millions of people along the Interstate 95 corridor from Virginia to Maine as snow moves up the East Coast on Wednesday.
Much of Maine will receive 8 to 12 inches of fresh snow Wednesday night and into Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
On Tuesday afternoon, the weather service reported a winter storm warning was in effect for Oxford, Franklin, Somerset, York, Cumberland, Androscoggin, Kennebec, Waldo, Sagadahoc, Lincoln and Knox counties.
Far northern and western counties were under a winter weather advisory.
The day before Thanksgiving is traditionally one of the nation’s busiest travel days.
Anyone flying out of Maine’s two major airports should check with their airline before leaving home and arrive early for security proceedings, spokesmen warned.
Bangor International Airport director Tony Caruso said Tuesday that anyone traveling should monitor the airport’s website, flybangor.com, where a schedule is posted.
A similar schedule also was posted on the Portland Jetport’s website, portlandjetport.org.
Caruso said BIA’s snow-removal equipment and crews were ready to go.
Maine’s power companies also were keeping a close eye on the storm, the utilities reported Tuesday.
Customers were reminded as always to stay away from downed power lines and trees that may be touching them.
As much as 8 inches may fall from Virginia into New York, while as much as a foot could pile up across northern New England, said Jim Hayes, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. New York City may get 4 to 6 inches, with northern areas possibly getting 8, said Brian Ciemnecki, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Upton, New York.
“The snowfall will significantly impact holiday travel, making driving dangerous at times,” the weather service said in its winter storm watch.
An estimated 46.3 million travelers will make trips of 50 miles or more to reach celebrations for the holiday, according to AAA. More than 89 percent of those journeys will be by car.
“I think the earlier they can go, the better off they will be,” Hayes said. “Travel conditions will deteriorate on Wednesday.”
The system should end in New York City by the time the holiday dawns.
During the six-day Thanksgiving holiday period, from Tuesday through Nov. 30, the number of trips of 50 miles or more increases 54 percent, compared with the 23 percent jump from Christmas to New Year’s Day, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Winter storm warnings and watches stretch from North Carolina to Maine, including New York, Philadelphia and Boston, the weather service said. The storm will reach Washington and Philadelphia early Wednesday and spread north into New York and New Jersey during the course of the day, Hayes said.
The storm will start as rain overnight in New York, transitioning to snow by midday Wednesday, Ciemnecki said. The heaviest amounts will be to the north and west of the city.
Snow predictions for New York have increased through the past few days as computer forecast models give a better idea of how the storm will act as it comes up the coast. Ciemnecki said even relatively minor deviations in the track could change snowfall amounts.
There is some dissent in the prediction. Rob Carolan, a meteorologist with Hometown Forecast Services, said he believes the weather service snow totals are too high.
While the storm will cause travel problems, it will probably leave less snow than the weather service is forecasting because it will have to contend with a lot of warm air still lingering across the eastern U.S., said Carolan from his office in Nashua, New Hampshire.
As the storm moved up the East Coast on Tuesday, it brought rain throughout the South, and that will start changing to snow as it comes north.
Hayes said heavy snow most likely will reach from western Virginia through Maryland into eastern Pennsylvania and then across northern New Jersey and New York’s Hudson River Valley. As much as 8 inches may fall in that area.
“The weather could be a real problem further north and west of I-95,” Hayes said.
By the time the storm reaches New England, it will probably have grown stronger, so interior portions of the six-state region from western Massachusetts across Vermont and New Hampshire could get as much as 12 inches, Hayes said.
The forecast has also shifted in Boston, which now may receive 4 to 6 inches, the weather service said.
Just to Boston’s north and west, accumulations may range from 6 to 10 inches, said Benjamin Sipprell, a weather service meteorologist in Taunton, Massachusetts.
“For the most part we have a classic nor’easter going on here,” Sipprell said.
Hayes said the areas close to I-95 will be on the dividing line between snow and rain, making forecasts there particularly difficult. He said the stretch between Boston and Providence will be the most problematic.
“Southeastern Massachusetts to Rhode Island is where the battle line is going to be between snow and rain,” Hayes said.
A similar situation could affect predictions for southern New Jersey and Long Island.
The snow should end in New York by midnight with Thanksgiving Day becoming drier, Stark said.
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade kicks off at 9 a.m. on 77th Street and Central Park West. The high for the day is forecast to be 41 degrees.
BDN writer Ryan McLaughlin contributed to this report.