People arrive to check in for flights the day before the Thanksgiving holiday at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Ill., on Wednesday. Officials estimate that nearly 80 million people will take to the skies and roads as people travel to spend the holiday with friends and family. Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI |
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Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Thousands of flights have been delayed, and hundreds canceled, due to inclement weather overnight on Wednesday, as tens of millions of Americans are expected to travel this Thanksgiving weekend.
Some 18.3 million people are expected to be screened by Transportation Security Administration agents nationwide Tuesday through Monday, making it "the busiest Thanksgiving travel period on record," the federal agency said in a statement.
However, the TSA expects the busiest days to have been Tuesday and Wednesday, along with Sunday.
While the skies are expected to be busy, so are the roads, with the American Automobile Association predicting a record 71.7 million people will travel by car -- an increase of 1.3 million compared to last year.
However, that weather appears to have other plans.
The National Weather Service said a Thanksgiving Day storm was pushing through the Northeast early Thursday. Winter storm warnings and weather advisories were in effect from northern Maine to central Pennsylvania.
"Speaking of Thanksgiving, the coldest air of the season so far is set to advance across the Plains and Midwest beginning tomorrow," the NWS Weather Prediction Center said on X. "Aside from bitterly cold wind chills, this Arctic outbreak will also lead to heavy lake-effect snowfall through Monday."
As of early Thursday, more than 5,000 flights have been delayed with another 245 canceled, according to FlightAware.
The Federal Aviation Administration had warned on Wednesday afternoon that delays were expected in Denver and Salt Lake City, with potential delays forecast for airports in Boston, Dallas, Vegas, Minneapolis, Tampa, Los Angeles, New Jersey and Seattle, Wash.