PRE-Thanksgiving Travel Outlook

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It is going to be a mess for pre-Thanksgiving travel Tuesday  
and Wednesday. A second storm likely on Thanksgiving Day itself. 

 Because there are plenty of blogs that cover the East Coast (especially!) and West Coast, we focus on the central United States. I am going to break things down by 24-hour periods from midnight to midnight.

Tuesday

 Forecast snow:
click to enlarge
Snapshot of forecast winds for 2pm CST:
With snow falling in much of the circled area, wind gusts to 40 mph will cause drifting snow and very hazardous travel conditions. Note: The winds in eastern Nebraska will increase from then until about 10pm. It will be close to blizzard conditions at times. These problems will include I-80 from Scottsbluff to Omaha and I-70 from Limon to WaKeeney.

The areas of red on the wind map feature gusts of 55 mph or higher -- very hazardous for high profile vehicles. This will include I-40 from near the Oklahoma-Texas border to Albuquerque.

Thunderstorm Forecast:
Flight delays, due to thunderstorms, are possible in the green-tinted area. Flight delays are possible at both Dallas and, especially, Houston.


Wednesday

Forecast snow...
The first winter storm on Wednesday moves into the Great Lakes region.

A second winter storm will occur in Utah and parts of Montana.  ?= second winter storm that may be developing Wednesday night in the southern High Plains and Thursday in the central Great Plains.

Wednesday Winds at noon: Extreme winds possible in the Midwest.
The orange is forecast winds of 45 mph or higher and the smattering of reds are winds of 50 mph or higher. This includes Chicago which means flight delays with possible delays at Detroit and Indianapolis later in the day. Power failures are possible.

Here is a map of the gusts for the entire day with emphasis on the afternoon and evening.
Please factor the weather into your travel plans. 

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