A powerful winter storm and heavy rains in the northern United States are complicating the start of what is expected to be a record-breaking Thanksgiving travel season, the busiest in 15 years, with forecasts of over 81 million passengers through next Monday. At least nine northern states, from Montana to New York, have issued alerts due to the powerful snow system, which could bring a total of 30 centimeters of snow in the Dakotas and the Great Lakes region, according to the National Weather Service. This Tuesday, the day with the highest volume of air traffic in the coming days, some 52,000 flights are forecast, as Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy anticipated on Monday, assuring that operations have returned to normal at U.S. terminals after the disruptions during the recent government shutdown. So far, the FlightAware tracking site reports more than 1,700 delays and only about 56 cancellations at U.S. airports. Heavy precipitation could also complicate flights at busy airports such as those in New York, Boston, and Chicago this afternoon and evening, conditions that will extend into Wednesday morning, a day before Thanksgiving, considered one of the most important holidays of the year in American culture. Although Seattle and Portland, Oregon, are expected to receive cold, steady rain from an incoming storm system, no travel disruptions are forecast for the rest of the West Coast. The American Automobile Association (AAA) projects that a total of 81.8 million Americans will travel at least 80 kilometers due to the holiday, which is 1.6 million more than for the 2024 season. The organization forecasts that about 73 million passengers will drive in the coming days. AAA data also indicates that the heaviest road traffic flow will occur this Tuesday, next Wednesday, and November 30, when the bulk of people who traveled away from their homes are expected to return, whether to foreign destinations or back to their family homes. Meanwhile, the Secretary of Transportation reported on Monday that they expect about 31 million travelers at the country's airports throughout the week, the most active season in over a decade and a half, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which also anticipates a busy Sunday at airports. Duffy added that they also expect nearly 1.2 million passengers in the national rail system.
