US Thanksgiving holiday: Bad weather expected on peak travel days

With Thanksgiving approaching on Thursday, November 28, millions of Americans are preparing to travel to spend the holiday with friends and relatives amid warnings of stormy weather in parts of the United States.

This year, 55 million people are expected to travel for the holiday, according to the AAA. Most of them are expected to take to the highways, but 4.45 million are expected to fly.

On Wednesday, typically the busiest travel day, several areas of the country are likely to be impacted by bad weather; within those areas are major airport hubs that also cater to international carriers.

Across the Midwest, an early winter storm is set to strengthen, bringing heavy snow, gusty winds and the possibility of severe storms.

Chicago could be one of the cities most badly affected by the storm. Rain and winds will move over the city early in the morning. By late morning, the back of the system along with dropping temperatures could bring a change to snow. Conditions are expected to improve by the afternoon.

Minneapolis, Detroit, Cincinnati and Indianapolis are other international hubs that will also see messy weather. Later in the day, Boston could also see the chance of thunderstorms.

To the west, a storm moving in from the Pacific could bring rain and low clouds to San Francisco, and could later bring snow to Salt Lake City.

On Sunday, the second-busiest travel day when people return home, a larger area of the country is expected to be affected by wintry weather, most of this across the Central Plains and mountain states. Cities such as Denver, Salt Lake City and Minneapolis will likely see snow, while St. Louis, Nashville and Atlanta could see thunderstorms later in the day.