Updated Nov. 26, 2019 3:33 PM
As if one cross-country storm isn't enough for the start of the Thanksgiving travel rush, a second coast-to-coast storm is already in the works and will deliver rain, ice and snow to the northeastern United States this weekend as many Americans make return trips after the holiday.
The weekend storm has the potential to bring wintry precipitation to many more areas when compared to the storm prior to Thanksgiving. All told, throughout the holiday weekend, nearly 230 million Americans across the nation will be in the path of wintry weather or high winds at some point from Wednesday through Monday, according to an AccuWeather analysis.
The same storm will spread drenching rain and snow across the West from Wednesday to Thursday, the Plains and Mississippi Valley on Friday and then much of the Midwest on Friday night into Saturday.
By Saturday, just enough cold air will be in place for snow, sleet and freezing rain to develop over the central Appalachians to the lower Great Lakes region.
The wintry mix will then progress eastward on Saturday night. A combination of rain, sleet and wet snow can reach all the way to the upper mid-Atlantic coast and central and southern New England by Sunday.
Even if the storm manages to bring only rain to New York City and Philadelphia, the storm may have an entirely different and wintry character only a couple dozen miles farther to the north and west.
At the very least, rain will drench much of the Interstate 95 corridor over the upper mid-Atlantic and southern New England areas on Sunday.
This is the type of setup in which the initial storm will shift its track southeastward and weaken over the Midwest, prior to a new, secondary storm that takes shape along the mid-Atlantic coast.
What happens on the Atlantic coast and over much of the Northeast in general in terms of the primary form of precipitation will depend on how quickly and how close to the coast that secondary storm forms.
This setup may not allow warm air to freely flow in and change the wintry mix over to plain rain across the interior of the mid-Atlantic and southern New England areas.
As a result, a substantial amount of snow and/or ice can occur over the central Appalachians, the northern and western suburbs of Philadelphia and New York City. However, it will be a close call in the Boston area.
There is a chance the coastal storm may develop in such a way to cause rain and a wintry mix to change to accumulating snow along the mid-Atlantic coast and in southeastern New England from later Sunday and into early Monday.
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Should the storm develop to its full potential Sunday night to Monday, a foot of snow could fall over parts of the Northeast, including portions of Pennsylvania, New York state, New England and perhaps northern New Jersey, following an icy mix from later Saturday into Saturday night.
Sunday is often a busy day on highways for people who are heading back to school or work after a Thanksgiving break. However, the weather could make the trip difficult and dangerous in some areas.
Those with flexible travel plans for the trip back home will want to pay close attention to the forecast and potentially adjust departure plans to an earlier or later day.
Gusty winds will accompany the complex storm system from this weekend to early next week. While winds are not likely to be as intense as they are on Wednesday and Thanksgiving Day, they may be strong enough to disrupt normal airline schedules from the Deep South to the Midwest and the coastal Northeast on Monday.
Download the free AccuWeather app to check the forecast in your area. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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