America travels for Thanksgiving

A dry and cool Thanksgiving day is in the forecast for most of the US following days of disruptive weather leading up to the holiday.

The wide-reaching storm that slammed the eastern US on Tuesday and continued to cause issues on Wednesday will fully exit the country on Thursday, leaving behind much calmer, dry weather in its wake.

One big exception to the general quiet weather across the country will be a snowstorm over the northern Rockies that begins to develop early Thursday. 

Accumulating snowfall is likely across portions of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming during the daytime and could lead to tricky travel on interstates 90 and 15. By Thursday evening, snow will work its way into parts of Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Nebraska. 

Elsewhere, a few showers are possible across coastal Texas and southern Louisiana, especially later in the day. 

Travelers wheel luggage toward Spirit Airlines check-in desk at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, on November 21, in Houston.

Planes are going to be packed. Patience will be tried. Some level of aggravation is all but inevitable. Throw in a seat-kicker, a tipsy stranger and someone who’s blissfully barefoot in November and the Thanksgiving odyssey becomes a little more challenging.

And this year is poised to be a record-setter for air travel. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen more people on the Sunday after the holiday (November 26) than any day in its more than 20-year history, and some airlines are expecting their busiest Thanksgiving travel season ever.

It’ll all go more smoothly if every passenger brings some common courtesy along for the ride, so CNN Travel spoke with experts about the best approaches to airplane etiquette.

The missing ingredient, in many cases, is self-awareness. People tend to get wrapped up in their own journey and forget that there’s a whole planeload of other passengers.

“It’s always kind of mind-blowing to see that because it’s my bag, and my overhead bin, and my seat, and my flight, my connection and, you know, my drink, and it’s very me me me when it comes to just how people behave on an airplane.

“And it’s like, there’s hundreds of you,” said Rich Henderson, who’s been a flight attendant for a decade. “You’ve got to be aware of your surroundings, you’ve got to be respectful of the people around you.”

It starts with ‘hello’

Be polite to the flight crew greeting you. “It goes a long way when you’re pleasant to the first person you see on the plane,” said Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert and owner of The Protocol School of Texas.

Andrew Henderson, a flight attendant with 20 years of experience, seconds that notion.

“A simple ‘hello’ or ‘thank you’ or acknowledgment of our existence is polite. I think that’s some of the etiquette that’s being lost these days with all the noise-canceling headphones and devices we’re on. We’re all so busy that we forget that humans exist in the world,” said Andrew Henderson.

He is married to Rich Henderson and together they run the website and social media accounts Two Guys on a Plane, where “the sass is complimentary.”

Read more about the proper etiquette for flying

Travelers board a bus to LaGuardia Airport in New York City on Wednedsay.

It’s enough to give anyone already on edge about how to handle possible flight delays and cancellations yet another reason to pop an antacid or two: the prospect of delayed, lost or damaged baggage.

The concern is valid, and handing over checked suitcases can almost feel like a leap of faith these days.

Yet you’re not totally powerless. There are things you can do and strategies you can take to help avoid losing a bag or at least minimize the impact of delayed, lost, stolen and damaged luggage.

Book nonstop flights: If you’re really concerned about your checked luggage, prioritize nonstop flights or at least layovers with a generous amount of time, said Scott Keyes, the founder of flight deals and travel advice site Going.com (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights).

“Bags are most likely to get lost in that transfer between planes at connection, especially if there’s a tight connection.” And he said that’s doubly so for international flights with tight connections.

Consider discount airlines: He said full-service airlines are more likely to lose your bags than discount airlines, which tend to have more nonstop flights that have a lower likelihood of losing a bag in transit.

Keyes said he wouldn’t make a booking decision based solely on this, but it’s “an interesting side factor to consider.”

Read more about what you can do

A view of a Minion balloon during the 2022 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Known for its iconic performances and even more iconic balloons, the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a holiday staple. But the weather is a huge factor in determining if the world-famous balloons are cleared for takeoff or if they never get off the ground.

Fortunately, the weather looks like it will cooperate for Thursday’s spectacle in the heart of New York City.

The actual air temperature will be around 46 degrees when the parade kicks off Thursday morning with plenty of sunshine, but a slight breeze will make it feel more like 41 degrees. While this is a bit chilly, these temperatures are nearly spot on with what’s typical for late November in Manhattan. 

Winds will not be completely calm on Thursday morning, but will remain light enough for the beloved balloons to fly. Following a wind-driven disastrous parade in 1997, rules were introduced to ground balloons when wind speeds eclipse 32 mph. Wind gusts on Thursday morning are expected to top out at around 15 mph. 

This Thanksgiving travel period is expected to be the busiest in several years with an estimated more than 55.4 million people on the roads and in the skies, AAA says.

Many Americans across the US are heading to airports and train stations today while others are hitting the road ahead of tomorrow’s holiday.

Here’s a look at what the holiday commute looks like this year:

Travelers wait in a security line at Denver International Airport on Tuesday.

A person sleeps in a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday.

Heavy traffic moves along I-295 on Wednesday morning in Washington, DC.

Travelers walk to their flight gates at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on Tuesday.

Passengers wait to board their Amtrak trains at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

 Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, saw its busiest morning rush in TSA Atlanta history on Wednesday morning the airport posted in a status update on X.

As of 8 a.m. ET Wednesday, a record 32,029 passengers had been screened, the airport reported, adding that “the wait was 37 minutes and all checkpoint lanes were operational” during peak operation.

The airport also posted “No long lines! We’re wide open!” on a live video Wednesday morning, showing open lanes and passengers moving swiftly through TSA lines on Facebook.

Hartsfield-Jackson is the busiest airport in the world according to the airports website. 

Travelers check in for flights ahead of the Thanksgiving at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on Wednesday.

Weather issues and severe turbulence are disrupting Thanksgiving travel on Wednesday morning, particularly at busy Northeast airports.  

More than 1,000 flights have been delayed, according to the tracking site FlightAware — although fewer than 50 have been canceled.  

Low visibility caused the Federal Aviation Administration to slow flights into New York City’s LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports while it changed the runways for arriving and departing flights.   

Flights out of New Jersey’s Newark and LaGuardia were experiencing delays because of the high number of planes flying and weather issues.   

The Federal Aviation Administration said the weather could cause more disruptions at the New York, Boston and Philadelphia airports.    

The agency also reported “severe turbulence along the East Coast” that is disrupting its routes to Florida. That is causing North-South congestion in this heavy-volume region, and the FAA warned airlines to factor in disruptions when fueling up planes. The FAA had opened up airspace in this area typically reserved for military flights in anticipation of the heavy Thanksgiving volume.  

At Washington’s Reagan National airport, the Transportation Security Administration expects to hit capacity on Wednesday. The wait time in regular screening lanes hit 25 minutes, nearing the agency’s goal that passengers wait no more than 30 minutes.  

The FAA expects more than 49,600 flights today and the TSA expects to screen more than 2.7 million passengers. 

A storm will impact travel across the Rockies on Friday.

The weather likely won’t be the biggest obstacle for many of those brave enough to venture out in search of great deals this Black Friday, as dry conditions are expected across a majority of the US.

However, one part of the country will have to deal with adverse weather. A strengthening winter storm will bring snow to a wide swath of the Rockies Thursday night and Friday. 

Parts of the Denver area will likely have 1 to 3 inches of snow on the ground by the time the sun rises Friday morning, with more powder expected to fall throughout the day. It’ll be a similar wintry scene in the Salt Lake City area with several inches of snow expected in the foothills overnight Thursday and about an inch across the main metro. 

Snowfall totals will top out at or above a foot from late Thursday thorough Friday in the highest elevations of Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. 

Even though they won’t be contending with a winter storm, it’ll still be quite chilly for anyone out and about in the pre-dawn hours in the northern US.

Warm coats will be a necessity with temperatures in the 20s across much of the Northwest, Midwest and Northeast early Friday morning. It’ll be much colder across the north-central US, with temperatures in the teens and even the single digits Friday morning. 

The Snoopy balloon rounds Columbus Circle during the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York in 1987.

As far as holiday traditions go, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is about as essential to the cozy November holiday as turkey and stuffing.

While it’s had some interruptions and mishaps along the way, the show has still managed to go on almost every year for nearly a century.

Let’s look back at five historical facts about the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade:

1. It was originally a Christmas parade

The original store was about 20 blocks south on Sixth Avenue near 14th Street. Macy’s has been at its current flagship location, at Broadway and 34th Street, since 1902. Continuing expansion made the location what Macy’s called the “world’s largest store,” an entire city block with more than 1 million square feet of retail space.

In celebration, employees organized a Christmas parade in 1924 featuring “floats, bands, animals from the zoo and 10,000 onlookers,” according to a Macy’s history page. It also started way up at 145th Street. The parade concluded with Santa Claus and the unveiling of the store’s Christmas windows. Three years later, the Christmas Parade was renamed the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Macy’s didn’t invent the practice. Philadelphia has the oldest Thanksgiving Day parade: Its Gimbels Thanksgiving Day Parade, now the 6ABC - Dunkin’ Thanksgiving Day Parade, debuted in 1920.

2. The parade was first broadcast on the radio

You had to use your visual imagination when the first broadcasts of the parade took place in 1932 – that’s because they were on the radio.

The parade was first televised in 1946 in New York and then nationally on NBC the next year.

Read more fascinating facts about the parade

And here are photos from 10 decades of the parade

Current weather radar as of 8 a.m. EST.

The worst of the wide-reaching storm that slammed the East on Tuesday is slowly moving out to sea, but weather could once again disrupt Thanksgiving travel in some spots.

Here’s what to expect the rest of Wednesday:

Morning:

• Rain, heavy at times, will continue to drench southern New England. Winds along the coast are gusting 20 to 30 mph with gusts of up to 50 mph along the Massachusetts Cape. These winds could impact air travel at Boston Logan International Airport.
• Drenching rain and potential ponding on roadways, including Interstate 95, will persist across the Carolinas and far southeastern Virginia. 
• A wintry mix of rain, snow and ice will continue across Vermont and New Hampshire. 
• Snow will accumulate across Maine except for the coast, where chilly rain will fall.

Afternoon: 

• Snow will pile up in far northern Maine, but precipitation will change over to rain in the central part of the state in the afternoon as slightly warmer air arrives.
• Rain will come to an end across much of southern New England and New York, but it will be chilly and breezy across much of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
• Rain will taper off throughout the afternoon across the Carolinas.

Overnight: 

• A mix of rain and snow will slowly come to an end across Maine as the storm fully pushes away from the US.
• A few lake-effect snow showers are possible downwind of lakes Erie and Ontario.

A travel delays are possible due to adverse weather on Wednesday.

A customer refuels at a Chevron gas station in San Francisco, California, on November 21.

The national average price for a gallon of gas is “steadily declining” ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday when millions of Americans are expected to travel, according to AAA.

As of last Thursday, gas was less than $3 a gallon in at least 10 states, the organization said in a report, with the average price across the country dropping $0.26 from a month ago to $3.34.

Data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) found that demand for gas decreased at the beginning of November. That coupled with declining oil prices contributed to lower prices for drivers.

To save even more money, here are a few things drivers can do during the trip to save fuel, according to AAA:

• Slow down: Driving the speed limit can save you money. Cruise control to help maintain a constant speed and save fuel.
• Smooth operator: Avoid slamming down the gas and accelerating hard. Accelerating smoothly “allows the automatic transmission to upshift into higher gears sooner, reducing engine rpm and saving fuel.”
• Coast to a stop: As you approach a red light, take your foot off the gas and let your car coast down to a slower speed before braking.
• Service check: Keeping your car in good condition can also save you fuel. Things like underinflated tires can reduce fuel economy and can also be dangerous on your road trip. Take off things like roof racks and special carriers when you’re not using them to reduce the weight of your car. A heavier vehicle takes more fuel to accelerate.

Travelers pass through O'Hare Airport as Thanksgiving holiday travel heads into full swing on November 21, in Chicago, Illinois.

Computer glitches. Air traffic controller shortages. Awful weather. Holiday crunches. So many things can cause a flight to be delayed or canceled.

It’s no wonder travelers are wary about making it to their destinations on time – or at all. (And even if they make it, their lost luggage might not).

A storm this week is likely to snarl Thanksgiving travel, which is expected to be the busiest in many years for air travel.

Here’s some general advice for navigating a very complicated and frustrating system when flights are delayed or canceled.

Check the weather forecasts

Days ahead of the now-infamous December 2022 bomb cyclone, many US airlines offered their passengers a chance to change their flights for no fee.

When you know a major weather event is forecast, hop on those waiver offers quickly, said Scott Keyes, the founder of Going.com (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights). The early birds have the best choices of the remaining worms (that is seats and flights).

Avoid getting trapped at the airport

As bad as it is to find out your flight has been delayed for a long time, or worse, canceled, it’s better to find out from the comfort of home or a hotel room and make new arrangements from there.

“Check your flight status before you go the airport. Most of these notifications are not happening at the last minute,” said Keyes. “Save yourself the drive to the airport.”

Keyes told CNN Travel in an interview that you should sign up for airlines’ free text alerts on the status of flights when you buy your ticket. You should also download your carrier’s app.

You can also put your airline and flight number directly into a Google search bar to retrieve the status that way. That’s also handy for friends or family who are on standby to pick you up.

Keyes also suggested checking the website FlightAware to track larger flight trends across the country.

Read more tips on what to do

Some Thanksgiving dishes are cross-country staples – pumpkin pie, stuffing and of course, turkey recipes are popular in every state in November. But the all-American feast also shows off regional variety.

We dug into the Thanksgiving recipes that are uniquely popular to specific areas. Some are local specialties, while others are more classic recipes in our arsenal that are especially beloved by certain states.

Read on to find out what Thanksgiving recipe ranks highly in your neck of the woods; it may surprise you.

Alabama: Southern Red Velvet Cake

Food Network fans from Alabama flocked to a Southern favorite for their Thanksgiving spread. This triple-layer rendition is super moist and slathered in traditional sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting. Here’s the recipe.

Alaska: Classic Cheesecake

Coast to coast, cheesecake is an American favorite. That’s true even way up north in our 49th state, where Food Network Kitchen’s Classic Cheesecake recipe is highly ranked in November. This simple, creamy version is indulgent enough to satisfy the connoisseur and straightforward enough to please traditionalists. Here’s the recipe for the classic cheesecake.

Arizona: World’s Simplest Turkey

The residents of the Grand Canyon State opted for a no-fuss turkey that requires little attention – perhaps to give them more time to spend outdoors enjoying the warm November Arizona weather. Here’s the recipe.

Read about the favorites across the rest of America

Weather radar shows a wide-reaching storm bringing rain (blue and green) and wintry mix (pink) to the eastern US on Tuesday afternoon.

The wide-reaching storm impacting much of the eastern US has grounded flights headed to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The ground stop is in effect until 4:15 p.m. ET as a result of low clouds, according to the FAA. Rain and fog in the area caused visibility at the airport to reach just three quarters of a mile shortly after 3 p.m. ET.

All flights headed to Charlotte are being held at their origin airports.

Further delays are likely to mount through Tuesday evening as rain and gusty conditions approach additional travel hubs across the East Coast.

Travelers line up to pass through a security checkpoint at Denver International Airport on Monday.

This Thanksgiving travel period is expected to be the busiest in several years and a record-setter for air travel.

In all, AAA forecasts there will be 55.4 million people traveling, including more than 49 million Americans driving, between the Wednesday before Thanksgiving on November 23 and the Sunday after the holiday. The Transportation Security Administration is bracing for an all-time record number of passengers at America’s airports over the Thanksgiving travel rush.

AAA’s estimates make this the third-busiest Thanksgiving travel period in the more than two decades the organization has tracked it. This year ranks behind only 2019 and 2005 and is about 2% higher than last year.

AAA’s estimates don’t even count the many Americans who are expected to travel days ahead of the five-day peak period.

“The trend is that people are still traveling in very large volumes,” Aixa Diaz of AAA told CNN. “Post-pandemic, the demand for travel just continues to go up year after year, and this Thanksgiving is no exception.”

The surge of travelers may also be thanks to new post-Covid work trends. Office workers freed from sitting in a cubicle daily might have the flexibility to make Thanksgiving a weeklong trip or return the following week.

“Hybrid schedules and remote schedules have changed everything,” Diaz said. “Now people can leave for holiday travel at different times.”

Record airline traffic: Although departures might be staggered, Americans will be returning home en masse the Sunday after Thanksgiving. That will make it the busiest air travel day of the year, according to the aviation firm Cirium. It expects airlines to fly more than 3 million seats on 22,000 flights that day.

AAA, which looks at a five-day holiday period, expects it to be the busiest Thanksgiving for air travel since 2005, with a nearly 7% increase over last year.

In all, air carriers such as American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines expect to carry record-setting numbers of passengers over a nearly two-week period including the weekend before Thanksgiving and the Monday or Tuesday that follows Thanksgiving.

Read more on Thanksgiving travel.

A customer shops at a supermarket in Burlingame, California, on November 14.

Going for seconds this Thanksgiving won’t be so painful – for your wallet.

A Thanksgiving meal of 12 classic items for 10 people will cost $61.17 on average – a 4.5% drop from last year’s record-high average of $64.05, according to a new survey from the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) last week.

While this year’s Thanksgiving dinner is more affordable compared to last year, it is still up 25% from 2019, underscoring price increases since the pandemic.

The Consumer Price Index report published last Tuesday showed prices for food rose by 0.3% in October from the previous month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Food prices were up 3.3% from the same month a year ago.

But you can thank turkeys for the lower meal cost this Thanksgiving. The dinner’s centerpiece and most expensive item — a 16-pound turkey — costs $27.35 on average, down 5.6% from last year. And the AFBF says prices of turkeys are expected to drop further.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) told CNN that with Thanksgiving now one week away, promotions for turkeys have reached their peak and that prices will be further reduced due to these discounts. The USDA says controlling the spread of avian bird flu also helped lower prices.

An annual report by Wells Fargo found the industry added 2% to 3% more birds into barns to boost the Thanksgiving supply. A drop in input costs also helped, like the cost of refrigerated trucks to move supply around the country, according to Michael Swanson, chief agriculture economist with Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute.

Whipped cream, cranberries and pie crusts also saw drops from last year, with a half pint of whipping cream costing $1.73 on average, a 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries coming in at $2.10 and two frozen pie crusts retailing on average for $3.50.

Just a few items in the Thanksgiving meal rose in cost this year, including dinner rolls, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie mix, carrots and celery, the AFBF said.

Current weather radar shows a large storm impacting the eastern US.

Rain is falling across more than a dozen Eastern states Tuesday morning as a wide-reaching storm continues to expand. The steadiest rainfall as of mid-morning is centered from the central Appalachians into portions of the Great Lakes.

Travelers on parts of interstates 20, 40, 80, 85 and 90 are encountering wet roads while rain and low clouds cause visibilities to drop. Steady rain is also beginning to creep into the major metros of Atlanta and Washington, DC, where it may slow ground travel.

Delays across major air travel hubs in the East have been limited so far Tuesday morning. But steady rain and breezy conditions will continue to expand across the Eastern Seaboard through Tuesday afternoon and could lead to an increase in delays for the major travel corridor.

Travelers in and out of New York City are being told to take extra caution as a storm system closes in on the area with heavy rain and windy conditions.

A travel advisory has been issued by the city’s emergency management agency for Tuesday and Wednesday to cover the worst of the storm.

The heaviest rain will fall in the city Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning. Wind gusts up to 40 mph are possible with this system.

Travelers passing through any of the city’s three airports can expect longer lines and should prepare for potential flight delays that could happen through Wednesday morning. Drivers will have to deal with slick roads and may encounter minor flooding as well.

The bad weather will clear out Wednesday evening, bringing dry, but brisk conditions for Thanksgiving.

Following a tradition that dates back to 1924, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade is back in New York this year.

This year’s event is expected to feature 25 balloons, 31 floats and marching bands, Macy’s said. Some balloons might look familiar, like Spongebob, Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) and Bluey will all returning. Macy’s said the Pillsbury Doughboy and Kung Fu Panda ballons, among others, will also be in the parade first time this year.

Viewers will also spot some big-name artists performing during the parade, including Cher, Jon Batiste and Pentatonix.

Plus, no Thanksgiving parade is complete without appearances from 29 different clown crews and 11 marching bands, according to Macy’s parade lineup.

What to know about the route: There will be 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of public viewing along the route in 2023.

The parade kicks off at West 77th Street and Central Park West, but there is no public viewing there, the company said. The procession will head south along Central Park West.

Macy’s says great views are available for early risers along Central Park West from West 75th to West 61st streets. The parade turns onto Central Park South at Columbus Circle, where there’s no public viewing. It turns again onto 6th Avenue, heading south.

There’s another stretch of optimal viewing along 6th Avenue from West 59th to West 38th streets.

Restricted stretches to avoid run along 6th Avenue between West 34th and West 38th streets and on West 34th Street between 6th and 7th avenues. Access is limited there by the national television broadcast.

Finally, the parade tops in front of Macy’s Herald Square, but there is no public viewing there either.

Check out this map for the full route.

Carry-on baggage is scanned at a security checkpoint at Denver International Airport on Monday.

With millions of people expected to go through the Transportation Security Administration across the country this Thanksgiving travel season, experts suggest limiting your packing to a carry-on to be more nimble if there are delays.

But there are rules and regulations to what travelers can and cannot bring through security in a carry-on bag.

Say you’re in charge of bringing the pumpkin pie but need dry ice to get your baking masterpiece to another state. The Federal Aviation Administration said this would fly — with some stipulations.

Before you come to the airport, the FAA said you should make prior arrangements with the airline and be sure your dry ice package has vents to allow for the gas to be released. There are also restrictions on the weight of dry ice you can fly with.

While dry ice is a go, the FAA said travelers should leave other items at home or in their checked bags, including pepper spray or mace, some super glues and acetone — such as nail polish remover.

And if you plan on bringing your handy chainsaw to cut down the family Christmas tree, make sure you keep that in your checked bag, the FAA said. Though, some airlines may not allow engine-powered equipment in baggage if it has ever contained fuel.

TSA has its own rules on “prohibited items” and other security measures, separate from the FAA’s hazardous materials list. While some items overlap, it’s important to check both before flying.

You can find the rules for the items in your suitcase on the TSA website.

Remember, “whether it’s shampoo, peanut butter, or hand sanitizer, these items must be 3.4 oz or less when packed in a carry-on bag. All items need to fit within a single quart-size bag with your other travel-size liquids,” TSA said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The longer travel window this Thanksgiving holiday may make peak traffic times — the Wednesday before and Sunday after Thanksgiving — less busy than they could be. 

But AAA says that Wednesday afternoon is still the worst time to hit the roads, with traffic 80% higher in some areas, according to the traffic research firm INRIX.

Interstate 5 near Seattle and the Baltimore-Washington parkway near the nation’s capital will see peak traffic Wednesday afternoon, according to the INRIX estimates. It predicts traffic will peak Sunday afternoon on Interstate 10 near Houston and on the Garden State Parkway near New York City.

The best times to travel during the peak Thanksgiving period are on Wednesday morning and Sunday morning, AAA says.

“And yes,” she said, “it shortens the amount of time that you’re at your destination, but it also shortens the amount of time you’re in transit.”

A strong storm system is pushing its way across the eastern US ahead of Thanksgiving and is expected to deliver its most widespread and significant impacts on Tuesday, threatening to disrupt holiday travel with severe thunderstorms, drenching rain and snow.

More than 27 million people from Mississippi to Virginia are under severe storm risk on Tuesday, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

The storms will ramp up in the Southeast Tuesday morning after trekking through east Texas and the Lower Mississippi Valley on Monday, where the system delivered severe thunderstorms, heavy rains and a handful of reported tornadoes.

As Tuesday progresses, pouring rains and winds are expected to expand into the mid-Atlantic before dumping a wintry mix of rain, sleet and snow on parts of the Northeast.

Wet and windy conditions may cause travel headaches leading up to what is expected to be the busiest Thanksgiving travel period in years. The combination of rain and wind may lead to disruptions at airports in large hubs such as New York City, Boston and Washington, DC.

But there is still room for optimism. The storm’s impacts are forecast to subside Wednesday as it tracks off the East Coast, leaving much of the central and eastern US to enjoy a dry Thanksgiving day.

Read more about the Thanksgiving forecast here.

Travelers wait at a security checkpoint at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Tuesday.

The five-day holiday period this week and into the weekend is expected to be the busiest Thanksgiving for air travel since 2005, according to AAA. That’s a nearly 7% increase from last year, the organization said in its forecasts.

• American Airlines said it expects to carry more than a half million more passengers than last year. It expects to fly 7.8 million people over a 13-day period on more than 70,000 flights.
• United’s forecast calls for 5.9 million passengers flying on its planes over an 11-day surge period. The airline said that since recovery from the pandemic, “the holiday travel period is getting longer and demand is less concentrated on peak days.”
• Delta said it will carry as many as 6.4 million passengers over a 12-day period. In addition to the Sunday and Monday after Thanksgiving, the Friday before the holiday is also a peak day, the airline said.

The Transportation Security Administration is forecasting that its officers will screen 2.9 million people at airports nationwide on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 26. It could be the busiest air travel day of the year, according to the aviation firm Cirium.

Here are some things you can do to make holiday travel smoother:

Stay alert to flight changes and travel advisories.

Your airline’s app and apps like FlightAware will keep you up-to-date on changes. Check your airline’s website for travel alerts or advisories that may allow for free changes in cases of bad weather.

Be aware of what your airline will do in cases of long delays or cancellations.

Experts recommend checking the Department of Transportation’s dashboard outlining what the major US carriers will provide to affected passengers. There, travelers will be able to find information about which airlines provide meal vouchers or hotel accommodations in the event of an extended delay or cancellation.

Take carry-on luggage.

Scott Keyes, of Scott’s Cheap Flights, said not having a checked bag makes you more nimble for when things do happen — it’s much easier for airlines to put you on a different flight if they don’t have to track down your luggage, he said.

Have a contingency plan for carry-ons.

Crowded flights may mean that carry-on luggage — plus heavy coats and gifts — will fill up overhead bins fast. That means passengers may have to check their roller suitcases at the gate.

Be ready to quickly swap what you really need, including valuables, medication, etc., from your suitcase into a smaller bag that fits under your seat.