Holiday Travel Forecast: Potential Problem Areas This Week

W​hether you're heading home after the holidays or going somewhere fun to celebrate New Years Eve, travel is underway for millions, and the weather may be a factor. For some, snow, rain, even a little ice could disrupt your plans.

Here's what you need to know in order to make the safest trip possible.

Thursday And Friday

• S​outh, Midwest: Rain and thunderstorms will spread from the central and Southern Plains Thursday north into the Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley and Great Lakes Friday. Severe t-storms are possible in the South, but locally heavy downpours and wet roads appear to be the main travel concern in these areas.
• West: Lingering snow Thursday is expected in the Rockies from Idaho and Montana to Utah and Colorado. Late Thursday night into early Friday, another windy, wet Pacific storm will plow into Washington, Oregon and Northern California with rain and mountain snow. Yet another system will arrive in the Northwest late Friday night.
• Potential airport weather delays: Dallas, Houston and Seattle (Thursday); Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle (Friday)

This Weekend

• East, Midwest: Rain in the Midwest and South Saturday will spread to much of the East on Sunday. T-storms are possible in the South, but locally heavy downpours and wet roads appears to be the main travel concern in these areas.
• West: Rain and mountain snow will continue from Northern California, Oregon and Washington into parts of the Rockies. Flooding and landslides are most possible in Northern California and southwestern Oregon.
• Potential airport weather delays: Chicago, New Orleans, Seattle and San Francisco (Saturday); Washington, Philadelphia, NYC, Boston, Charlotte, Orlando, Miami, Seattle and San Francisco (Sunday)

Jonathan Belles has been a graphics meteorologist and writer for weather.com for 8 years and also assists in the production of videos for The Weather Channel en español. His favorite weather is tropical weather, but also enjoys covering high-impact weather and news stories and winter storms. He's a two-time graduate of Florida State University and a proud graduate of St. Petersburg College.