Traveling for Thanksgiving? These are the best, worst times to travel this year

Have travel plans for Thanksgiving? Getting an early start may be a good idea if you want to avoid the heaviest precipitation, not to mention packed roadways.

Traveling home after the holiday may be less complicated, according to the National Weather Service, with dryer — and possibly colder — weather in the forecast for Thanksgiving day and the weekend to follow.

As far as traffic goes, 2023 is expected to be the third busiest Thanksgiving since 2000, according to AAA, with over 55 million travelers on the move, a 2.3% increase over last year.

Most people will take to the highways to reach their destination, with Wednesday the busiest travel day, AAA said.

Wednesday afternoon, from 2-6 p.m., is the least convenient time period to hit the road, analysts advise. This coincides with what may be the sloppiest period, weather-wise.

“Around this time frame, the heaviest rain from the newly-formed storm could be soaking a portion of the East Coast, especially in parts of New England,” AccuWeather said. “Such conditions would severely delay travel, no matter what mode of transportation is utilized.”

The three days after Thanksgiving are the next busiest around the holiday, AAA said.

“Travelers should be prepared for long delays, especially in and around major metros,” said Bob Pishue, transportation analyst at INRIX. “Knowing when and where congestion will build can help minimize holiday traffic frustrations. We advise drivers to use traffic apps, local DOT notifications, and 511 services for real-time updates.”

National Weather Service: 'It's not going to be high and dry'

While the forecast could change this far out, Binghamton-based National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Tentinger predicted, “It’s not going to be high and dry" for the holiday week as some earlier forecasts seemed to indicate.

As of Friday morning, the National Weather Service forecast calls for rain beginning after 1 p.m. on Tuesday, with the chance of showers fairly high throughout much of the Southern Tier, including 90% for Binghamton and 80% to the west, in Hornell.

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“(We) will definitely see some precipitation on the front end (of the week), Tuesday and Wednesday,” Tentinger said.

Tuesday and Wednesday could be “messy,” Tentinger said, with rain or even a mix of rain and snow, although temperatures are expected to remain above freezing during daylight hours.

The temperature could dip below 32 degrees Wednesday night, the National Weather Service said.

Dryer weather on Thanksgiving day

Thanksgiving Day and and the weekend after the holiday looks "relatively dry overall,” Tentinger said.

"Once you get to Thursday, it should be on the backside of whatever system rolls through," he added.

The Binghamton National Weather Service forecast for Thanksgiving includes partly sunny skies with the high near 35.

As far as air travel goes, Tentinger said at this point, it does not look like the type of weather system that will result in massive delays or cancellations for people catching flights.

But he cautioned to stay tuned as the holiday gets closer.

"There is a lot of uncertainty for the days four through seven time-frame, it’s just so far out, that any minor changes in the track or certain things in the weather pattern” can upend what was expected, he said.

This is a developing story and will be updated as events warrant.

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This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: Traveling from Binghamton for Thanksgiving? These times could be messy