Christmas travel is getting underway this weekend, but the FOX Forecast Center is tracking a powerful pre-holiday storm that will impact millions in at least 20 states as it slides up the East Coast this weekend and into early next week, slamming the region with heavy rain and strong wind.
So, if you’re among the more than 115 million Americans expected to travel 50 miles or more this holiday season, you’ll want to prepare for delays on the roads and at some of our nation’s busiest airports if your travels take you to the East.
“Timing is everything,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Craig Herrera said.
“When you’re talking about Sunday, Monday, this is when we’re watching all of this energy coming together.”
And the impacts from the storm will vary as it slides up along the Interstate 95 corridor.
“This is really one of those systems that is going to produce a whole lot of rain up and down the I-95 corridor,” Herrera continued.
“You’re talking rain, more of it, from Florida clear up into New England.”
The storm system responsible for bringing snow to the Rockies and rain to Texas will continue to sweep across the Plains and Midwest this week.
As it does so, it’s expected to spawn a low-pressure system in the Gulf of Mexico, which will bring heavy rain, flash flooding, coastal flooding, and strong winds to Florida and parts of the Southeast.
That low-pressure system will then move across the Sunshine State and remain well inland while it slides up the East Coast into early next week, bringing with it heavy rain, a flood risk, and gusty winds.
There’s also the possibility that cold air could get wrapped up on the back side of the system as it pushes farther north, producing snow in parts of the Northeast and northern New England.
At the region’s busy airports, rain combined with low clouds will slow down arrivals and departures, and the wind will also create issues for planes attempting to take off or land on some runways depending on their direction.
“We will easily have wind gusts that are 40, 45 mph, depending on the position of the low,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said.
“That could actually increase the wind in the forecast. That’s probably the most volatile variable in this when it comes to placement.”
The placement of the low will dramatically change who sees the strongest wind gusts from this storm and where the strongest winds will set up.
“This is going to be the part that you really want to focus in on as we work our way through the weekend,” Merwin continued.
The highest rainfall totals will likely be found in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic as the coastal storm advances northward.
Between 2-3 inches is expected across much of the area.
However, parts of the Carolinas, Georgia and the Florida Panhandle could pick up between 3-5 inches by the time the storm moves out of the region on Monday.
Pockets of higher rain totals are possible in areas like Savannah and Brunswick in Georgia.
A flash flood risk on Sunday into Monday includes southern Virginia, most of North Carolina and South Carolina, and areas of northeastern Georgia.
The Northeast and New England won’t be immune to the stormy action, as major cities like Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston could see 2-3 inches of rain.
In addition, if cold air does get wrapped around the back end of the storm, snow could fall in the higher terrain of the interior Northeast, the Appalachians and northern New England.
The FOX Forecast Center warns that this storm could create major travel disruptions on the roads in the eastern U.S., starting as early as Saturday.
“It’s a stretch that is so popular for driving,” Merwin said.
“I mean, the 95 corridor on any weekend can get slammed. But you put in the fact that next week is the last full week before Christmas, and also we’re finishing up Hanukkah. You know, it’s going to be a lot of people that are trying to drive up and down the East Coast.”
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