Heavy snow hits the Midwest and Northeast

Parts of the country will celebrate a white Thanksgiving this year as a winter storm moving toward the Northeast is expected to blanket parts of the Midwest and Northeast with snow Thursday evening, potentially upsetting post-holiday travel plans.

The Thanksgiving Day storm will unleash rain and snow on New Englanders as they sit down for turkey dinner on Thursday. Parts of New York west of the Hudson Valley and southern Vermont could see the heaviest snowfall, according to the National Weather Service.

Cold air currents moving eastward could also trigger heavy “lake effect snowfall” starting Thursday evening in areas of the upper Midwest and Northeast, including Detroit, Pittsburgh and Buffalo, New York, AccuWeather forecasters said.

Marchers in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade wore raincoats and ponchos Thursday morning as a chilly rainstorm pelted the New York City metropolitan area.

According to the weather service, the Midwest could experience “the coldest air of the season so far.” Temperatures in the Northern Plains are expected to fall to their lowest since mid-February, a sudden departure from this year’s near-record fall.

Some areas, including Minnesota, the Twin Cities and the Dakotas, could experience dangerously icy wind chills as low as minus 40 degrees.

More:The 10 Best Thanksgiving TV Episodes of All Time, From ‘Friends’ to ‘The Sopranos’

“Life-threatening situation” on some highways

The snow could cause delays for leisure travelers and create dangerous conditions on major highways.

In blizzard-like conditions, visibility could drop to near zero, putting drivers at risk of pileups or drifting off the road, AccuWeather forecasters wrote. Drivers on sections of Interstate 81 and 90 that run through New York could find themselves in a “life-threatening situation.”

Up to 3 inches of snow could fall hourly on major highways that skirt the Great Lakes, including Interstates 79, 81, 86 and 90, according to AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter.

Snow was already spreading across California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Colorado Rockies earlier this week. The snowfall closed several roads around Denver and Boulder, Colorado, and delayed some flights at Denver International Airport.

But the snow is good news for skiers — Western New York’s popular resorts are likely to get their first big helping of good powder this season.

The inaugural day of skiing at Holiday Valley Ski Resort in Elicottville, New York, about 50 miles south of Buffalo, is expected to begin next Wednesday after days of heavy snowfall are expected to hit the area, the resort announced Tuesday.

More:A reason for every NFL team to be thankful on Thanksgiving

“Guess what we’re preparing for… SNOW!” The Buffalo Ski Center announced Wednesday.

The Arctic cold could affect 196 million people

As the first major Arctic cold of the season sweeps across the country, around 196 million people are expected to wake up to below-freezing temperatures on Thanksgiving, according to Weather.com.

Wind chills will likely fall below zero across the northern Plains and upper Midwest, according to the weather service. In the Dakotas, temperatures could remain below minus 15 degrees, raising the risk of hypothermia and frostbite.

High temperatures could even remain below freezing in some colder parts of the Northeast, including the Great Lakes, the Northeast and the Ohio Valley, Cory Baggett, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center, told USA TODAY on Monday.

The coldest temperatures could last into early next week, but below-average temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic could last through Dec. 9, Baggett said.

Rain hits New York

The Thanksgiving Day storm hit large parts of New York with freezing rain.

According to the State Weather Risk Communication Center in New York, as of 8 a.m., while snow fell in higher areas, up to 5 inches (12 cm) of rain fell in lower parts of the state. By 10 p.m., as the storm exits the state, New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley could gain at most another three-quarters of an inch.

Meanwhile, parts of the Southeast could experience a few strong to possibly severe thunderstorms, according to the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center. Parts of southern Georgia and Alabama and northern Florida are at low risk.

“One or two brief tornadoes could occur,” the center’s forecast said.

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Heavy snow hits the Midwest and Northeast

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