Mother Nature is preparing some unsavory conditions for the millions of Thanksgiving travelers: Bad weather, snow, the coldest temperatures since February and a potentially devastating storm are rolling through the holiday weekend.

Here’s a daily look at what to expect this week.

Wednesday

Dry, calm and mostly sunny weather will shift eastward as the day progresses for last-minute travelers.

After a dry start to the day across the central United States, a storm will form over the southern Plains and Mississippi Valley in the afternoon. This storm will spread rain from the center of the country to the Appalachian Mountains overnight.

Rain could mix with snow at times in the evening from Illinois to northern Pennsylvania and southern New York. This would create favorable conditions for all early morning travelers on Thanksgiving.

Things are also looking good in the west for Wednesday after an active stretch of weather, and the dry stretch will continue throughout the busy travel period until at least early next week.

Heavy snow in western Colorado Tuesday evening is expected to become windy Wednesday afternoon. Higher elevations in western Colorado will see up to 2 to 3 feet of snow. Denver could see 1 to 3 inches of snow on Wednesday, but with temperatures hovering around 30 degrees, motorists aren’t expected to see a significant impact on travel.

As snowfall ends in the Rocky Mountains, the storm system will begin spreading rain into the Midwest and Mississippi Valleys Wednesday afternoon. Rain will move into the Ohio and Tennessee valleys Wednesday evening.

Thursday

With the exception of the East, much of the US will be dry but cold on Thanksgiving Day.

The rain will extend from the Southeast to the Northeast, with light snow in the interior portions of the Northeast and northern New England.

“I think Thursday will be our most chaotic day,” CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa said Tuesday afternoon. “Many of us will be looking at a few soggy turkeys this Thanksgiving” with travel issues along much of the East Coast.

The rain will not be heavy enough to cause flooding, but could lead to poor visibility for motorists at times. Many areas from the Gulf Coast to New England will receive less than an inch of rain.

Cloudy weather with low clouds could cause problems for East Coast airports at times.

Thursday will see wet, moist snow in the highest elevations of the Northeast. A few centimeters could accumulate in northern New York and New England by late Thursday evening.

Some areas will experience very cold temperatures.

“The first significant Arctic outbreak of the season will occur in the Northern Plains on Thanksgiving,” the Weather Prediction Center said.

Friday and the weekend

Dry but icy conditions will develop in the USA.

Morning minimum temperatures will be the coldest millions of people have experienced in almost a year. Maximum temperatures reach similar values ​​in late December or January.

The Thanksgiving storm will be mostly from the east by sunrise, but downwind areas of the Great Lakes will see snowfall as Arctic air moves over the record-warm lakes.

Meters of snow could accumulate in some areas over the course of a few days as it continues to fall into next week.

Wind gusts of 20 to 30 miles per hour will make for quite breezy conditions across the Midwest on Friday. These gusts could cause problems for busy airports in the region.

The The National Weather Service said Interstate 90 between Cleveland and Buffalo and Interstate 81 north of Syracuse may experience weather-related disruptions to highway traffic Friday through Monday due to lake snow.

“Travel could be very difficult to impossible in the hardest hit areas,” the weather service said. “Prognostic clusters become clearer as the event approaches.”

The National Weather Service office in Buffalo said some major roads could be closed due to very poor visibility and deep snow cover.

The coldest air since last winter is coming in

A widespread surge of cold, arctic air threatens much of the United States.

“Across the Northern Plains and Midwest, temperatures will likely be the coldest since mid-February, marking an abrupt change from what has been a record-breaking or near-record warm fall,” the Weather Prediction Center said.

Chicago will have a hard time reaching the mid-30s on Thanksgiving Day – a temperature more suitable for late December. Parts of North Dakota will barely reach the teens and feel more like January.

Millions from coast to coast will be cold through Friday. Low temperatures early Friday morning will fall below zero in the Dakotas and fall into the teens and single digits across much of the north-central United States.

High temperatures south to the Gulf Coast will likely be 10 or more degrees below normal and some locations may not reach the 60s.

Many locations across the central and eastern United States will experience some of the coldest conditions so far this season over the weekend.

Philadelphia hasn’t recorded a high in the 30s since February, but could get close to it on both Saturday and Sunday. The same goes for New York City.

Cold air will persist across much of the East as the calendar turns to December and could last into the first week of the new month, according to forecasts from the Climate Prediction Center.

CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward contributed to this report.

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