FRANK ELTMAN, Associated Press
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — Thanksgiving travelers scrambled to change their plans and beat a storm expected to bring snow, slush and rain to the crowded Washington-to-Boston corridor Wednesday on one of the busiest, most stressful days of the year.
Forecasters said major Northeast cities will probably see moderate to heavy rain most of the day, though New York and other places were also gearing up for several inches of snow.
“Locally, expecting the highest snow totals in the higher elevations of Worcester County plus the Berkshires and Mondadnock region of southern NH,” said WBZ-TV Chief Meterologist Eric Fisher. “We should see 6-10 inches, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of those spots hit a foot. The heaviest snow is expected Wednesday afternoon and evening.”
“A sloppy storm either way,” said Fisher. “A rain/snow/sleet mix is likely in the 95 corridor and will likely sneak up toward the Pike near Boston for a brief time Wednesday afternoon. I’d expect most of the Pike and I-84/I-91 to be a very slow go from midday onward.”
“The good news is – this is a really progressive storm. Or in other words, it’s a fast mover,” he said. “It’ll already be heading out during the overnight and will be long gone by Thanksgiving morning with no travel issues expected at all on Turkey Day.”
“I always go on Tuesday to try to avoid the Wednesday rush, but it seems like more people are leaving on Tuesday now,” said Bill Fraser, a landscaper from Henniker, New Hampshire, who was taking a train from Boston to New Rochelle, New York, to visit his mother for Thanksgiving.
Jenna Bouffard, a New York City public relations executive headed in the opposite direction, changed her bus ticket from Wednesday to Tuesday.
“I don’t want to risk it,” she said. “I’d rather be safe than sorry, and if it doesn’t snow, then I just have an extra day at home with my family” in Uxbridge, Massachusetts.
Major airlines dropped their ticket-change fees for people flying in and out of the Northeast, allowing passengers to try to sneak on an earlier flight, though that appeared to be a challenging proposition, since most planes were filled.
By midafternoon Tuesday, just 14 flights within the U.S. were canceled for Wednesday, according to tracking service FlightAware. That’s well below the norm for even a sunny day. United said it was planning to cancel 100 flights Wednesday in and out of Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey — a small fraction of the traffic there. Delta planned to scrub 57 flights.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty airports, said it was lining up extra staff and snow removal equipment in the event of a heavy snowfall. Crews were prepared to work in 12-hour shifts if necessary, officials said.
At Newark Airport, retiree Sue Hansen, who lives in Roscoe, Illinois, arrived early on Tuesday to avoid the rush ahead of a big family reunion near Morristown, New Jersey.
“I’ve traveled the day before, and it was no good,” she said, describing long lines, delays and lots of crowds. “This wasn’t bad at all.”
In Vermont, public safety officials warned that travel could be treacherous. Up to 16 inches of snow was forecast in some areas.
There was a bright spot in the forecast for residents of western New York, which last week saw up to 7 feet of snow.
As thousands of travelers head home for Thanksgiving, Peter Pan Bus Lines is preparing for one of its busiest travel periods of the year. Peter Pan buses will carry approximately 150,000 passengers through Monday and has added departures to its regular route service during the Thanksgiving travel period.
Peter Pan expects that many college students throughout the Northeast will travel via bus to get home for the holidays. The company estimates that it transports close to 1 million college students during the year from large campuses such as UMass Amherst and major hubs such as Boston South Station.
Associated Press Writers Jill Colvin in Newark, N.J., Denise Lavoie in Boston, and Scott Mayerowitz and Karen Matthews in New York contributed to this report.
