The fourth Thursday in November is just a few days away, and Mother Nature is preparing for wintry weather in Wyoming for Thanksgiving.

Turkeys Are Likely to Cause Their Own Road Hazards across the Cowboy State, but there will be much more than that to worry about for those traveling for the holidays, especially passing through the state’s vast empty spaces.

Wyoming residents should expect snow and noticeably colder temperatures this week, which could impact roads and other transportation in the region.

“I like to use the word ‘unsettled’ when there are multiple things going on,” said Don Day, a meteorologist at Cowboy State Daily. “The overall message is a cooling trend and a few systems that could cause problems across the state. This doesn’t look like a big snowstorm, but it will be enough to cause travel problems.

Risks of vacationing on the highway

Thanksgiving week will begin with a winter weather system that begins Sunday evening and continues through Monday, with snow falling primarily in western Wyoming. Then another system will bring snow to central, western and southern Wyoming on Tuesday and Wednesday, Day said.

Day said that while these winter weather systems have different areas of impact, they will both bring snow and cold to Wyoming’s busiest and most dangerous highway, Interstate 80. Anyone planning a Traveling on I-80 will want to anticipate road hazards and traffic delays.

“I think the I-80 corridor and adjacent stretch of road will be most impacted by these systems,” he said. “It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s enough to make the roads icy. I would definitely advise people to watch out for black ice during both events.

Winter weather has already taken its toll on I-80 in recent weeks. Accidents, slowdowns and stoppages have become commonplace as winter sets in, a situation that could be exacerbated by an influx of holiday travel.

Thanksgiving Day is shaping up to be calm but cold, at least in Wyoming. Day said there will be a noticeable drop in temperature over the holiday that will persist through the weekend, but the chances of snow, at least on Thanksgiving Day, are low.

Flying turkeys

Looking at the overall travel situation, Day believes that winter weather is causing delays and winter issues at airports across the United States, and that the Rocky Mountain region will be at the heart of this situation.

This means that people planning to fly from Denver International Airport or Salt Lake City International Airport may experience problems or delays. This could also be true for places people travel to.

“As we enter this very busy travel period, the greatest weather impacts will occur in the Rockies, Pacific Northwest and California,” he said. “If we were to look at airport hubs, I think anyone traveling in the Great Lakes and the Midwest should be watching to see what’s going on.”

Based on incoming systems, Day anticipates that airports in the Midwest and Northeast United States may have difficulty with departures and arrivals Tuesday and Wednesday due to colder temperatures and the possibility of snow. Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Detroit, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh will bear the brunt of the winter weather on Thanksgiving Day.

It’s still too early to determine anything for sure after Thanksgiving. Day said more snow could fall in the Northeast over the weekend, making day trips past Turkey more difficult.

Overall, Day doesn’t expect next week’s weather to be particularly intense or record-breaking. There will be “more weather” around Thanksgiving across the country.

“I see worse, that’s for sure,” he said. “But it certainly seems to be more weather around Thanksgiving, before and after the holiday, across the country, than we’ve had in the last couple of years.”

Travel time

Wyoming residents planning a long drive to Thanksgiving dinner will want to know when they should leave for the safest route. Day has the same answer for winter drivers, regardless of the holiday.

“What I tell people at this time of year is that the roads tend to be most dangerous from late afternoon and evening until late morning,” he declared. “If people ask me for advice about winter travel in this part of the country, I tell them to avoid times when it is dark and the risk of icy conditions is highest.”

This is not to say that I-80 and other highways are not and will not be dangerous during the day. But even with a very low angle of sunlight, some light is better than no light.

“You tend to find that the roads are not as bad during the day,” he said. “There are fewer situations where roads and highways may be icy. »

Day anticipates road hazards for Wyoming residents driving throughout Thanksgiving week, but wouldn’t hazard a guess as to how dangerous the roads will be. Based on the feedback he’s received, it’s all relative.

“I know people who drive through a snowstorm and say everything is fine,” he said. “But then we’ll get half an inch of snow and someone will say they barely made it through. The threshold for what they can handle on the roads is different for everyone, so I don’t want to make too general a statement.

Andre Rossi can be reached at [email protected].