It’s shaping up to be a cold and wet Thanksgiving weekend in the St. Louis region, with a mix of snow and rain likely.
The National Weather Service in St. Louis is forecasting a 50% chance of up to an inch of snow Friday evening heading into Saturday. This comes as AAA predicts a record-breaking travel over the holiday weekend, with nearly 82 million people projected to go at least 50 miles from home, 73 million of them by car.
Melissa Delia, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in St. Louis, encourages drivers to take extra caution when traveling to and from their holiday destinations.
“Leave a little bit earlier to leave a little bit more time, leave extra space between you and the next person on the roadway, know the weather of the route that you’re navigating,” she said.
Ground and road temperatures are expected to be warm, which could have an effect on snow buildup.
“Right now especially in the St. Louis region we’re expecting ground and road temperatures to be pretty warm,” said Delia. “So by and large we’re expecting accumulations to mainly occur on grassy elevated surfaces, maybe some bridges and overpasses that are untreated.”
The Quincy area could also get 2 inches or more of snow accumulation.
The skies above St. Louis are also going to be busy, with Lambert St. Louis International Airport expecting the highest number of travelers in its Thanksgiving holiday tracking period in years.
Projected numbers from the Transportation Security Administration estimate nearly 219,000 passengers will pass through TSA checkpoints in St. Louis between last Friday and Monday, December 1. That’s about 17,000 more passengers than last year.
