Thanksgiving is just around the corner.
This year, the holiday falls on Thursday, Nov. 23. And while it’s too early to offer a specific forecast for the holiday weekend, the Farmers’ Almanac has taken shot at a general outlook.
The Almanac has issued its official nationwide forecast for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend: Thursday, Nov. 23 through Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023.
The forecast for the Northeast (New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C.) calls for fair but cold conditions.
Rain is expected to clear just ahead of the holiday, hopefully without impacting the Macy’s Day Parade in NYC.
If you’re traveling outside the Northeast for the holiday, here’s what the Almanac predicted for other areas around the country:
- Southeast (Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Florida) calls for fair but cold conditions for the Thanksgiving holiday.
- Great Lakes and Midwest (Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin): Rain and maybe snow should clear out by the holiday weekend.
- Northern tier of states (Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana): Light snow in the Rockies will be heading east for Thanksgiving. Then there could be brief clearing before heavy snow moves into the Nebraska and Dakotas region.
- South-central states (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico): Clear and cold with storms approaching from the west.
- Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho): A Pacific storm could bring rain and wet snow for Thanksgiving.
- Southwest (California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona): Rain is possible on Thanksgiving with only a brief respite of fair weather before stormy weather arrives.
See the Almanac’s Thanksgiving forecast in full here.
The Week 3-4 outlook from the Climate Prediction Center suggest most of the U.S. could have near-average temperatures around Thanksgiving time — except for the Southwest.Climate Prediction Center
The National Weather Service doesn’t issue forecasts out past seven days, but NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center offers general outlooks for temperature and precipitation for several weeks into the future.
The temperature outlook for Nov. 11-24 shows that most of the country is expected to have equal chances of above- or below-average temperatures around the time of Thanksgiving.
The precipitation outlook shows equal chances of above- or below-average precipitation across much of the U.S. for the Nov. 11-24 period.
The exceptions are the Northeast, which could be drier than average, and parts of Florida, the Pacific Northwest and the Midwest, which could have more precipitation than average.
