Winter weather and a potential government shutdown could put a damper on holiday travel

By Robert Shackelford and Hanna Park, CNN

(CNN) — As Christmas approaches and an expected record number of people across the country set off on their journeys, they may encounter travel trouble: winter weather combined with a possible government shutdown that could leave TSA agents and air traffic controllers working without a paycheck.

While major winter storms are not expected in the days leading up to Christmas, several minor storms could create challenges for last-minute shoppers and travelers alike.

More than 119 million people are expected to travel at least 50 miles from their homes between Saturday and New Year’s Day, AAA projects, which would make it the busiest year-end holiday travel season on record. And TSA said it expects to screen nearly 40 million people between now and January 2, with the busiest days expected to be today, December 27 and December 30.

But the TSA agents screening all those travelers and the air traffic controllers directing the planes could be working through the rush without a paycheck if a deal isn’t reached to fund the federal government by midnight Friday.

The travel crush, however, could help put pressure on lawmakers to break the impasse in Washington. In 2019 a 35-day government shutdown was brought to an end after 10 air traffic controllers decided to stay home. Those absences temporarily shut down travel at New York’s LaGuardia airport and caused delays in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

And as the human-made threat of a funding crisis looms, Mother Nature is preparing to deliver a dose of winter weather that could impact travel in parts of the country.

A storm that moved through the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest earlier this week is heading for the Northeast Friday, bringing the possibility of a few inches of snow for interior portions of the Northeast and a chance of rain and light snow for major metropolitan areas.

The storm will begin to impact major metropolitan areas in the Northeast by Friday morning and should last into Saturday. Washington, DC, New York City, Philadelphia and Boston could see rain mixed with snowfall most of Friday before it transitions to solely snow Friday night into Saturday. Skies should clear by Saturday afternoon. Snowfall for these major cities shouldn’t exceed an inch, while interior portions of the Northeast and parts of the Appalachians could see up to 6 inches of snowfall.

Cold accompanying this storm will bring the coldest temperatures of the season to parts of the East over the weekend.

High temperatures for some will drop 30 degrees from highs earlier this week. Atlanta’s high on Saturday is 47 degrees, down from 73 degrees on Wednesday. The high in Raleigh, North Carolina, hit 73 degrees on Wednesday, but will continue to plunge through the weekend to a high in the low 40s on Sunday.

Cities in the South like Atlanta, Dallas, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee, could experience night temperatures at or below freezing over the weekend. Planes were being deiced at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Friday morning, the FAA reported. New York City hit a high of 53 degrees on Wednesday, but will see their high drop below freezing on Sunday, with a low temperature in the teens. This cold will not be as long standing in the Northeast as it has been in the Midwest and will start to warm by early next week, particularly on Christmas. Minneapolis has been below freezing since Monday and isn’t expected to stay crawl above freezing until next Monday with a high of 34 degrees.

Travelers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport have already felt the effects of the winter weather as two ground stops were ordered there Thursday due to snow and ice.

“We left our house around 9 a.m. exactly and it was supposed to be a 30-minute trip, but it turned into an hour,” traveler Sam Lilija told CNN affiliate WCCO.

Chicago O’Hare International Airport was put under ground stop for 45 minutes early Friday morning because of the dangerous weather conditions.

As this storm moves offshore and precipitation wraps up Saturday, the first of a series of new storm systems will begin to impact much of the West Coast, bringing rainfall chances from San Francisco to Seattle.

This first storm could bring higher elevation snowfall and valley rain through the Rockies and eventually move into the Midwest and Great Lakes to start Christmas week. Cities like Chicago and Detroit could see a chance of rain and snow on Monday.

This storm will head east across the Great Lakes Monday and enhance chances of rainfall from the Southern Plains to the Ohio River Valley. There will be a chance of rain and snow for the Northeast. Chances of rainfall shift slightly east for Christmas Day, from Louisiana to Massachusetts.

The second western storm should follow in the footsteps of the first and move onshore Christmas Eve. It could bring higher elevation snowfall and valley rain across the West Coast Tuesday before moving into the Intermountain West Wednesday and head into the Central US by Thursday.

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