Travel Alert: Storm Looks To Hit During Peak Holiday Travel

AAA projects 98.6 million Americans will journey 50 miles or more from home during the year-end holiday season at the same time forecasters are are monitoring a giant storm system that could wallop an area from the midwest to the Eastern Seaboard with heavy rains and wind gusts of 50 miles per hour - just in time for peak holiday travel.

Delays in air travel are expected. according to forecasters.

Rain and potential flooding are expected to not only snarl ground traffic, but the weather system will likely cause air travel delays, which weather.com called “very serious.”

A strong low-pressure storm system will pass west of southern New England on Christmas Eve into Christmas morning, according to the National Weather Service. The storm will bring heavy rainfall with the potential for some urban flooding. There could be a period of 35 mph to 50 mph wind gusts Christmas afternoon into Thursday night over the entire region.

The Dec. 24 Boston rainfall record is 1.33 inches set in 1994. The record high on that day is 61 degrees in 1996. The warm, rainy Christmas Eve is expected to challenge both records, according to 7News’ Bri Eggers.

In New York, the forecast calls for rain beginning on Tuesday, thunder joining the mix on Christmas Eve and the heavy wind arriving Christmas Day.

There is still some uncertainty with the storm system, according to the National Weather Service, so stayed tuned to Peabody Patch for weather and traffic updates.

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