Many people think Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year. I mean, why not, the entire holiday revolves around food. While it is a great day, it can also be stressful fighting traffic and dealing with relatives you haven’t seen in 12 months. If you add in bad weather, the experience of it being a great holiday can turn sour. The good news is this year the weather will not only cooperate locally, but across most of the eastern part of the country.

Snow and Cold-Thanksgiving 2014
It’s worth remembering or perhaps forgetting the storm we were having last year at this time. A coastal low pressure system moved up along the coastline and brought a white Thanksgiving to much of New England.

The storm was quite bad in northern New England with widespread power outages across Maine. We were going to head to our cottage in Harpswell post-Thanksgiving, but with temperatures in the single numbers and no heat, that idea was quickly squelched.

Dry Pattern
This year, high pressure, not low is in control of the weather. This keeps storms at bay and brings generally dry conditions to the region. I see a nice warming trend for tomorrow and Friday before it turns colder again over the weekend.

Traveling this afternoon and evening will be uneventful weather-wise. Traffic will be heavy, but Tuesday has turned into the bigger travel day since so many people are now off on Wednesday. Solar glare is a problem during the afternoon if you are headed south and west so don’t forget your sunglasses. The sun sets before 4:30 so at least the glare won’t last very if you leave later in the day.

Football Weather
There are lots of football games tomorrow morning and all of them will play in nearly perfect conditions. The ground will likely still be frozen early, but thawing out as the morning progresses.

High temperatures will reach the lower 50s across southern Maine and the upper 40s in the capital region and north of Rockland along the coast. If you are headed south, expect temperatures further into the 50s with a blend of clouds and sunshine.

Friday is of course a big shopping day. Get to the malls early if you want to avoid the heaviest crowds and then be able to take advantage of the spring-like warmth in the afternoon. High temperatures may approach 60 in southern York County, but will easily reach the mid-50s in greater Portland.

Please follow me on Twitter @growingwisdom for more updates.
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Colder For The Weekend
A cold front brings a brief shower on Friday night and then ushers in much colder air once again for the final days of November. High temperatures both Saturday and Sunday will struggle in the lower 40s along with a hard freeze each morning.

There may be some storminess early next week, but the models are very unsure how the atmosphere will unfold. The milder than average pattern favors rain in these early December storms, but ski areas could still end up on the snowy side of the coin. I’ll have more on this possibility in the coming days. Have a great Thanksgiving.

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