AAA is estimating that nearly 120 million people will be traveling by air or vehicle for the Christmas and Hanukkah holidays. And some are bracing to run into typical winter weather.

Some prognosticators predict the 2025 winter holiday travel period will be a record-setting end to what has been an incredibly eventful travel year for the traditional holidays such as Fourth of July end Thanksgiving.

Rain and snow have been affecting the Pacific Northwest for the last several days, and the Great Lakes region has experienced a significant drop in temperature. There has already been significant delays in San Diego because of fog and in Boston because of snow and ice.

On Christmas Eve (Tuesday), some areas could see as much as one to three inches of snow. Several airlines, including American and Delta, have started to issue travel waivers. Washington, Oregon and northern California, the Midwest and areas around the Great Lakes and northern New England could wake up to a white Christmas, according to the National Weather Service.

Traveling over the next few days?
Snow is expected across the higher elevation in the western U.S., Great Lakes, and the Northeast.
Get in the know before you go – https://t.co/VyWINDkBnn! pic.twitter.com/yYXqIhiRGc

— National Weather Service (@NWS) December 23, 2024

And expect delays no matter what mode of transportation or where you are traveling.

David Pekoske, administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, said: “We’ve recently added over 600 new officers to support the surge, but it’s still going to take time to make your way through the airport.”

There were expected to be a combined total of nearly 100,000 flights on Sunday and Monday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. 

The airline tracking service, FlightAware, said there were already 23,000 delays since Friday.

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