Winter storms could disrupt travel in the Northeast this Thanksgiving weekend

• Winter storms may disrupt Thanksgiving travel in the Northeast US this year.
• Heavy snowfall is forecast in New England and Great Lakes.
• Lake effect snow could bring up to five feet of snow in northern New York.

Winter storms could disrupt Thanksgiving weekend plans for some of the record 80 million Americans who traveled more than 50 miles from home this year.

Heavy snowfall is expected in New England through Friday morning and areas along the Great Lakes through Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

Parts of New England could see up to one foot of fresh snow by Friday morning. And over the weekend, a lake-effect snowstorm downwind of Lake Ontario could total up to five feet of snow in northern New York. The lake effect snow is expected to cover from Cleveland to Buffalo.

The lake effect snow is expected to start over the weekend and will likely continue through the next week.

"You can often get thundersnow with it and extremely high rates of snow, so it's a spectacular thing but a relatively small-scale thing," William Churchill, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, told Business Insider.

Thundersnow occurs when there is lightning during a snowstorm.

The vast majority of Thanksgiving travelers travel by car, according to the American Automobile Association. This year, 71.7 million people were expected on the road.

The number of Americans expected to travel more than 50 miles for Thanksgiving this year was up from pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, there were 77.8 million travelers, according to AAA.