Rainy today, but likely dry, mild for Thanksgiving

Wet conditions could impact what’s usually a heavy travel day.

The Thanksgiving Day forecast for the area doesn’t look too bad, but a rainy day today could cause problems before the holiday arrives.

Today, which traditionally is a heavy travel day pre-Thanksgiving, will be wet and could present some trouble for motorists. Showers could drop three-quarters to an inch of rain by the end of the day, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington.

Winds of up to 30mph are possible, too, with a high temperature of 57 degrees.

Holiday travel is expected to be lighter this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has prompted stay-at-home advisories from many health experts.

The rain from today clears out for Thanksgiving, which is expected to be mostly cloudy and 53.

Theweather is expected to be even a bit better on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. Both of those days should

be partly sunny with highs in the mid 50s.

For anyone traveling again on Sunday, the forecast calls for a chance of showers with someperiods of partly sunny skies and a high near 52.

The normal high temperature around Thanksgiving time is in the mid to upper 40s. At least three times in the last decade, highs have only hit in the 30s for the holiday. That included temperatures that topped out at 33 degrees in 2013 and again in 2014.

A big more than half of Thanksgivings in the region have hadmeasurableprecipitation since records started being recorded in Dayton in 1893. But of those precipitation events, only 25 Thanksgivings have seen measurable snowfall.