Thanksgiving travel could be iffy

Thanksgiving travelers have been lucky the last two or three years.

There has been little inclement weather in the East, and even the trip home for travelers has been good, for the most part. That's unusual, considering it's late November, a stormy time of year in much of the United States.

It looks like the good luck has run out.

A strong low pressure system and a couple of associated fronts will bring an assortment of bad weather to a number of popular travel destinations for Carolinas residents. That will include rainy weather and thunderstorms in the Southeast and up the East Coast, a blizzard in the Upper Midwest, possible severe weather late Wednesday in the lower Great Lakes, and utterly nasty wintry conditions in the Northwest.

Seattle and Portland, where snow rarely falls, could get some of the white stuff this week.

It's a fairly complex and fluid situation, which means the forecast likely will change a lot as we get closer to Thanksgiving and the days after, but anyone planning to travel this week should be aware that there could be a few bumps along the way.

And the bad weather will mean delays at the airports ... as if the TSA's new security measures aren't enough of a potential headache.

In the Carolinas, the bad weather probably will hold off until late Thursday and Friday.

By late Monday or early Tuesday, we should have a better idea on the timing of all this messy weather.