These busy airports could be hit with bad weather this weekend, National Weather Service says

(NEXSTAR) – Weather conditions were pretty tame over the busy Christmas travel weekend, but we might not all be so lucky over New Year’s.

In an updated forecast, National Weather Service meteorologists said airports on both coasts could be impacted by inclement weather this weekend.

But first, the good news: “A sprawling area of high pressure will keep most of the country dry,” the forecast reads. That should make conditions clear for most people hitting the roads this long weekend.

The exception is the lower Mississippi Valley to the Appalachians, which is expected to see some rain, according to NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center. On the other side of the country, in the Cascades and the northern part of the Sierra Nevada, snow is possible on New Year’s Day. “However, the impact on travel should be low, as the snow is likely confined to elevations above the mountain passes and major interstates,” the forecast reads.

For people heading to an airport over the long weekend, there could be some delays.

Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego airports may be hit with low cloud and poor visibility on Monday and Tuesday, which could prevent flights from landing or taking off, the National Weather Service said.

On the East Coast, it’s not clouds that should be the issue. Rather, high wind gusts could create issues in places like Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and New York.

“But overall, air travel looks good for the first days of 2024,” the national travel forecast concludes.

For millions of people traveling over the holiday, this year has already proven much better than last. Only 157 flights within, into or out of the U.S. had been canceled, and 2,111 were delayed as of late afternoon on Christmas Day, according to the tracking website FlightAware.

This holiday season, U.S. airlines prepared for massive waves of travelers by hiring thousands of pilots, flight attendants, and other workers to avoid the delays and cancellations that marred travel in 2022, culminating with the Southwest Airlines debacle that stranded more than 2 million people.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.