Rain Slows Holiday Travel
By Steven Strouss
Pack your patience when hitting the road this holiday season. A large storm system is snarling travel from the Mississippi Valley all the way to New England. Rain will continue heavy at times into the morning hours and a Flash Flood Watch has been issued for parts of the region through Wednesday afternoon.
Delays have already begun at the Phila. Intl. airport where some travelers have been waiting for an extra 2.5 hours to board their flights. Meanwhile, traffic has been crawling most of the day along the major highways in the area and even some trains are running behind schedule because of the heavy rain.
The low pressure system responsible for this mess is still out in the Ohio Valley. Total rainfall amounts of 1.5-2.5 inches are expected with some local amounts up to 3 inches. The storm will move out quickly tomorrow afternoon and a much drier air mass will move in for Thanksgiving Thursday.
So far this year, Philadelphia has received a record rain amount of 57.55 inches and that number continues to grow. The old record for the wettest year was 56.45 inches set in 1996.
