Weather roundup: Record snowfall, heavy rain make for stressful Thanksgiving Eve

No serious injuries were reported in the traffic incidents, which occurred after the snow was transitioning to all rain, causing slushy road condition in certain parts.

The Thanksgiving travel crunch has begun just as heavy rain and record snowfall in some parts descended on New England, unleashing a slew of early morning spin-outs and other crashes and adding yet another layer of stress for the millions of people flooding the roadways and airports.

Luckily, the bulk of the rain will end Wednesday afternoon as the storm moves out, making way for a partly cloudy but dry Thanksgiving, according to the National Weather Service.

Morning temperatures should hit the mid to upper 40s in time for the morning football game kickoffs Thursday at area high schools, before inching into the lower 50s throughout the Boston area and the rest of Southern New England.

“Once the rain departs (Wednesday night), Thanksgiving will be a fairly drier day” with a slight breeze, said Joe Dellicarpini, a meteorologist with the weather service in Norton.

Strong wind gusts of 30 to 40 miles per hour forecast for interior sections, with some topping 60 miles per hour along the coast, will subside throughout the day.

The weather service said winds began cranking in the morning hours as a strengthening low pressure over Long Island Sound tracked northeast into the I-95 corridor of Rhode Island & eastern Massachusetts Wednesday afternoon.

The winds could make Wednesday’s high in the low 50s “feel 5 to 10 degrees cooler,” said Bill Leatham, a meteorologist with the weather service. The normal range for November for Southern New England is in the 50s.

A wind advisory has been issued for the North Shore, South Shore, Cape and the islands into the afternoon.

Precipitation totals so far for Wednesday have been in the low range, up to three-quarters of an inch throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. About 7 inches of snow fell in West Brattleboro, Vermont, and nearly 4 inches was reported in New Hampshire. Hundreds of power outages were reported at the height of the storm, with most concentrated in Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Snowfall record broken

Worcester, Mass., broke a 45-year snowfall record for Tuesday when 2 inches fell, according to the weather service. The previous record of 1.9 inches was set in 1978. In nearby Leicester, 3.6 inches of snow fell Tuesday evening into the overnight hours.

Other noteworthy snowfall totals include:

Brattleboro, VT — 7 inches

Plainfield, MA — 4 inches

Leicester, MA — 3.6 inches

Shrewsbury, MA — 2.6 inches

Westfield, MA — 1.1 inches

Northfield, NH — 3.3 inches

Belmont, NH — 2.4 inches

North Berwick, Maine — 1.8 inches

East Hartland, CT - 2.3 inches

Stafford, CT - 0.7 inches

Airline delays, cancellations

The FAA said rain and gusty winds could cause delays and cancellations across the country and urged the 2.9 million travelers expected to descend on airports nationwide to check the status of their flights.

More than 1,800 flights were delayed as Wednesday afternoon — down from 3,000 or so delayed on Tuesday — and about 600 flights canceled within, into or out of the United States, according to FlightAware, which tracks flight statuses .

The Transportation Security Administration said it anticipates screening more passengers at airports across the country, with the busiest days being Wednesday, and the Sunday after Thanksgiving. TSA officials said the volume started picking up at Logan International Airport last Friday when nearly 68,000 travelers were screened. They expect that number to surpass 70,000 during each of the week’s heaviest travel days.

Marianne Mizera can be reached at . Follow her .