Thanksgiving Weekend Travel Conditions Around Oregon: Coast to Cascades

Published 11/26/24 at 4:35 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Salem, Oregon) – Over the river and through the woods to your Thanksgiving destination in Oregon should largely be an easy ride throughout most of the holiday weekend, even in the Cascades. Weather will be cooperating nicely, it seems, even on the Oregon coast where it's expected to be at least partly sunny – but even more so on the south coast.

Meanwhile, the Oregon chapter of AAA is expecting record travel numbers around the U.S., surpassing pre-pandemic numbers. Helping that surge are gas prices about 50 cents lower than last year.

AAA is projecting nearly a quarter of Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home for the Thanksgiving holiday, up 2.1% from 2023. About 1.1 million of them will be Oregonians, with about 90% of them going by car.

“In Oregon, roughly 984,000 travelers will drive,” said AAA in a press release.

AAA said this record Thanksgiving travel is largely driven by economic trends, which includes a growth in personal income and a slow decline in inflation.

See the Oregon Coast Lodging Availability report: what kitchen units / vacation homes are still open.

For driving conditions, the one caveat this week around Oregon is the possibility of thick fog in the early mornings, which the National Weather Service (NWS) said would hit late Tuesday night and into early Wednesday morning as well as the holiday itself. The upper half of the coast, the Oregon Coast Range and valley towns such as Portland, Eugene or Silverton would experience this – essentially the entire northwestern quarter of the state.

“Its worth highlighting Thursday morning onward low temperatures likely drop into the mid 30s to upper 20s across the inland valleys (dependent on at least partial clearing), and with all the wet ground and light winds will likely to have to contend with areas of overnight/morning fog,” the NWS said. “Something to keep in mind if you're traveling to visit family/friends.”

Oregon Coast Beach Connection

The Cascades are in for little to no snow throughout much of the week, but some dustings return to the higher elevations later on the weekend.

Along the north Oregon coast (including Seaside, Long Beach in Washington, Oceanside down to Florence), it's expected to be partly sunny in the morning on Thanksgiving and then a chance of rain showers. Mostly cloudy to partly sunny conditions and perhaps some rain typify the rest of the weekend.

See  Oregon Coast Weather (including tides) - Inland Oregon Weather

Farther south, from Reedsport down through Brookings, you're looking at sunnier and conditions: an ideal Thanksgiving weekend.

Brookings / OPRD photo

There, mostly clear and sunny skies reign through most of the days and nights until later on Saturday, with the weekend getting cloudier and a bit more rain.

Along the beaches, offshore swells are not expected to get very high, in fact remaining below five feet. Look for a relatively good week for beachcombing and checking out waves – although never turn your back to the ocean.

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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