For snow on Thanksgiving, head to Caribou -- avoid Boston and the Big Apple

If you're hoping for white and drifting snow while heading to grandmother's house this Thanksgiving, better hope she lives in Caribou, Maine.

According to the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell, the nation's most northeastern city has a 52 percent probability of having at least an inch of snow on the ground Nov. 24, one of the year's busiest travel days and the eve of Thanksgiving. That's the best odds of any location in the Northeast.

Hate the white stuff when you travel? Then head out to celebrate with relatives in the Big Apple. New York City, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., are among a host of coastal cities with barely a 2 percent probability of snow on Nov. 24. Other most likely snow-free destinations include Atlantic City, N.J., Baltimore and Wilmington, Del., which have a 0 percent probability of an inch of snow or more on the ground on Sunday, Nov. 28.

The best bet for a white Thanksgiving Day itself? Caribou, which leads all Northeast cities with a 50 percent chance of enjoying respectable white groundcover as a backdrop for watching the mashed potatoes and the pigskin get passed around.

Rounding out some of the region's major snow-friendly cities this Thanksgiving are Binghamton, N.Y., which has a 26 percent probability of an inch of snow on the ground; Ithaca and Syracuse have a 22 percent chance; Buffalo, N.Y., Burlington, Vt., and Concord, N.H., all stand at 20 percent; followed by Erie, Pa. (19 percent), and Rochester, N.Y. (18 percent).

Washington, D.C., has a bare 4 percent probability of snow on the ground come Thanksgiving. New York, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Baltimore and Wilmington are joined by Boston, Charleston, W.Va., Bridgeport, Conn., and Newark, N.J., as the least likely major cities in the Northeast to see snow on the ground next Thursday, all with the minimum 2 percent probability.

The data was compiled by Cornell's Climate Center using records from 1960 through 2009 to determine the probabilities.

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John Carberry