Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloons May Not Fully Launch
If you were planning a trip to NYC on Thursday morning to check out the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and see those giant balloons, weather may have some other plans.
Unfortunately, the current forecast of high winds and strong gusts for Turkey Day in NYC may keep the big balloons from fully launching, as there are specific regulations in place when it comes to flying.
According to a report from NBC Today,
The balloons cannot be flown if sustained winds exceed 23 mph and gusts exceed 34 mph.
The current forecast is for sustained winds of 23 mph and gusts up to 38 mph.
The city regulations were put into place in 1998 after a giant Cat in the Hat balloon injured four people when high winds caused it to knock over part of a streetlight on 72nd Street and Central Park West at the previous year's parade.
As it stands now, an official decision will not be made by parade officials until Thursday morning, so we'll just have to wait and see.
The good news though, is that the parade will still happen - there will still be mid-sized balloons, and the large scale ones just wouldn't go up as high as we normally see them.
According to Al Roker in that same Today report,
The balloons would still make an appearance at the parade, as Al said they will basically be dragged along at ground level rather than flown as high as five stories like usual.
He added that the last time the balloons were grounded due to inclement weather was in 1971, but it still remains to be seen if that will be the case on Thursday.
Are you planning to hit the city for the parade, or have you in the past? It is something i've always wanted to do, but still remains on my bucket list!