How To Successfully Blame Mother Nature When You Cancel Your Holiday Travel

How To Get Out Of The Long Holiday Drive Home

I, my friends, am a homebody. Don’t get me wrong, I love hanging out with my friends and family. But sometimes, I just like to stay home and watch TV while I craft.

It seems like the world is catching on, because — according to my sources — “JOMO” (joy of missing out) is trending.

Here are some ways Mother Nature can lend you a hand in coming up with an excuse to stay home.

What To Look For On Radar

The holy grail of reasons to get out of a three-hour drive to your distant relative’s house? Icy precipitation and freezing rain on the radar and in the forecast can mean dangerous conditions on the roads.

But you don’t even need to see active precipitation on the radar to play the fear-of-icy-roads card.

If there’s any chance the roads are wet (be that from rain, freezing rain, snow that’s melted a bit, freezing fog over an overpass, or heck, even just a burst pipe somewhere) and temperatures are near or below freezing, there’s a chance that there’s ice on the roads.

Therefore? Travel can arguably be a no-go, so hello to staying in your PJs!

What About Taking To The Skies?

The great part about the roads being unsafe in your area is that you can reasonably use that as an excuse not to fly to holiday destinations as well.

Unfortunately, it’s not easy to blame the airport or flying in general as a reason to not go dashing through the snow.

Airports are very good at what they do, and if there’s a weather pattern big enough to disrupt flights (because let’s be honest, what are the odds it would just be your flight impacted?), it would be big enough that weather.com would be covering it (and you know your family visits our site, because who doesn’t, my darling?).

So unfortunately, it’s pretty easy to get caught in a lie there.

And if you already bought the plane tickets? Oof. I’m never one to waste money.

But let’s say, hypothetically, that you arrive at the airport and a little old lady’s flight was delayed due to weather and she wouldn’t be able to get to see her grandchildren for Christmas if you don’t give up your seat. Maybe there’s even a mom trying to get home to her 8-year-old son after accidentally flying to Paris without him!

No one would blame you for giving up your seat. And if, quite by coincidence, you aren’t able to rebook and you have to head home and spend the holidays happily all by your lonesome?

We won’t tell anyone.

Sara Tonks is a content meteorologist with weather.com and has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Georgia Tech in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences along with a master’s degree from Unity Environmental University in Marine Science.