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Thanksgiving getaway: Planes, trains and automobiles are on the move

It is one of the busiest travel days of the year.

In this Nov. 29, 2015, file photo, travelers line up at a security checkpoint area in Terminal 3 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.
In this Nov. 29, 2015, file photo, travelers line up at a security checkpoint area in Terminal 3 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.Read moreNam Y. Huh / AP

It is the day before Thanksgiving and that means it is one of the busiest travel days of the year.

After a morning of rain and a number of reported  motor vehicle accidents around the region, the skies cleared around 11 a.m., setting the stage for the great getaway.

According to the AAA, this is expected to be the busiest Thanksgiving for travel in 12 years with about 51 million Americans expected to make a trip of more than 50 miles by planes, trains, buses or automobiles between Tuesday night and Sunday night.

About 44 million will make their journeys by car.

Locally, 602,069 in Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburbs are expected to travel for Thanksgiving. In New Jersey, 1.3 million plan to take trips.

Amtrak says it expects to carry nearly 761,000 passengers nationwide for Thanksgiving, most of them on the Northeast Corridor.

Long lines were reported at Philadelphia International Airport Wednesday morning and the airport was advising flyers to get there early. Flight information for PHL can be found at www.phl.org.

Looking ahead, it will be sunny but chilly Thanksgiving Day. If you're going to the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Parade on the Parkway, you should bundle up because the temperatures will be in the upper 30s when it kicks off at 8:30 a.m. The high for the day will only be 44.

And while you might not be looking forward to hitting Thanksgiving traffic, be grateful you do not live in Los Angeles.