More than two million holiday travelers expected across Northern California

Gas prices are up 55 cents per gallon on average in Santa Rosa compared to the 2016 Thanksgiving weekend.|

More than 2 million Northern California residents are expected to hit the road this extended Thanksgiving holiday, about a third of the projected 6.26 million travelers statewide who will drive or fly more than 50 miles, the highest estimate since 2005, according to American Automobile Association

Nationally, the holiday projection is for 51 million travelers, the AAA reported. That’s up slightly from last year and also the highest number since 2005.

Thanksgiving weekend is considered the busiest travel time of the year.

The cost of getting there by car this year includes sharply higher gas prices in Santa Rosa compared to last year - 55 cents per gallon higher on average, according to the website Gas Buddy.

Part of the increase includes a new statewide tax, which on Nov. 1 hiked gas costs 12 cents per gallon and diesel costs 20 cents.

On Tuesday, the average price at the pumps in Santa Rosa was $3.21 per gallon, according to GasBuddy, which compares gas prices nationwide. Last year’s local average was $2.66.

The national average price is $2.53 per gallon, down from the peak in 2012 of $3.44, GasBuddy reported.

Travelers making their way to Sonoma County for the long weekend should try to arrive today when the dry afternoon could see temperatures reaching the low 70s, some 10 degrees above average.

On Thanksgiving day, that morning walk to roust the appetite, could be a little wet in Santa Rosa and points north.

The forecast calls for just a 20-30 percent chance of rain in the morning, perhaps up to a quarter-inch, said Duane Dykema, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Monterey.

Thanksgiving afternoon and evening should be dry with continued mild temperatures Friday into the mid- and upper 60s. Another slight chance of rain for Santa Rosa will move in Saturday but the forecast calls for a greater chance Sunday, still with amounts of a quarter-inch or so.

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