With the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, Nov. 27, weather experts are predicting conditions that could prevent some parade balloons from rising high up in the air in New York City.

AccuWeather, based in Pennsylvania, has called for sunshine and gusty winds on Thanksgiving Day, which would force parade organizers to either ground the balloons or fly them lower this year.

Now in its 99th year, the parade marches 2½ miles through Manhattan, allowing onlookers to see 34 balloons as they soar above the borough. This year’s new additions include Buzz Lightyear from “Toy Story,” Derpy Tiger from “KPop Demon Hunters,” Super Mario, Pac-Man, and Shrek’s Onion Carriage featuring Donkey from the “Shrek” films.

The parade will run for 3½ hours, from 8:30 a.m. to noon ET, a parade spokesperson previously told USA TODAY.

AccuWeather has predicted temperatures in the 40s for the morning of the parade.

Winds could gust anywhere between 20 and 30 miles per hour, AccuWeather Meteorologist Alyssa Glenny said in the weather company’s report. If sustained winds are higher than 23 miles per hour or gusts rise above 34 miles per hour, the balloons will have to be grounded.

“The balloons should be able to fly, but they may be kept closer to the ground,” AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Expert Paul Pastelok said on the company’s website, adding that if stronger winds forecast for the afternoon show up a few hours ahead of time, larger balloons may not be able to fly.

There’s also a “wind tunnel effect between buildings” that could make the winds feel stronger in some areas, Pastelok said.

Have balloons ever been grounded before?

USA TODAY contacted Macy’s on Nov. 26 to ask about the forecast and how it could impact the annual flight of the balloons, but the parade’s Director of Production Operations Kathleen Wright spoke to AccuWeather recently to give the rundown on what they’re doing to plan.

“The Macy’s parade marches rain or shine,” Wright told AccuWeather. “We know that this year’s forecast has a little bit of winds in there, but we’re prepared for those windy forecasts … We’re prepared for anything on Thanksgiving morning.”

Wright added that organizers will measure wind speeds in real time using anemometers along the parade route.

Balloons in the parade have only been grounded once, in 1971, due to bad weather.

In 1997, a wind gust of 43 miles per hour blew through the city during the parade, making it difficult for volunteers to control the balloons, AccuWeather reported. Two people were hurt when the Cat-in-the-Hat balloon hit a lamppost and broke off its metal arm.

In 2019, gusty winds hurt some balloon handlers and damaged inflatables, AccuWeather reported.

To find out more about the parade, its route, and its balloons, visit www.macys.com/s/parade.

Contributing: USA TODAY’s Laura Petrecca, Mary Walrath-Holdridge, and Saman Shafiq

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Could wind ground balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?

Reporting by Saleen Martin, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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