Planning to visit family this Thanksgiving? Not to be a downer, but if you're getting there by car, you might want to start mentally preparing yourself for some of the worst traffic conditions of the year.
But on a more positive note, there's a few things you can do to make your drive less stressful. For starters, avoid traveling on Wednesday, if at all possible. For most cities, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the worst traffic day of the year, according to data from Google.
The Google Maps team looked at Thanksgiving traffic conditions over the last two years for 21 cities across the U.S. to bring you some useful information that should hopefully make your holiday trip a little easier. Those cities include: Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, and Washington, D.C.
If you absolutely must leave on Wednesday, try to skip out of work a little early or wait until the evening to leave. The worst time for Thanksgiving traffic falls between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. that day, so it's better to leave before 2 p.m. or after 7 p.m. if you want to keep some of your sanity.
On Thanksgiving Day itself, traffic shouldn't be an issue. Google said the actual day of the holiday usually has the least amount of traffic for the entire week, especially between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m., when most people are busy over-indulging.
Once the festivities are over, you might think you can beat the traffic by leaving on Saturday instead of Sunday. Wrong. History shows that traffic can be up to 40 percent worse on Saturday, so you're better off sticking it out an extra night with the family and driving home on Sunday.
Meanwhile, if you're heading to Philly, we're sorry in advance. The City of Brotherly Love had the biggest increase in traffic during Thanksgiving week than any of the cities Google looked at. Austin and Washington, D.C. also saw higher-than-average traffic increases.
For more, check out our Google Maps tips in the slideshow above, and be sure to check out our full holiday gift coverage.