Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons 'will fly,' NYPD says

Like any pilot, Astronaut Snoopy will have to watch the weather on his flight but he and the other giant character balloons will fly in the 93rd Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the NYPD said.

"Yes the balloons will be ready to go," NYPD Chief Rodney Harrison said Thursday morning. "I think the concern is the height at start time, but I'm very confident the balloons will be able to go down the route."

At full height, the balloons fly at 55 feet. They can be lowered to 10 feet if the winds are too strong.

NYPD's Midtown North Precinct also confirmed that the balloons are expected to take flight.

"As of now the balloons will fly!" the precinct tweeted about two hours before the parade begins at 9 a.m. EST.

The fate of the balloons was uncertain in the days leading up to the holiday, as officials worried that sustained winds would exceed 23 mph or wind gusts would be stronger than 34 mph.

Balloon handlers will adjust the height, especially at intersections where the gusts out of the west will be the most felt.

There is also a specially trained sergeant assigned to each of the 16 giant character balloons with an anemometer to help determine the safest course in real-time.

Though officials expected all the balloons to fly as of Thursday morning, it's still possible some will fly higher than others. For example, SpongeBob, being the largest, is a different consideration than one of the smaller balloons. Olaf's flying height, at more than five feet tall, could also be affected.

Bad weather has only kept the Macy's balloons from flying once -- in 1971.

Yet dangerous winds have wreaked havoc on the parade, when the balloons did fly. In 1997, the Cat in the Hat balloon knocked down a light pole and four people were injured.

One woman was in a coma for nearly a month due to the serious head injury she sustained, according to the Associated Press.

This year, thousands of police officers will be on duty for the parade on Manhattan's Upper West Side, despite the absence of a credible threat.

"There is no specific, credible threat to public safety at this time," Police Commissioner James O'Neill said Wednesday as he outlined a security plan that includes heavily armed officers, explosive detection dogs, radiation detectors and drone interdiction.

Millions of spectators who line the route can "rest assured" they will be safe, Chief of Department Terrance Monahan said.

ABC News' Dan Peck, Emily Shapiro and Ella Torres contributed to this report.