A New Vermont Weather Problem For Christmas Day?

Well, this isn't good.  Forecasts now include freezing rain
in Vermont on Christmas Day, which could lead to
some real travel trouble. Ugh! 

 Things are bad and unsettled enough right now as Christmas Day looms.  The omicron Covid variant is spreading fast, test kits are in short supply, bringing a lot of uncertainty on how people are going to deal with holiday gatherings. 

Unfortunately, here in Vermont, there seems to be new mischief being added to the brew that will lead to more questions.

Suddenly, freezing rain and sleet are on the table for Christmas Day, and likely not just part of the day. 

Until now, forecasts had been sort of flip flopping between a steady light snow on Christmas or just scattered  light snow showers. 

Now, a lot of the forecasts are adding freezing rain and sleet to the Christmas Day outlook, which would of course cause lots of travel issues in and near Vermont.

Any precipitation that does fall won't be super heavy, so we're not looking at trees and power lines breaking under the weight of ice.  But, as I say, a little dab will do ya, and just a little freezing rain will make things nasty for getting anywhere. 

The Christmas Day forecast still has a lot of real question marks with it. Warm air will be trying to stream in aloft, while cold high pressure in Quebec will want to push cold air down on us, closer to the surface. 

That's the recipe for freezing rain and sleet. 

If the Canadian high pushes in stronger than expected, it could keep precipitation as light snow, or even push it south of at least parts of the Green Mountain State.

If the high is weaker, warm air would flood in more readily, changing ice to plain rain. Not pleasant for Christmas, but at least it's not ice. 

I imagine forecasters will have a somewhat better handle on this by tomorrow.  If you're worried about icy Vermont roads on Christmas Day - as I am - I'd hold off on changing travel plans until tomorrow. By then, there should be some decent but not perfect forecast updates.  

Even tomorrow's forecasts for Christmas won't have a complete handle on this, but those forecasts will pin down a little better where ice might be the worse, what time of day the freezing rain would be more prevalent and what not.

And maybe there will be a Christmas miracle and the ice will somehow avoid us. We can only dream, right?