Tuesday Evening Vermont Snow Updates: Minor Adjustments To Messy Wednesday Forecast

The new forecast issued late this afternoon from the National 
Weather Service in South Burlington is only slightly changed
from this morning. Maybe a little more in the Champlain Valley,
maybe a little less in eastern Vermont. 

 Just a quick Tuesday evening update to let you know tomorrow morning is going to suck in Vermont.

We're still on track to receive a burst of snow that will be heaviest during the morning commute. 

So: The first snowfall of the season hits right at the morning commute. What could go wrong?

If you can stay home tomorrow morning, do it. This isn't exactly a blockbuster storm, but the combination of wet snow (which is more slippery than the dry stuff of midwinter), inexperienced motorists in the snow, people without snow tires, and you have a recipe for a mess.

Also, ground temperatures are warm. Remember, summer in November just ended a few days ago. When you have that situation, snow falls on the road, partially melts due to the warm ground, then re-freezes into ice. With a little water on top. Which is as slippery as you can get. 

It looks like some warm air will sneak in aloft, possibly changing things to sleet and freezing rain in some spots, just to make things interesting.

Dry air aloft, and a bit of warming, could  change the snow to drizzle in the afternoon in the valleys, which would temporarily help the situation on the roads. But things will probably go back to light snow late in the day or the evening so that won't help. 

If anything, the National Weather Service in South Burlington has slightly increased the expected accumulations in the Champlain Valley. Their latest maps indicates maybe two to three inches of snow there. 

Accumulations might be a little less in eastern Vermont than earlier forecasts, due to the risk of mixed precipitation. In general, though, look for an accumulation of two to six inches for most of us.

More on this tomorrow morning