Still Icky In Vermont Today As Temperatures Drop, And A Little Snow Arrives

My driveway in St. Albans, Vermont was rather slippery this
morning after a night of drenching rains with temperatures
barely above freezing. The pavement on the driveway
was still at or below freezing, so ice formed. 

 Last night played out pretty much as expected, though parts of north central and northeastern Vermont got a surprise little bit of snow overnight, in addition to the rain and freezing rain. 

As of 7 a.m., everybody in Vermont was rain, with still a few pockets of freezing rain here and there in the protected valleys east of the Green Mountains. There wasn't enough ice to cause many problems with trees and power lines thank goodness.  The most ice I've seen in Vermont is a manageable 0.12 inches in Springfield. 

VTOutages.org reported just 26 customers without power in Windsor County as of 6:30 a.m., but the number of power outages in Vermont around midnight was closer to 500. All due to areas of wet snow mixed with a bit of freezing rain.

I've noticed there's quite a few school closings and delays across Vermont today, so check your local listings. The kiddos might not have classes today. 

Be careful on the roads on the way to work this morning, especially from the Green Mountains east. There's still some slick areas.

Meanwhile, rain was about to go over to snow in far northwestern Vermont as of 7 a.m. In northern New York precipitation stayed as a mix or freezing rain all night, except in the western Champlain Valley. 

But the snow was advancing east just before dawn. It'll probably be going over to snow in the northwestern tip of Vermont in Alburgh by 8 or 9 a.m. From there, it will advance south and east toward Burlington by say, 11 a.m. or so, give or take an hour or two. 

North-central Vermont should get into a little snow by early afternoon.

As the snow advances, the best moisture with the storm will be waning.  So the further south and east you go, the less snow will fall.  Nobody in Vermont, anyway, will see a blockbuster. I'm thinking as much as four inches in isolated spots in the high elevations of northwestern Vermont, down to 1 to 3 inches in the Champlain Valley from Burlington north and in the central and northern Green Mountains. 

Generally speaking almost everybody south and east of a Burlington to Newport line should get less than an inch. The lower Connecticut River valley should see nada. 

As you can tell, the expected snowfall isn't all that impressive, but there will probably be an outsized effect on travel later this morning and afternoon, especially northwest. Temperatures will be falling so water from last night's rains will be freezing, with the snow added to it. 

Road crews will be out salting and clearing any accumulation, of course. But as temperatures continue to slowly decline all day, we'll see roads repeatedly re-freezing. Light snow well into the evening will add to the hazards.  So, especially during the day and in the evening commute, take your time, even on the main roads.

Last evening, there were some uncertain signs that a new, developing storm way off the coast of New England might start heading toward the northwest on Sunday, which raised the risk of clouds and a little snow in eastern Vermont. 

That seemed to be looking a lot less likely this morning, so the weekend will be quiet and cold. Lows will be in the single numbers with the cold spots a couple degrees below zero, and daytime highs will only make it into the low and mid 20s.