Potential Mess On Vermont Highways For Today's Evening Commute

Just a little freezing rain caused chaos on Vermont roads,
and underfoot on February 6, 2019. Though things
probably won't be as bad as that this evening, a band
of light mixed precipitation could make the drive
home this evening, um, interesting. 

If you're at school or work this afternoon in Vermont, especially in the Champlain Valley, I'd suggest packing up for the day pretty soon and driving home before a possible rush hour mess arrives.  

A band of light snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain was approaching Vermont as of late afternoon.

Temperatures were a little above freezing in most valleys in Vermont as of 3 p.m. But the dew point, which is how low temperatures have to get to saturate the air, were in the single numbers and low teens.

That means, as precipitation arrives, the added moisture will cool the air, making it closer to the dew points. That, in turn, assures we'll receive mixed precipitation. Although there might be some snow, temperatures a few thousand feet up will probably remain above 32 degrees. So it's a mix.

Plus, pavement temperatures are still really low after that Arctic outbreak Friday and Saturday. Last night was quite cold, too, so that assures the surface of roads is pretty damn cold. 

Whatever comes out of the sky won't be heavy and won't last all that long. But a little dab will do ya. 

It takes just a tiny amount of precipitation -- the water equivalent of just 0.01 inches -  to potentially make things slippery. I remember on February, 6, 2019, some freezing rain hit at the evening rush hour in the Champlain Valley. It wasn't much, but it caused tons of slide-offs and crashes. People were stuck on Interstate 89 in and near Burlington for four hours or more. 

This time, it's looking like we'll have a quick hit of mostly snow and sleet, and not as much freezing rain as that 2019 episode. Accumulations should be an inch or two at most, but again, it doesn't take much.

So things might not be quite that dramatic this evening, but it's still an issue. The National Weather Service office in South Burlington has issued a special weather statement warning of this evening's risk. 

The reason I said people in the Champlain Valley should consider driving home before things go south is that this band of ugly stuff is due to hit between 5 and 7 p.m. or so.  In the eastern half of Vermont, the schmutz will come through probably between 6 and 8 p.m., giving people more time to escape the dungeon of work. 

Still, anyone driving around Vermont this evening should either reconsider their plan or be vewy, vewy careful, as Elmer Fudd might say. 

Things should be quiet on Wednesday, though there still might be some ice here and there on the pavement in the morning. Especially if you're not on the main roads.

It's looking like at least parts of Vermont could have renewed freezing rain problems Thursday and Thursday night. I'll have more updates on that in a subsequent post.