Vermont's First Winter Weather Advisory Of Season As Thursday Morning Looks Gross

A winter weather advisory is up for Vermont Thursday due
to expected snow and mixed precipitation, especially
during the morning commute 

 It doesn't take much snow or ice to turn the roads awful in Vermont. That's especially true early in the season when we're not used to it. And some people haven't gotten their snow tires yet. 

So it is Thursday, when we will be under a winter weather advisory in the Green Mountain State for snow and some sleet and freezing rain. 

This won't be a huge storm, but the timing is lousy.  Snow should move in before dawn and continue into the morning commute hours. (The snow might start a little later in the Northeast Kingdom).

During that commute. there's a good chance the snow will mix with or change to sleet, freezing rain and eventually rain. 

The National Weather Service office in South Burlington notes this morning there's some disagreement in the computer models about how much of this will be sleet and freezing rain. Some suggest it will be mostly a snow to rain transition, especially in the Champlain Valley, so there wouldn't be too much freezing rain there. 

Other models lean toward more mixed precipitation statewide, and those models at this point seem to be making more sense to most meteorologists out there. To be on the safe side, expect at least some ice after a quick burst of snow early tomorrow morning. 

The bottom line seems to indicate an inch or less of snow, followed by perhaps a tenth of an inch of ice. Some places could get as much as nearly a quarter inch of ice, other places will get only a trace.  

And so, expect a lot of icy patches at least on the roads early Thursday.  This will be an especially dangerous morning as a lot of motorists will be lulled into a false sense of security.  In many areas, ground temperatures are warm, so many main roads might be largely just wet or a little slushy. 

But bridges and overpasses will freeze. People will be cruising along on wet pavement at top speed, only to arrive on an icy overpass and lose control. 

Keep in mind some schools might close or have delayed openings, so check on that before you leave with the kiddos in the morning. 

The schmutz will change to a cold, light rain, first in the Champlain Valley then spreading eastward through the rest of Vermont during the afternoon. The evening commute will be a lot safer than the morning. But it will be an ugly, miserable day for sure. 

From an overall climate perspective, this type of storm isn't at all unusual for this time of year. It happens a lot in early to mid November, but the first messy storm of the season always still comes as a little bit of a shock. 

The trend will be toward colder than normal temperatures through the weekend, but very little snow or rain after tomorrow.