A Little Travel Trouble In Vermont This Morning, Big Time Mess In Plains

It was sprinkling and barely above freezing in St. Albans,
Vermont when I took this photo, but that break in the
cloud hinted that it would stop by afternoon.

 There was a teeny, tiny bit of freezing rain and schmutz in Vermont overnight. Meanwhile, a nasty storm is brewing for Christmas in the middle of the nation. Let's take Vermont first

VERMONT GLAZE

But even the lightest of icing can cause real trouble, and that was the case early this morning in the Green Mountain State and in adjacent New York and New Hampshire. 

 Most places around the region received a trace to 0.05 inches of precipitation overnight, which is a trifle. 

But that's enough to really ice up the pavement, and such was the case overnight and early this morning. 

The VT Roads group on Facebook was reporting widespread glare ice on northern and central Vermont roads overnight. There were a few crashes and incidents here and there, including a vehicle going into a ditch near the Fairfax Dam on Route 104, and other slide offs in Milton, Westford and other towns. 

Things were starting to improve as of 7:30 a.m. Sunday.  Some roads have been treated,  Other roads in the warmer valleys were just wet as of 7 a.m. But untreated roads statewide, along with driveways and sidewalks are glare ice. 

Scattered areas of very light sprinkles of rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow were still around Vermont as of 8 a.m. and that will continue to some extent most of the morning. I'd postpone doing any driving or walking this morning until after 10 or 11 a.m., when temperatures in most areas should be above freezing. 

We don't expect any travel trouble for the rest of the Christmas holiday in Vermont after this morning but I can't say the same for other parts of the nation.

BLIZZARDS AND FOG, OH MY

Last Christmas gave the nation a travel meltdown as a massive pre-Christmas storm fouled up airline flights pretty much from coast to coast. You might remember the Southwest airlines mess last Christmas holiday. They canceled thousands of flights and stranded 2 million or so travelers, sometimes for days. 

This year isn't nearly as bad, but there is travel trouble to talk about.

The biggest problem looks to be around swaths of Nebraska and South Dakota, where blizzard warnings are up for Christmas Day and on Tuesday.   On Christmas, only emergency travel is recommended as seven to 15 inches of expected new snow will be propelled by winds as high as 55 mph. 

In the eastern half of the blizzard zone, some freezing rain could be mixed in at times, which would make things really fun. If there is freezing rain, it's most likely in eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota.

Elsewhere, dense fog was an issue around the Great Lakes this morning. I'm sure that's delaying or canceling a few flights. 

It could be worse. As of 8 a.m. Flight Aware reported 96 cancellations within, into or out of the United States. Chicago Midway was the worst, with 13 percent of flights canceled and 11 percent delayed. Visibility was down to a quarter to a half mile overnight at Midway, which explains the flight trouble.

The fog around the Great Lakes is forecast to at least partly lift during the day. 

Overall, though, it could have been worse.  Some Christmas holidays are a lot stormier.