Friday Morning In Vermont: Wet And Icy As Planned

The dreaded Friday ice forecast map. Yellows depict
basically just a thin glaze.  Red is about a quarter inch
So the worst issues will be in the southern Greens today.
Remember, though, just a tiny film of ice can make
travel on roads really hazardous, so be careful out there! 

 Right on schedule, the rain moved in before dawn today, leading to what is turning out to be an unpredictable Friday morning commute. 

Depending on where you are, it's either a cold rain, or freezing rain. The cold rain is obviously unpleasant, but harmless. The freezing rain, however.....

The problem is, if you're driving along, it's impossible to tell where you're going to encounter ice and where it is just wet. 

The broad brush is there. You're less likely to see ice in the immediate Champlain Valley. And more likely to see it from the Green Mountains east.

Temperatures were right near the 32 degree mark as of 6 a.m. and likely to stay there throughout the day. So even where it's mostly rain, you might encounter pockets of ice. And where it's icy, you might find spots that are just wet.

Bottom line: Take it easy driving anywhere today. Assume you're on ice. 

As the day goes on the rain and freezing rain will transition to sleet and snow, starting in the Northeast Kingdom and moving west and south through the day. 

That's in line with previous forecasts from last night. The NEK can eventually expect one to three inches of sleet and snow today,  By the time you reach the Champlain Valley, there will only be a slushy dusting at best late this afternoon. 

The best chances of heavy accumulations of ice - enough to cause some isolated to widely scattered power outages - is still the central and southern Green Mountains.  In those spots, the freezing rain will last almost all day, and not change to any sleet or snow until the very end of the day - if at all. 

Bits of ice cling to pine trees in St. Albans, Vermont on
Thursday. More freezing rain is falling on parts of
the state today, causing areas of of hazardous
driving all day. 

Here's a weird factoid:   

Under a thick overcast, temperatures are forecast to stay strangely  uniform. The temperature in Burlington has bounced only between 32 and 36 degrees since 5 a.m. Thursday. It's forecast to stay squarely within that range until about 2 a.m. Saturday. 

If this forecast pans out, then temperatures in Burlington will have only varied by four degrees for nearly 48 hours. That's an incredibly long time for temperatures to not move much, especially  considering on average this time of year, the range is 16 degrees in just one day. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Going into Sunday the next storm is still trending too far south to give most of Vermont much snow. But there's still time for surprises, so the storm will still need to be monitored.

Other than that, the Vermont weather starting Saturday and going through next week looks blessedly boring for a change. As it looks now, temperatures will be fairly close to average overall with  no notable storms until next Friday or Saturday at the very earliest.