Brief Tuesday Evening Thanksgiving Vermont Travel Update: Messy, But Could Be Worse?

Gloomy skies Tuesday afternoon, after rain and freezing
rain departed. Next up, a sloppy mix of rain and snow
seems likely on Thanksgiving. 

 Forecasters have settled on a Vermont Thanksgiving Day scenario in which we get a fairly quick shot of rain and snow, but with any luck, this could do more good than harm. 

Before we get to Thanksgiving, the freezing rain that caused havoc on Vermont roads this morning is gone. Good riddance. Light rain or snow showers might be scattered around tonight, but no biggie.

As of Tuesday evening, the forecast calls for not all that much snow in Vermont valleys. It'll be rain mixes with snow or just plain cold rain for most of the event, that is if the forecast holds.

The mountains (Read: Ski areas) get several inches of snow at least under this scenario. 

The event looks like it will be an all day affair on Thanksgiving, with the precipitation peaking from late morning to early evening. 

Slick roads are possible anywhere in Vermont with this, but higher elevations of course would be the worst.

One big caveat: Remember how I kept telling you for the past few days that the European computer models give us a much bigger snowstorm than the American?

Well, as of late Tuesday afternoon, the European model is stubbornly sticking to its story of giving us a fairly substantial snowstorm, even in the valleys. 

The other models are coalescing around a less snowy outcome. Except in the mountains. Especially southern Vermont mountains. 

But one thing to remember: The granddaddy of big Thanksgiving snowstorms, in 1971, was supposed to be a modest affair and ended up dumping eight to 20 inches of snow on Vermont.

Forecast accuracy has come a long way since 1971, so don't hold your breath for a repeat. But you never know.....

I'll have more details in tomorrow morning's post.