Vermont Interstate Crashes Cleared Up After This Morning's Mess, Could Be Spots Of Trouble, Too

Traffic camera image shows cars backed up along
Interstate 89 in Georgia this morning due to a a 
series of car crashes. Slick roads from a light
snowfall are to blame. 

 The car and truck crashes on Interstate 89 up around Georgia and St. Albans, Vermont that gummed up the works for hours this morning have long since been cleared up.  

However, at least in some spots across Vermont, we might do it again tomorrow morning with locally treacherous roads. Saturday, too. 

This morning goes to show you how just a little bit of snow with terrible timing can really cause trouble. Burlington reported just 0.6 inches of snow this morning and here at my house in St. Albans, I collected a half inch.

It all hit right during the morning commute. Not before. Not after. During. 

I think the fact that there was so little snow gave morning commuters a false sense of security. Plus, the snow was kind of soggy and slushy, which can be even more slippery on the roads than more powdery snow. 

According to television station WPTZ, it started around 7:30 a.m. when six vehicles were involved in a crash on the southbound lanes of Interstate 89 in the Georgia area. Three people were injured. At about the same time, not far up the road, a tractor trailer carrying frozen food lost control on the slushy snow and hit three vehicles. A fourth vehicle then got involved in the mess.

People traveling in the southbound lane of Interstate 89 were stuck for well over an hour.  Things didn't really get back to normal until around 11:30 this morning. 

Further south in West Hartford, Vermont a car hit a municipal snow plow. It sounds like the car that hit the plow was cut off by another vehicle. So the poor person hit the brakes hard, and skidded into the plow. 

FRIDAY MORNING HEADACHE?

Temperatures rose above freezing this afternoon and roads were just wet. 

It looks like it will stay above freezing in most of northern Vermont until midnight. Then, at first, it will start to cool off gradually. 

But right before dawn, a second cold front will come through, making the temperatures crash rapidly. Any water on the road will freeze. Worse, the front could be accompanied by brief snow showers that can lay down another dusting of snow the will join the freeze party as temperatures fall through the 20s during the morning rush hour.

Just keep that in mind in case there's new issues tomorrow. 

Saturday morning, we do it again as another slightly larger storm blunders through. It looks like most of us will see two to four inches of snow out of that one, with possibly more in the mountains 

I'll have more details on that tomorrow morning.