Vermont Monday Storm Update: Will Be Interesting Commute Home This Evening For Many Of Us

As of 4:30 p.m. Monday, Route 58 in Lowell, Vermont
looked pretty bad amid heavy falling snow. Those
conditions were spreading southward further into
Vermont as a cold front arrives just in time
for your evening commute. 

 It started snowing here at my perch in St. Albans, Vermont at around 3:15 this afternoon, setting the stage for a crappy drive home from work or school. 

The snow here almost immediately began to come down at a decent clip and almost immediately began to stick, despite temperatures in the mid-30s when the snow started. 

That is a clue that things will get messy for the rest of the day and the evening across much of Vermont, New York and eventually New Hampshire .

For the late afternoon and evening, temperatures are probably kind of marginal - not far from 32 degrees   -so the snow will be rather wet and heavy, even in far northern Vermont.  

The further south you go in Vermont, the more likely you'll see some rain or freezing rain mixing in for awhile.  

The National Weather Service in South Burlington says the most likely place for rain or a mix of rain, freezing rain and snow for the next few hours is very roughly along and south of Route 2. Eventually, the mix will change to snow everywhere this evening.

But by the time things switch over to snow in far southern Vermont, the cold front and best moisture will already be past us.  Most low elevations in the state's southernmost counties should see an inch or less of snow out of this. 

In the northern half Vermont, the snow could come down pretty hard at times this evening. It already was late this afternoon in some areas of the far north. 

As of 4:30 p.m., Interstate 89 in Colchester, Vermont near
Burlington was fine and dandy, with very little snow on the
ground, a sharp contrast to high elevations in 
northern Vermont.  Road conditions will deteriorate
here and elsewhere in Vermont where snow hadn't quite
started falling yet before dark, 

As of 4:15 p.m. traffic cameras in places like along Route 242 in Westfield and Route 58 in Lowell were showing nasty road conditions and what appeared to be heavy snow falling.

  Up in these areas, this evening's little storm is adding to a pretty deep snow cover.  As of this morning, Westfield reported a snow depth of 21 inches and a higher spot in Greensboro had 22 inches. 

These bad driving conditions were slowly spreading south and east. The later this evening you drive home, the worse it will be. 

Overall, in the winter weather advisory zone in northern Vermont away from Lake Champlain, the forecast still calls for three to six inches of new snow, with maybe a little more than that on high spots like Jay Peak. 

The National Weather Service is going with about two inches of new snow in communities like Burlington, Montpelier and St. Johnsbury. The little bit of rain or very wet snow there will keep totals down a bit.  

Away from the Canadian border and the Champlain Valley the amount of snow we're getting this evening doesn't really quality for winter advisories. So the National Weather Service released a special weather statement warning of a difficult commute over the next few hours. 

Later tonight, any remaining snowfall will be lighter and fluffier as temperatures crash once again.