Wintry Tuesday Under Way In Vermont, Morning Commute Could Be Better. Could Be Worse

Traffic cam image of Interstate 89 in Georgia becoming
slushy and slick shortly before 6:30 a.m today as a
band of snow moved eastward into and through
Vermont this morning. 

 Our long awaited burst of precipitation that was scheduled to screw up Vermont's Tuesday morning commute was in the Champlain Valley as of 6 a.m. today, heading slowly east across the state.  

The effect on this morning's drive time has been and will be as mixed as the precipitation. 

Turns out things could be worse, but they could be better.

Things started off this morning just maybe a degree or two warmer than forecast. So a bigger share of what's coming through  starting off as rain or a mix of rain and snow.

This band of precipitation does flip to snow before ending, so what were wet roads become a slushy icy mess pretty quickly. As this band of precipitation moves east, you'll see the road conditions shift suddenly from fine to not so fine really as we go through the rest of the morning.

For instance, the road in front of my house in St. Albans, Vermont was fine, just a little wet a few minutes past 6 a.m. today. By 6:20 a.m., it was a slushy mess and cars were starting to fishtail a bit. 

  I'd slow it down this morning, but take care, and hope no idiot causes a problem. The worst of the snow should be out of the Champlain Valley by 8 a.m., but it will be making travel a little more difficult in central and eastern Vermont between 7 a.m and about 10 or 11 a.m. 

REST OF DAY

The rest of the day will be tale of two Vermonts. Most of the valleys will be blustery and quite cold and a few snowflakes will dance in the air off and on through the day. Highs will barely stay in the 30s and the gusty winds will make it feel colder.

In other words, a decidedly unpleasant April day, but nothing we haven't seen this time of year before. 

The other Vermont will be up in the Green Mountains, especially from roughly Killington north.  It will be a January day up there, with lots of snow showers, locally heavy at times, subfreezing weather and strong winds. 

If you are going to be traveling up in the mountains today, you'll still encounter snow covered, slippery roads.  Up in those mountains, four to eight inches of snow could easily fall today and early tonight. Up by Jay Peak, I wouldn't be surprise if it turns out to be closer to 10 inches. 

OUTLOOK

The end of the week and most of the weekend do look dreary with occasional light rain and even a little mountain snow. So far, this doesn't look like a big storm at all, but just some inclement weather.