Storm Update: Still On Track For A Mess

Lots of blue, pinks and purples on the National Weather Service
map Saturday morning, indicating many, many snow, ice and
cold weather warnings, alerts and advisories. Add caption

It's snowing this morning in Vermont, as expected, as we get set for a storm total of two to four inches north and three to seven inches south. 

It was much worse down south this morning in places like Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York, where freezing rain is making a total mess of the roadways.

Places like I-95 in Baltimore and the Capital Beltway in suburban Washington DC were shut down by ice this morning.  You'll see a lot of highway pileups on the news tonight from that region, for sure.

Here in Vermont and the rest of the North Country, we'll get into the ice later on, but I don't think it will be quite as bad as down south. Still, I wouldn't recommend travel tonight, especially east of the Green Mountains.

East of those Green Mountains, and in the St. Lawrence Valley of New York, it will be hard to scour out the cold air tonight, so a bunch of freezing rain is likely.

It won't accumulate enough on trees and wires to bring them down, but it will make roadways dangerous. I wouldn't go out and drive in these areas tonight and Sunday morning, to be honest.

In fact, the ice might spread a bit this evening. In parts of southeastern New England, a weak wave of low pressure tracking along the coast today in tandem with the larger storm to the west might pull colder air back into that region this evening, freezing things back up and causing another period of icy weather there.

I'm still expecting another flash freeze Sunday, as a strong cold front sweeps eastward. Temperatures in New York wlll start to fall in the morning then drop quickly across Vermont in the afternoon as the cold front continues pushing east.

It'll be awful underfoot Sunday night and Monday, as temperatures plunge to zero or so. The slush will freeze to ice quickly. The roads will be bad enough: Expect a possible third slow Monday morning commute in a row.

Sidewalks and driveways will be horrendous. I expect a big uptick in emergency room visits across Vermont and the rest of New England Monday as people slip and fall on the ice. Be careful out there.

Meanwhile, we're "enjoying" the ice, much of the rest of the nation is having a lousy weekend of weather, too.

A bitter cold wave has enveloped the Plains and Midwest, with cold air plunging all the way through to Texas.

There's quite a contrast on that cold front. At one point in Oklahoma Saturday morning, temperatures ranged from 6 below in the northwest corner of the state to 65 above in the southeast corner.

Ahead of that cold front severe weather, with the possibility of a couple tornadoes, could hit parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.

As I've advertised, it'll calm down during the upcoming week, and turn milder across much of the nation, including New England.