Heads Ups: Could Be Messy Travel Heading Into Next Christmas Weekend

I don't know if Christmas weekend travel will be as dicey as
in this photo, but there is a definitely potential for wintry storms
in Vermont and surrounding areas Friday through Christmas Day.

Christmas is a week from Monday already, and it's time to start traveling to visit friends and relatives. My husband flew off to South Dakota this morning. Luckily, there's no major weather issues in his flight path, so that's good.

Many of the rest of us won't be so lucky. It's looking rather stormy, especially in the eastern part of the country, as we head toward next weekend.

I'll mainly focus on here in Vermont and surrounding areas, at least at first. Expect some pretty big swings in temperatures and weather conditions all week as you finish your Christmas shopping and get set to travel.

It was certainly cold as heck this Sunday morning, as temperatures across most of the region dropped below zero again - the second time in a week that's happened.

It'll be a little better this afternoon - teens to around 20 - before other big changes come. It'll continue warming up Monday. That'll come with a price. It always does. There will be some snow showers around, maybe even some freezing drizzle as we keep warming well into the 20s.

Tuesday brings a brief thaw, with temperatures around 40, with showers. And some wet snow in the mountains. So it'll get sloppy and slushy.

Then another cold front comes through by Wednesday morning. It'll get pretty cold again, and Tuesday's slush will turn into sheets of ice. And crusty snow. Watch out under foot. It'll be slip and slide weather for you pedestrians Wednesday and Thursday. Roads could be kinda slippery Wednesday morning, too.

From there, big changes come again. Another storm system is expected to arrive Friday and Saturday. At this point, it looks like a warm one, at least around here. That probably means snow to icy precipitation to rain and back to snow at the end. This storm is nearly a week away, so it's hard to tell exactly what it's going to do. Stay tuned for updates, but what I've described looks like the scenario at this point.

Along the East Coast, it looks like there will be rain, with a fair amount of snow in the Great Lakes region. This storm should be over for almost everyone by Saturday afternoon and evening. However, some indications are that another storm could spread coastal rain and inland snow across the Northeast on Christmas Day.

There's even a chance it could be a fairly substantial snow. But looking at things eight days in advance, it's very hard to tell if that scenario will play out or not.  Could be a bust. Don't count on that storm yet, for sure. We'll see how it turns out.

It also looks like a very strong cold snap will begin to invade the Northern Plains and Great Lakes next weekend, and intensify on Christmas a few days thereafter. That very cold air will probably reach the Northeast after that maybe storm on Christmas. It's definitely looking like a very active weather pattern through the end of the year, and possibly into the beginning of 2018.