Vermont's Icy Morning: Schools Closed, Slip Sliding Away, Cabin Fever Ensues

A view of my driveway in St. Albans, Vermont, which was a skating
rink this morning. If the photo seems blurry, it's because I was
also clinging desperately to the back of my truck at the time to
avoid sliding downhill and falling. 

Boy, it is quite a mess out there in Vermont this morning, proving that it doesn't take a lot of freezing rain to shut things down.

As expected,  light freezing rain fell across most of the state overnight. It lasted a bit longer into the morning than expected.

As of 9:30 a.m., a change to snow was slowly moving south to north across Vermont, but the damage is done. Most Vermont schools are closed, as districts didn't want to take a chance on that glare, smooth ice.

The main roads have been treated, so they're probably not the worst they can be. Side roads and sidewalks? Fughettabout it!!!

All I know is I can't even get to my truck to scrape the ice off it. It's parked on a slight incline in my driveway and when I try to gingerly walk out to the truck, I slide right by.  I'm stuck at home again by a winter storm, for the second Tuesday in a row.

Had all the precipitation been snow, this would have been no big deal. We would have gotten one to four inches of fluff, and Vermont life would have gone on as normal.  Instead, Vermont schools have already racked up two snow days, and it's only November.

On the bright side, the ice is mostly not heavy enough to damage trees and power lines. There are a handfull of outages in southeastern Vermont, where freezing rain was a bit heavier and some heavy, wet snow mixed in as well.

Since a thin layer of snow will fall atop the ice in most locations, and temperatures will either barely rise above freezing today or not reach 32 degrees at all, it's going to be treacherous underfoot for quite awhile.

The main roads will continue to improve as precipitation tapers off later today, but be careful walking or driving on back roads for a few days.  I'm afraid there will be plenty of emergency room visits from falls over the next couple of days.

By the way, according to Vermont labor law, if you are entitled to sick days at work, you are legally allowed to take a sick day to deal with your kids who are not in school. Of course, low income kids get free lunches at school. If they're not in school, they don't get that free lunch. Their cash-strapped families have to figure that out on their own.

For those of you who are young and spry, it might be a good idea to check in on elderly and disabled people to see if you can bring anything to them. That way, they won't have to risk it on our nearly statewide skating rink.

There might be some more minor accumulations of snow tomorrow, especially in the mountains. It won't be anything great - a trace to two inches at most.

Another weather front is due Friday, which could bring us another bout of snow showers or snow squalls - all this preceded by some rain.

Temperatures will remain frustratingly below normal at least through next Sunday.  If you have snow and ice on the ground, chances are most of it will stick around for quite awhile yet.