New Year's Eve Update: Still Looks Messy, Could Be Worse

National Weather Service forecast mapfor snow tonight.
Not much: Rangingfrom nothing in parts of the
ChamplainValley to four inches in eastern Vermont. 

People probably want an update to the weather forecast for their New Year's Eve plans, so here goes, fellow Vermonters.

It still doesn't look like a particularly pleasant night to be out for the festivities. You'll especially want to be careful on the roads.

A winter weather advisory is still in effect for tonight in Vermont from the Green Mountains eastward, most of northern New York outside the Champlain Valley, most of New Hampshire, parts of northern Massachusetts and parts of Maine.

Those areas can expect a mix of snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain overnight and into Tuesday morning. Needless to say the road conditions won't be great. No drinking and driving, please.

Some areas that would like to see some fresh snow cover are actually going to get it out of this storm system. Northeastern Vermont will get a coating of probably two to five inches of wet snow out of this.

The big winners will be northern and western Maine and tbe northern tip of New Hampshire. They are  is under a winter storm warning, where four to 10 inches of snow, mixed with some sleet and freezing rain, is anticipated overnight and Tuesday morning.

Where the snow is heaviest in far eastern Vermont and in the winter storm warning zone, there might be a few power failures due to the wet nature of the snow.

Precipitation looks like it will move in this evening and keep going most of the night. The Champlain Valley looks like it will have a mix of rain and wet snow with this, with little accumulation, if any. Up in the northern Champlain Valley, near St. Albans, they could eek out an inch or two of slush.

Up in Montreal, Sherbrooke and Ottawa, things look nasty for tonight. The cities and surrounding areas are under a freezing rain warning for tonight, with very slick roads, sidewalks and everything else expected.

The roller coaster ride of temperatures will continue. We've had several days in the past couple of weeks when the high temperatures for the day was in the early morning, when it's supposed to be coldest. Then temperatures would fall during the day.

That will be the state of affairs on New Year's Day. The few early risers on Tuesday morning will see temperatures in the 30s and low 40s. Temperatures will crash downward, falling through the 20s during the afternoon. Any water left on roads and sidewalks will freeze, so watch out for that.

It'll get into the single numbers Tuesday night, and not get out of the teens Wednesday afternoon. The late week looks like it will feature near normal temperatures for January.

If you're complaining about the inclement weather we have in store here in Vermont for New Year's Eve, it could be worse. There's always places that are worse.

My pick for the place you don't want to be to celebrate New Year's Eve is eastern North Dakota, along the Red River Valley.

Nothing against North Dakota, but the weather is going to be atrocious there today and tonight. There's a blizzard warning up because of widespread blowing snow. Wind chill alerts are up, too.

Early this morning, it was 8 below in Grand Forks, North Dakota, with extensive blowing snow. The wind was from the north at 31 gusting to 41 mph, with a wind chill of 37 below.

The cold is actually forecast to get a little more intense there as the day wears on. Unless perhaps you are such a fan of the movie "Fargo" that you want to re-enact scenes from the film, I'd stay away from the city of Fargo, North Dakota and vicinity for New Year's Eve.