Ugly Friday Morning Today, Better Later

You can see the ice I will have to break through to get into
my truck this morning. Then I hope I"ll survive the icy
trip to work. Ugh. 

Just a quick update this morning, as it sure is ugly out there. When I took the dogs out first thing this morning, 5 a.m., in St. Albans, Vermont we were greeted by wind gusts of 40 mph and freezing rain. Everything is iced over. Yuck!

Nearly everywhere in Vermont is bad this morning, so take it slow and easy going to work this morning. Definitely allow extra time. Even in the Champlain Valley, there was enough freezing rain to ice the roads over.

The National Weather Service in South Burlington wisely extended the winter weather advisory into the Champlain Valley, so now that advisory covers the whole state.

Parts of the Champlain Valley are beginning to rise above freezing, but that might not help much. The ground is cold, so even if it's slightly above freezing where you are, chances are the rain is still turning to ice on roads, driveways and sidewalks. That's especially true on untreated surfaces.

Over and east of the Green Mountains, temperatures were still in the low to mid 20s early this morning. Snow and sleet were falling in those areas, which is bad enough, but it'll go over to freezing rain there, too. It'll last longer, so much of the morning will be an icy mess.

Much of the rest of New England is icy, too, so it's a region wide problem early this Friday morning.

There's not enough freezing rain to break trees and power lines. But in some places, it's windy enough to accomplish this. A wind advisory is in effect for the Champlain Islands and the western half of Franklin County.  Winds could gust to 55 mph through 1 p.m. today.

I can attest the wind is howling in St. Albans, Vermont here in Franklin County. It's even windier now than it was at 5 a.m., when I let the dogs out.

It should get better this afternoon. Most everyone will get above freezing, so anything that falls will be plain rain. The rain should generally get lighter and somewhat more showery this afternoon, too. Where it's windy, the gusts will die down somewhat.

After a mild night, with lows in the 28 to 35 degree range, we'll have something of a repeat of last Saturday. Temperatures will fall through the day behind a cold front. I'm a little skeptical of this, but the Natonal Weather Service is advising that we might have patchy dense freezing fog in areas for a time Saturday afternoon and evening, which of course would be a problem on the roads. (Think black ice and poor visibility.) It's something to watch out for.

Sunday looks dry and cold, so that will be an easy day. Beyond that, the forecast remains uncertain here in the North Country. It looks like some type of inclement weather is due later New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, but what form that would take is anybody's guess at this point.