Very Wide Area Of Nation Getting An Icy Storm, Including Vermont

Huge parts of the nation are under winter weather advisories today
(dark blue.) The light blue is wind chill advisories, and the pink
is winter storm warnings. Green is flood watches. 

A remarkably large area of the United States has been, is or will very soon get an icy mixed precipitation.

Areas from Oklahoma to Maine are getting freezing drizzle, freezing rain, sleet and all kinds of icy messes with a storm now affected so much of the nation.

No one place is going to have the Worst Ice Storm Ever. But this is the most extensive area getting icy weather that I can remember in a long, long time.

I would say a good 25 percent of the nation is under winter weather advisories for mixed precipitation and/or snow. I'll get to Vermont's dealings with this in a moment.

There's a broad flow of warm, fairly wet air riding up and over a wavering weather front stretching from the central Plains to the East Coast. A couple of storms are riding along this wobbling front, helping bring lift to the atmosphere. That means precipitation. And there's a lot of it, especially for this time of year.

All things considered, most of the country is normally a little drier in the winter than it is in the summer. It's a pretty wet pattern for the nation, considering what time of year it is.

The icy weather began yesterday and is hitting with varying intensities at different times, depending upon where you are. The worst of the ice seems to have hit across parts of Illinois and Michigan, where many power failures are reported. Some areas of Iowa and Ilinois had thunderstorms mixed with the freezing rain and sleet.

South of the wintry icy area, things aren't much better. It's going to rain pretty hard in the Ohio Valley, and most of that region is under a flood watch. A second storm early next week in that neck of the woods will probably make things even worse

There's also a risk of severe thunderstorms and perhaps a tornado or two from northern Texas to western Kentucky. It's a bit early in the season for such severe weather in Kentucky, but it's certainly not unheard of.

VERMONT IMPACTS

I'm sure you noticed it clouded up awfully fast this morning. There are actually two storms headed this way. The first of the two is weaker, but will cause a lot more problems than the second one.

A surge of moisture with this storm is going up and over relatively cold air over us. That sets the stage for mixed precipitation starting this afternoon.

Forecast ice accumulation in Vermont and surrounding areas.
Red zones might get 0.25 inches of ice or a little more,
enough to cause some issues with broken branches and power lines.

It's really hard to tell in advance exactly what will be falling from the sky and when during these types of storms. In general, with this one, freezing rain could fall anywhere in Vermont, and probably will come down almost everywhere.

Things will start to go downhill mid to late afternoon in Vermont as whatever is going to fall out of the sky will be arriving. This evening's commute will probably be icy.

Overnight will be the worst of it. Thursday morning's commute will probably be no picnic in a lot of areas, but things will improve as the morning goes by.

The best moisture, and the best chances of freezing rain are in southern Vermont. A winter weather advisory is up for all of the region, except within about 25 miles or so of the Canadian border. Up there, precipitation will be lightest, and is more likely to take mostly the form of snow and sleet, rather than freezing rain.

Further south, the precipitation will be more in the form of freezing rain, unfortunately. From roughly Route 2 south, the ice accumulation will be noticeable, with a glaze of 0.1 inches or a little more. That's generally not enough to break trees and power lines.

But from roughly Route 4 south, pockets of ice accumulation of a quarter inch or a little more are possible. That's enough to start damaging trees and power lines. This won't be like the epic ice storms of 1998 or December, 2008 ice storm in southern Vermont and the rest of central New England.

You'll still need to take it seriously, however.

Things will quiet down for Thursday. It will remain cloudy. Temperatures for most of us will get above freezing, and that will melt some of the ice. The second, stronger storm will pass by Thursday night and Friday.

At this point, temperatures look to be a little warmer. There might be a few pockets of freezing rain Thursday night, but most of us will get rain. Yeah, I know, the winter sports people aren't happy about that.

Rain showers will change to scattered snow showers Friday as the storm's cold front comes through. The mildest part of the day will be in the morning, when temperatures will briefly spike into the 40s.

By evening, it will be below freezing, and we'll have a mostly dry, seasonably chilly weekend to deal with.