A storm bringing snow, sleet and rain will blow into Vermont Tuesday evening, disrupting Thanksgiving travel overnight and into Wednesday morning.
โFor the state of Vermont, we will see precipitation mainly as snow coming in this evening,โ said Seth Kutikoff, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Burlington. Snow from the west will likely begin between 6 and 8 p.m.
According to Kutikoff, Vermonters east of the Green Mountains can expect a widespread 2 to 5 inches of snow, transitioning to sleet and finally rain Wednesday morning, with winds gusting up to 35 miles per hour. The Champlain Valley will get less snow, closer to 1 inch, before precipitation changes to rain, he said.
In the Champlain Valley, warmer temperatures mean a lower chance of significant ice accumulation, Kutikoff said. Precipitation there will change quickly from snow to rain as early as 1 or 2 a.m. East of the mountains, a prolonged wintry mix later in the morning is expected, making for more hazardous travel, he said.
Wednesday afternoon will likely be the safest time to hit the roads for holiday travel, if it is possible to wait, according to Kutikoff. By then, the ice is expected to have melted.
While the state is not expecting a โmajor event,โ Vermont Emergency Management will have a watch officer on duty, Mark Bosma, a spokesperson for emergency management, said in an email. The stateโs emergency operations center staff generally recommends that people keep a blanket, snacks and water in their car during winter months in the event of a slide off the road, he said.
โPeople should monitor the weather and social media and adjust their travel plans accordingly,โ Bosma said.
Though the weather service predicts snow totals in the 3-to-5-inch range around Windsor County and the southern Green Mountains, localized accumulation of 6 inches or greater is possible. Kutikoff highlighted the Ludlow area as one place that could get more snow than nearby towns, bolstered in part by an upslope effect.
