Winter Weather — Western Franklin, Vermont

2021-12-25 to 2021-12-26 · Western Franklin, Vermont

Event narrative

Light accumulation of ice, less than a tenth of flat ice, due to freezing rain/drizzle. Numerous vehicle accidents (solo or multi-vehicle) due to icy roads.

In Sheldon, a vehicle slid off a road and flipped over into a brook with 2 passengers (and driver) onboard. The passenger in the back seat was a 19 month year old male that was under water for some time in a car seat before able to be extracted and later died.

Wider weather episode

Low pressure across the Great Lakes on Christmas Eve (December 24th) slowly traveled and transferred energy to a new coastal low near Cape Cod during the night of December 25th. This delivered a wintry mix of mainly light freezing rain and freezing drizzle beginning the morning of December 25th and ending as freezing drizzle and light snow on the morning of December 26th.

Snow accumulations were an inch or two across the northern mountains and NE VT with ice accumulations generally a tenth of an inch or less, except locally up to 1/4 inch in the lower Connecticut River Valley with little activity along the Canadian border.

Significant travel issues across VT during Christmas morning, especially in central and eastern VT with numerous vehicle accidents and the closure of portions of Interstate 89/91 and other roads at times.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 990219. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.