· An active period is once again upon us, but not before very nice Friday with temps above freezing for highs possibly heading toward 40 Lake Champlain Valley…

· Saturday system a fairly weak one and fairly far north – James Bay Canada but enough to bring a period of light wet snow to elevated terrain – watch it Banana Peel slickness but elevated off most valley floors elevation depending.

· Flurries tail off to slightly colder weather for Christmas Eve and Christmas Sunday.

· An Ugly shot of rain will make for hazardous travel beginning with a wintry mix Monday into Monday night as temperatures max out in the 40s in the dark Monday night.

· Tuesday an improvement followed by a weak cold front later in the day triggering a few flurries.

· Wednesday next best day for sunshine. The area of high pressure pushes out with a delivery of milder once again and another round rain which essentially ends up as a sheet %!%^%~!$ ice.

· Merry Christmas – Happy healthy safe Holidays to all. Keep watching this space for travel issues.

TODAY: Isolated flurry far northern areas this morning, otherwise morning clouds gives way to increasing sunshine. A high in the mid 30s. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph.

TONIGHT: Patchy high clouds but otherwise fair skies. A low near 20. Light south winds.

SATURDAY: Brief morning sunshine, then clouding up. A period of light wet snow possibly mixed with rain developing late morning on. Accumulation of a dusting to an inch across the higher terrain with slippery travel. Temperatures top out in the mid 30s. South to southwest winds 10 to 15 mph.

Looking Further ahead…

SATURDAY NIGHT CHRISTMAS EVE: Scattered mountain flurries. Otherwise mostly cloudy. A low in the mid 20s.

SUNDAY CHRISTMAS DAY: Maybe an isolated northern mountain flurry early. A high 25 to 30.

MONDAY INTO MONDAY NIGHT: Clouding up. A wintry mix develops in the afternoon, with a strong risk for rain and pockets of freezing rain producing locally hazardous travel. Monday morning low zero to 5 below. Temperatures eventually rising through the 30s in the evening, and 40 to 45 Monday overnight.

TUESDAY: Blustery and gradually colder with clouds and intervals of sun developing. A few late day flurries northern areas. Temperatures around 40 early falling into the low and mid 30s.

WEDNESDAY: Slight chance for a flurry, then sunny but cold. Colder. A low near 10. A high 15 to 20.

THURSDAY: Cloudy. A wintry mix transitioning to rain Thursday night with hazardous travel possible. A low around 10. A high rising into the low to mid 40s Thursday night.

Average lows upper single digits to low to mid teens. Normal highs upper 20s to low 30s. RH/12-22[end]