An early spring storm that dumped more than 12 inches of snow in parts of the Upper Midwest earlier this week began moving into the Northeast Wednesday night. It’s losing steam, but may still impact truckers through Thursday night and into Friday.
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Mixed precipitation will make roads messy and potentially hazardous from upstate New York to northern New England. The National Weather Service has issued winter weather advisories for the region.
Depending on location and elevation, some places could see 3 inches of sleet and snow combined, or only snow, amounting to 7 inches. This will impact the Catskills and Adirondacks in New York, as well as much of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, including Albany, New York; Montpelier, Vermont; Concord, New Hampshire; and Caribou, Maine.
Freezing rain could produce ice accumulations ranging from a glaze in valleys and lower elevations to one-third of an inch in some mountains. Winds may also be gusty in some places.
Drivers will run into slick and slushy conditions, as well as potential road closures where ice or wet snow weighs down tree limbs and power lines. Look for spotty to scattered power outages in the region.
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Major cities and freight hubs along the Interstate 95 corridor in the Northeast will mainly be wet. But as drivers reach southern Maine, rain will change to a wintry mix. Snow and sleet will amount to about an inch, with a glaze of ice possible.
This is a slow-moving system that will also produce periods of rain in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast.
Major lanes of concern
• Interstate 87 from Saratoga Springs, New York, to the New York-Canada border.
• Interstate 89 from Montpelier, Vermont, to Concord, New Hampshire.
• Interstate 91 from Springfield, Massachusetts, to the New York-Canada border.
• Interstate 93 from Concord to the Interstate 91 junction.
• Interstate 95 from the Maine-Canada border to Miami.
Click here for more FreightWaves articles by Nick Austin.
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