"Dry" Weather Pattern Is Surprisingly Snowy In Vermont.

It's not the most snow I've ever seen on my weather deck
in St. Albans, Vermont. But repeated snowfalls, many
of them surprises, have left me with a snow depth
of 10 inches or so. Was snowing again when I took this pic.

 Well, I didn't expect that! 

I woke up to a fresh 2.4 inches of snow yesterday morning at my St. Albans, Vermont hacienda. I knew we'd have some flurries, and I was expected a dusting, but no bonafide gotta clear the driveway snow. 

So I shoveled, signed on into work, and glancing out my window, I saw that it started snowing again. A lot. That was good for another 2.5 inches of snow that needed shoveling. No worries, I needed the exercise. 

The bottom line was a hair under 5 inches of new snow that came on a day that less than an inch was forecast. It wasn't just St. Albans.  Up in Eden, they reported six inches of new snow in just three hours yesterday morning. Barton also collected six inches of snow by mid morning. 

Almost four inches fell in Milton, by 7:30 a.m. and that was before another burst of heavy snow blew through. 

After the weekend storm ended, Burlington got surprise snowfalls of 4.2 inches Monday and 2.6 inches yesterday. 

And, as I write this mid-morning Thursday, it is snowing once again. 

Where's all this unexpected snow coming from?

Small storms and disturbances zipping in from the west and northwest are the basic cause, but these weak little things aren't usually able to give us much more than a few flurries. Of course, some of these disturbances have had a little more oomph than usual, which helps wring out a little extra snow.

I have a feeling that the warm winter we've had is partly to blame, or credit depending upon your perspective. 

This winter's warmth hasn't been limited to just around here in Vermont. It's been warm across the Great Lakes, and in Quebec and Ontario. That has left much less ice on lakes in these areas than you'd expect in mid-January. 

I think that weak disturbance that are destined to give us light snow and flurries have been able to grab some moisture from the open waters of the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, and some bodies of water to our northwest. 

This has helped enhance the snowfall. 

A lot of the accumulation has been fluffy too. Unlike the wet snow we had last weekend, the snow so far this week has been really fluffy, and does not have much water in it. The nearly seven inches of snow in Burlington since late Sunday night didn't even quite contain a third of an inch of liquid equivalent. 

"Dry" snow like this accumulates pretty fast, though it eventually settles quite a bit. 

Despite the lack of big storms, it looks like we're in for more snowfall. This morning's snow will tend to taper off a bit this afternoon, only to reblossom for a time tonight. 

A cold front tomorrow afternoon will set off even more snow showers, some locally heavy. Then, cold winds from the northwest will trigger even more snow Friday night and Saturday, mostly over the Green Mountains and western slopes. 

This will add up in the mountains.  Valleys should get one to four inches of new snow between now and Saturday evening, with locally higher amounts.  The Connecticut Valley could get even less than that. West and northwest winds tend to block moisture from places east of the Green Mountains. 

Those mountains, though, especially from Killington north, could wind up with an additional six to 12 inches by Saturday. 

Even drier, colder air should work in by this weekend, limiting snowfall for Sunday onward for a time. It looks like storms coming across the nation from the Southwest between now and the middle of next week will pass by too far south to bother us (Though I've been surprised before.......)

I can't say I'm really complaining about the snow.  Now, it looks like January out there, and the winter sports fan are surely gleeful about things. We're now all set for skiing, riding, snowshoeing and for snowmobiles. 

After a very slow start to winter, we're finally getting close to being up to snuff here in Vermont.