Halfway Point Of Winter In Vermont Brings First Real Introduction To Winter

After an almost nonexistent start to winter, it's definitely,
finally looking like the season around my 
hacienda in St. Albans, Vermont today.

Yes, the headline is a bit confusing, but it is accurate!  

Meteorologically speaking, we're at the halfway point of winter right around today. If you average everything out, today (or the days surrounding it) are the nadir of winter. 

It's the point of the season at which we should have endured half the subzero cold spells and winter storms Ma Nature will give us, and we have the other half to go. 

I'm talking about meteorological winter, I'll remind you. Astronomical winter started on December 20 and doesn't end until March 20.

By March 20, though, we should be warming up toward spring and by then, sugaring season I hope will be off to a rip-roaring start. 

This winter in Vermont, as we all know, has been an odd duck. Weather wise, it pretty much didn't even start until the past week or so, with several snowfalls and a turn toward colder weather. 

The forecast really does make it clear this winter starts now. The season will be back-ended, meaning the more intense part of the winter will be today and afterwards. "Intense" is a relative word here.  

It's going to get cold, as the chilliest air of the winter descends upon us in the next few days, but the frigid air will fall well short of the rock bottom chill we've seen in most past winters. 

Today, an Arctic cold front will bring what is forecast to be an intensifying line of snow squalls across Vermont. They'll sweep through starting near noon in the northwest and exiting out of Vermont in th south and east toward evening. 

You'll want to watch out for these, especially if you have to drive anyway.  If one heads you're way, everything will be fine on the roads, but an instant later, you're in heavy, blinding snow and the road ices up in an instant.   

My driveway in St. Albans, Vermont doesn't exactly look
like a snow canyon like it does in some winters, but
respectable snow banks are starting to take shape. 

If you know a snow squall is approaching, or you get an alert from the National Weather Service or other meteorologists,  it's best to stay put and not drive anywhere until after the squall passes and the salt shakers subsequently clear the roads. 

The snow squalls give us the chance of another one to three inches of accumulation today 

Then, it's on to the deeper chill, something we're not used to this winter. Snow showers will continue, especially along the western slopes through Saturday, but that won't be the main issue. 

The big story will be some long-lasting cold, which starts tonight and goes at least through next Thursday. 

High temperatures will be in the teens to maybe low 20s through the period, with lows a few degrees either side of zero.

This is only a little colder than normal, frankly, but we're not used to it, so the chill will come as a shock. Saturday will be especially nasty because of gusty northwest winds that will drive wind chills down into the minus teens. 

If you love big snowstorms during cold weather, it seems like you're out of luck.  A series of snowstorms will cross the nation roughly west to east over the next week or so. However, the cold high pressure from Canada that is lowering our temperatures in Vermont looks like it will shove the storms too far south to affect us. 

There's always a chance one of these storms could make a detour and give us some snow, but it's unlikely for sure.

Beyond next week, who knows?

However, as the weeks go by, you'll perhaps find that winter is losing some of its punch as the sun angle rises.

At the northern tip of Alaska, in the city of Utqiagvik, formerly Barrow, the sun will rise above the horizon today for the first time since November 18.  This hints at the rising sun angle. 

Eventually, not yet, but eventually, this increasing sun in the Arctic will damage the ability of the top of the world to generate ferocious Arctic outbreaks down where we live.

Vermont's second half of winter will almost certainly be colder than the first half, because it almost can't be any warmer than the first half. Early signs continue to point away from anything extreme heading into early February. 

Even if we do get some 20 below blasts in February, the rising sun angle will make the daytimes almost seem tolerable. 

The midway point of winter means, right now, you should be checking your seed catalogs and putting in your orders.  Spring is closer than you think.