New England Cold Wave Sets In, Wind Chills Make Us Shiver

Morning atmosphere outside my place in St. Albans, Vermont
has that cold, icy look associated with nasty winter Arctic blasts.

I've lived in Vermont all of my life so far (58 years!) and generally speaking, if I had a complaint about Vermont it was too little summer, too much winter. 

Lately, that's been turned on its head. The past few summers in the Green Mountain State have been a little too hot and humid for my taste. Which is definitely a departure from what I'm used to. 

Meanwhile, I'm no fan of winter, at least in my old age. My enthusiasm for epic snowstorms and weeks of subzero cold have very much waned in the past couple of decades. I like mild weather. 

I'm a little stunned to feel myself thinking this winter has been too much on the warm side. At least until now.  Though I can't say I love the current Arctic outbreak, at least it gives me a semblance of how things are supposed to be.

Thursday afternoon, I had some chores to do outdoors at my property, in the northwestern corner of Vermont. At the time the temperature was dropping, and a northwest wind was picking up. The air was bracing and invigorating. Given the lack of cold air this winter, it felt, plainly, very good. 

I guess I should be careful of what I wish for, as the Arctic chill, as forecast, has intensified as of this morning. So enough of my cold weather soliloquy. 

Temperatures at dawn today were right around zero for pretty much all of us. A steady north wind has wind chills in the teens below zero. That state of affairs will continue all day. 

If you think it's bad here in the valleys, check out the mountains. When a piece of the polar vortex breaks off and passes over us, temperatures really decrease with height, and the wind up there howls. 

Last evening's forecast discussion from the National Weather Service in S. Burlington told the story: "Summit locales will see extreme cold during this period with the highest summits seeing wind chill values exceeding -40 degrees."

Well, that forecast sure verified. As of 6 a.m. today, the summit of Mount Mansfield was 13 below, with a wind screaming at 52 mph, gusting to 64 mph.  That translates to a wind chill of 50 below. Ugh. 

In my opinion, at least, today's not the day for a ski trip.  It will warm up in the next couple of days, so be patient. 

Speaking of being patient, careful on the roads today. Because the piece of the polar vortex that's on top of us is really an upper level low, it's able to squeeze out some fine snowflakes, despite the dry air. 

That's enough to make the roads a little slick. It's too cold for salt to work.  The roads might look relatively bare, but the tiny snowflakes in this kind of Arctic chill tend to form a little black ice. Also, bridges over rivers really freeze because steam and moisture rising from the water ice up on the spans.

It seems like every time we have a cold snap like this, we have crashes on the Winooski River bridge near Burlington, leading to big traffic tie ups on Interstate 89. I'm kind of expecting that today. (I'm working from home these days, so I can gloat that I don't have to deal with that)!

As we said yesterday, Saturday will be a little better as we have a shot at a little more sun, plus the wind won't be as strong. Saturday night will be the coldest of the nights, because partly clear skies and lighter winds will allow temperatures to drop quickly.'

Sunday looks quiet and cold too.

Now, about that storm: At this point, it's still looking like the heaviest snow with this thing will fall in southern New England. Though there's always a chance this thing could take a jog north and get us here in Vermont, too.

Enough moisture looks like it will wrap itself around the storm to the north and west to suggest Vermont will get some light snow out of this at least, with the best chances across the southeastern half of the state.

Naturally, this forecast will get updated as we come closer to the event.