Intense Cold; Harsh Winter Storms Continue Much Of U.S.; Vermont Stays On Fringes

Not in the mood for a nice al fresco breakfast out on the
deck this morning, St. Albans, Vermont. Too snowy,
chilly for outdoor dining, and it will stay like this for awhile.

 Some pretty nasty winter weather - some of the roughest in  years in some parts of the nation are ongoing. If anything, things are about to get worse.  

Think deep freeze, lots of ice in places, and of course, snow. 

Meanwhile, here in Vermont, we'll see some effects of this, but not to the extreme other places will see. More on that in a bit. 

The Northern Plains in particular have been locked in some brutal Arctic air for a few days now and that will only intensify.  And spread south and east. 

An example of the persistent cold comes from our friends in Grand Forks, North Dakota, who by next Monday will have spend 11 consecutive days below zero. 

 Lucky them! Similar chill is widespread from Montana and Upper Michigan and south to Nebraska.

This Arctic air is going to ooze southward toward Texas and spread east to an extent over the next few days. Some forecasts have parts of northern Texas as much as 50 degrees below normal. For instance, normal afternoon highs in Amarillo are in the upper 50s this time of year, but they'll be lucky to make it to 10 above zero by Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, warmer, wetter air over the Southeast is fighting tough against this Arctic invasion. The result has been, over the past few days, a series of winter storms along the battle zone between the Arctic chill and the southern warmth. 

This winter weather battle zone has mostly extended from the places like Arkansas east-northeastward to the Middle Atlantic States on up to southern New England.

Another storm is going by with a stripe of snow today out of the Ohio Valley and into southern New England with several inches of snow 

The warm air from the Southeast keeps trying to glide north but is forced to rise up and over the cold, dense air to the north and west.  This sets the stage for a lot of freezing rain in the coming days in parts of the Tennessee and Ohio valleys and - once again  - parts of the Mid-Atlantic states tomorrow and Thursday. 

Yet another storm in the east is possible over the weekend. 

VERMONT EFFECTS

We've definitely got cold weather coming up in the Green Mountain State, and some chances for snow here and there, but for now, the worst of the weather seems to want to stay to our west and south. 

Remember that battle zone I just described? We're north of it. Some snow does manage to sneak into Vermont from time to time, but we're escaping much of it. 

Today's little system isn't a blockbuster, but will provide another three to seven inches of snow to a good chunk of southern New England.  Far southern Vermont should share in that mini-dump.

Northern Vermont is further away from the storm and will only get light snow. The National Weather Service in South Burlington is going for one to as many as three inches north and east of Interstate 90 and two to four inches south and west of that line. 

The snow will be very fluffy and easy to shovel. However, roads are slick in spots for this morning's commute and the same can be said for the trip home late this afternoon.

Next up: The cold.  Remember how I said that huge blob of Arctic air over the middle of the nation was being blocked in its southward progress by stubborn warm, humid-ish air over the Southeast.

Well that cold air has to go somewhere, so some of it is heading east - towards us.  Luckily, it'll get modified on its trip toward Vermont. Which means it will get very cold, but we won't exactly be East Grand Forks (see above).

Instead, temperatures will decline as we go through the rest of the week.  Afternoon highs Friday and Saturday will only be in the single numbers and low teens with lows a little below zero. Yes, uncomfortable, but we've seen worse. 

The cold, dry, dense air over us will keep the storm track well to our south Wednesday through Saturday, so very little if any snow will fall during that period. 

The core of the cold air will stay to our west through the weekend, and that warm air will stay to the Southeast, so the winter storm battle line continues.

The weather forecasting computer models are having a terrible time figuring out how storms and precipitation will play out more than a couple days in advance. So anything starting I'd say Saturday is a wild card. 

Originally, a decent storm was suppose to come up our way Friday, but as noted, that will stay way south of us. Now, some of the models give us some sort of decent storm Sunday, but not all of them. The computer models have all been flip-flopping between snow, even mixed precipitation later on Sunday, or just continued dry, cold weather.

So, at this point, flip a coin for Sunday. I have no freakin' clue what will happen then and neither does anybody else.  We'll know more in a couple days.