Some Snow Continues In Vermont Today As February Turns Harsh

I opted not to re-shovel my St. Albans, Vermont driveway
yet this morning. If I do, ongoing freezing drizzle will
make the pavement super slippery. (If you look carefully,
you can see the glaze from the freezing drizzle on the trees).
It should flip back to snow later this morning. 

The snow stopped overnight in much of Vermont from this long duration but not super dramatic storm we've been having. 

But surprise, surprise, it's not quite done yet.  Some spots will likely get a few more inches. I guess once it starts snowing, it's sometimes hard to stop. 

Overnight, the feed of moisture coming off the ocean lifted into southern Quebec and back down into northeastern New York.  It was still snowing in the northern Adirondacks and parts of the St. Lawrence Valley, so a winter storm warning remains in effect there. 

I guess northern New York will end up being the big winner with this storm.

Forecasters believe the weakening but still real moisture band will pull back into Vermont today.  The storminess is retreating toward the Canadian Maritimes, and as it does so it will pull that snow band back into northern Vermont today. 

A layer of warm air just above the surface made a liar out of me overnight.  I said before the storm that mixed precipitation wouldn't be a problem. 

However, in much of northern Vermont, snow changed to patchy freezing drizzle - what I call "frizzle" overnight. At my St. Albans, Vermont house, I now have a storm total of 8.5 inches of snow, with a thin crust of ice atop the snow, and on all the trees. Only 0.05 inches of ice, in my estimation, but still. 

If you haven't driven to work yet, be wary on the roads. The "frizzle" along with the lingering snow on the pavement is making things treacherous. 

The freezing drizzle is expected to flip back to snow later this morning. 

This new round of snow will miss southern Vermont, but seems destined to add another one to three inches accumulation in the Champlain Valley.  Several towns near and just north of Burlington have had just under a foot of snow already, so this will add to it.

The biggest snow totals in Vermont I've seen so far are 15.2 in Landgrove, in far southern Vermont; 14 inches in West Windsor and 12.9 inches in Milton, a little north of Burlington. 

The western slopes of the northern and central  Green Mountain are in for another two to five inches  of snow today, according to the National Weather Service in South Burlington. 

Light snow and flurries will continue tonight, so there might be another inch or two with that.  Blowing snow will continue to be a problem today. That snow is light and fluffy, so north winds gusting to 25 mph or so will easily pick the powder up and blow it around.

Along the New England coast, that storm continued to spread misery and damage yesterday. High tides, storm surges and waves made one house topple into the ocean in Sandwich, Massachusetts; Other property suffered some damage in Massachusetts and Maine. 

Light snow continued in the Mid-Atlantic states Tuesday after the huge dump the day before. One town in New Jersey reported a storm total of 35 inches.  Snow showers continued all the way down to the Washington DC area early this morning. 

WINTRY OUTLOOK

Winter this year was awfully late to the party, finally, gradually setting in during the second half of January. Now that winter is entrenched, it's going to get stubborn.  February might turn out to be a relatively intense winter month, at least compared to the tropical feel we had during the first part of the season.

Thursday looks quiet, but a fairly intense storm coming west to east across the nation will arrive here Friday.  It won't be a big storm, but it will lay down a little bit more snow.

It's got a squirt of warmish air with it, so what snow does come down might be on the wet side as temperatures go into the mid and upper 30s.  A few rain drops might mix in as well.

Saturday will be a bit cooler, but still pretty mild for early February (Highs a few degrees either side of 30).

Then the cold air arrives for an extended stay.  

There was talk in weather circles of a pretty intense nor'easter later Sunday, but that's looking less and less likely, at least for the moment. 

The southern branch of the jet stream needed to team up with a northern branch, but it doesn't really look like the two pieces will play all that well together. They still might get their act together, but don't hold your breath.

We'll still get some light snow as the cold air floods in later Sunday and Monday. 

All of next week will be cold, but at least the core of the deep Arctic air will stay to our west, over the Midwest.  Which means it won't be cold as it possibly could get, but still, not exactly comfortable. There will be chances for snow showers all of next week, but don't look for any more big dumps.