Loud Night Leads To Frigid Morning In Vermont

Strong winds affected all of New England last night. At my
house a large wreath was blown off the side of the house
and some small branches are down, but in Boston, seven
stories worth of scaffolding blew down. 

 I often refer to "Arctic blasts" when we get a winter cold wave and last night described the scenario as perfectly as possible.  

The frigid air rushed in amid wind gusts of more than 50 mph through much of Vermont. I went to bed last night hearing the woods behind my St. Albans, Vermont house absolutely roaring amid the gusts. 

March winds indeed! 

Those gusts were strong statewide, the strongest in months. Burlington topped out at 53 mph and 51 mph in Montpelier. I'm sure some spots were even windier, especially along the east slopes of the Green Mountains, where the northwest winds could get momentum going down those slopes. 

The strong wind gusts affected all of New England, New York and southeastern Canada, causing power failures, tree damage and whiteouts in some areas with blowing snow. 

In Vermont, nearly 8,000 homes and businesses had no power at around 10 p.m. last night as the strongest winds blew through. That number was down to about 1,000 by 6 a.m. today.

In some spots, especially in central and southern Vermont, snow squalls continued last evening. At one point, Springfield, Vermont was at zero visibility in snow and blowing snow with gusts to 46 mph. 

As of daybreak, winds had diminished slightly, but were strong and gusty.  With temperatures near zero now, wind chills are brutal, so work that into your wardrobe decisions as you head out this morning 

Those wind chills are in the teens and 20s below zero through this morning, so it's not the day to spend a lot of time outdoors. 

Especially in the mountains.  I know pretty much none of you were planning on heading to the top of Mount Washington, New Hampshire, this morning, but for the record, at one point it was 26 below, with winds of 110 mph gusting to 117 mph and a wind chill of 80 below.

Definitely not my kind of weather. 

Winds could still be strong enough to blow down a few more branches and wires through mid-morning, especially along the east slopes of the Greens.

The wind will continue to slowly wane this afternoon as the sun starts to reappear, but it will still be blustery and cold. Temperatures in some spots won't get past 20 degrees in some spots. 

A weak storm coming through tonight and tomorrow might turn out to be a bit of an over-achiever in terms of snow. Sure, it doesn't have much moisture to work with, but it still appears to have enough oomph to squeeze out one to three inches of snow, mostly north of Route 4. 

It'll stay wintry for several days as we stay under a northwest flow from Canada.  Early signs suggest a warmup early next week.