Update: Winter In Spring Day 2 In Vermont. Spring Warmth Returns Soon Though!

A blinding snow squall with zero visibility and winds to 
40 mph blasts through St Albans, Vermont late this morning.

 I'm still not over the dynamic storm that struck the Northeast yesterday and today.  

The snow and oddly intense cold it caused in much of the nation, including here in Vermont and the entire Northeast is pretty incredible. 

The storm was so energetic that its cold front produced not only severe thunderstorms in the Mid-Atlantic States and southern New England, but also at least two tornadoes.

According to the National Weather Service in Albany, New York, an EF-1 tornado touched down in Amenia, New York, which is near the Connecticut border about 25 miles northeast of Poughkeepsie. 

That tornado, with estimated winds of up to 100 mph, damaged ten homes, ripped the roof off a restaurant, but caused no injuries.

A second tornado, an EF-0 with winds up to 85 mph, damaged trees near South Kent, Connecticut. This tornado was a little southeast of the first one mentioned above.

Given the fact we already had a tornado in Middlebury, Vermont back in March, it's beginning to look like this is getting ready to be at least the third busy tornado year in a row in the Northeast, at least by the standards of this region. 

Today, the storm that cause the snow, the tornadoes and general ruckus in the Northeast was departing, but it still had a huge impact on Vermont and surrounding areas. Especially for this time of year. 

Snow showers and snow squalls spun through Vermont, New York, Quebec and a few other places today, keeping winter firmly in place.   

A sad, frozen daffodil lies crushed beneath the snow 
in my St. Albans, Vermont garden today. 

Late this morning, one of the most intense snow squalls I've seen in any season -  including in the depths of winter - roared through here in St. Albans. 

It dropped visibility to a firm zero and produced wind gusts in the 40 mph range. There's a video of it at the bottom of this post. 

I was also impressed by how long temperatures stayed below freezing. Burlington, Vermont was at or below freezing for a full 24 consecutive hours before finally sneaking up to 33 degrees at around 2 p.m. today.

Some places east of the Greens and north of Route 4 had still not risen above freezing as of 5 p.m. today.  

Updated snowfall totals have come in, too. These include 8.8 inches in Greensboro, 8 inches in Hardwick, 7.4 inches in Nashville, near Jericho and 7 inches in the towns of Sheffield, Waitsfield and Cabot. 

Thankfully, any further snow showers will be confined to the mountains tonight. Valleys should expect nothing more than flurries. 

As many of you can see, the snow was still holding fast on the ground in much of Vermont as today drew close to an end. 

Don't worry, I'm still insisting a lot of the snow will go disappear quickly tomorrow. It still won't be necessarily warm, but good enough to get rid of much of that white. 

In a potential hint of what's to come, some forecasters are hinting that high temperatures in the warmer valleys of Vermont exactly a week from now could touch 80 degrees for the first time this year. 

Ahhhhhh.

Two videos:

The first shows the progression of the storm as snow accumulated in St. Albans, Vermont Wednesday:

Second one is the snow squalls today. The first snow squall in the video is incredible. Note the sound of panicked birds shortly before 1 minute in.  At 1:15 in, you would normally very clearly see a house right across the street. Not a sign of it during the squall. Here it is: