Ever Deeper Into Winter

How it started: My yard in St. Albans, Vermont begins its 
journey toward winter on September 1.......

Nothing like a bit of a snow cover to finally drive temperatures down to winter depths. 

It's not your imagination, it really was a cold morning in and near Vermont today. Nothing close to any records, mind you, but it was certainly something that we're not used to yet. 

Anytime there's snow on the ground and you get at least partly clear skies, like we did last night and early this morning, it gets cold. 

The region's first subzero reading of the season came in early this morning from notorious cold spot Saranac Lake, New York, that got to at least 1 below.  That town is regularly colder than everybody else. Still, quite a few single digit readings came in from Vermont's colder hollows this morning.

Banana belt Burlington, Vermont got down to 14 this morning, the first under 20 reading of the season. This after reaching a high of 31 yesterday, the first subfreezing daily high of the season. 

Those two stats -  the first under 20 at night, the below freezing high - were somewhat later in the season than normal but not at all unprecedented. The last time we had a later first under 20 night was in 2016, when we waited until December 10.

In 2015, we incredibly had to wait until December 28 for Burlington's first subfreezing day.

The snow we had Friday night was a little less impressive on the mountain tops than it could have been. Jay Peak got a decent 18 inches of snow, but I had expected close to two feet of fresh powder up there. Still, I'm sure the skiers and riders are happy there. 

How it ended. Same view as above in my yard, except
photo was taken yesterday, when we could say the 
journey into winter was complete. 

The snow stake near the top of Mount Mansfield showed nine inches of snow on the ground Thursday, and that was up to 18 inches by Saturday. Again, OK, but not earth-shattering. 

Going forward, expect some typical early winter Vermont weather for the next week.  It's nice to see the sun and blue skies this morning, despite the chill.  Don't get used to it.  As I noted yesterday, it's the cloudiest time of the year. 

Clouds will fill in today ahead of weak little thing going by to our south tonight. That one will fling a little light snow to central and southern Vermont, but that'll be a total non-biggie. There also might be a little sun Tuesday. But that will be it for bright weather all week.

The most "impressive" system looks like it will come by Thursday. That'll bring some gusty south winds with it to warm us up enough to produce some chilly rain showers. (perhaps staying snow in the mountains, we'll see).  Then it will be back to clouds, flurries, and chill.

It's still unclear what next weekend will bring but at this point,  but my initial guess is a continuation of these mediocre little things throwing wind and light precipitation our way.