Blizzard Continues To Blast New England But Avoids Vermont- Early Afternoon Update

Blizzard conditions in Niantic,
Connecticut this morning. Photo
from Twitter
@New_EnglandWx1

As of early afternoon our New England blizzard is behaving as forecast, so kudos to all the meteorologists who have been keeping us up on this one. 

Gusts over hurricane force in some coastal locations, near zero visibility, bitter temperatures and such are all slamming eastern New England.

The storm has left a trail of broken power lines because of the wind. At last report, 100,000 people were without power in the Northeast. 

It is kind of a weird looking nor'easter, with one main center southeast of Cape Cod late this morning and a subsidiary storm trailing it off the Mid-Atlantic coast 

The storm might not look pretty from space but it sure is doing its job down here on the ground. 

 There was an unofficial report of a 98 mph atop a bluff in Truro.  So far, the highest official wind gust I've seen is 78 mph.  

As of 11 a.m., the most snow reported in New England was a foot in Attleborough, Massachusetts, but those totals will rise tremendously before all is said and done. 

One especially heavy band of snow has been parked along the Massachusetts South Shore for hours. That's where the highest snow totals will be reported - possibly near three feet.  It's also where meteorologists have said for a couple days said would be Ground Zero for heaviest snow.  That's an incredible forecasting feat to get that right a couple days in advance. 

In New Jersey, the snow was gradually diminishing as of noon, but there were plenty of reports of 15 or 16 inches of snow on the Jersey Shore. That area, along with parts of Long Island and Connecticut, officially had a blizzard, which is defined as at least three consecutive hours of 35 mph or greater winds combined with lots of falling and/or blowing snow. 

I'm sure Massachusetts will also soon go into the confirmed blizzard zone.

VERMONT UPDATE

There's certainly no blizzard in Vermont.

Satellite view of the big nor'easter. Click on the image
to make it bigger and easier to see. Note the bumpy
nature of the clouds near the coast, indicating heavy 
precipitation. Also note the clear skies just to the west
of Vermont in northern New York. The dry air is winning
out so far, preventing snow from getting much into Vermont.

The frigid, dry air from Quebec was winning out in Vermont as of noon. The light snow in southern and eastern Vermont was not advancing northwestward, at least so far, and where it was falling, it was light.

Up here in northwestern Vermont, the dry air victory is obvious. The overcast in St. Albans has thinned a bit. Clear blue skies are visible far off to the west. 

The cold air drainage from Quebec plus the overcast skies have kept temperatures from rising. Burlington reached 3 below at 5 a.m. and was still at that level at 9 a.m, and had only risen to 1 above at noon. .......

Winds, as expected, had increased, and probably will get even stronger as the afternoon goes on, so wind chills will continue to be miserable - in the teens and 20s below zero in most spots.