Monday Evening Update: Surprisingly Pleasant Vermont Winter Storm, At Least For Some Of Us

A truck got stuck on icy Fairfield Hill Road (Route 36)
during Monday's storm, tying up traffic for about a 
half hour. Somebody came to their aid, plowing
in front of the truck and spreading salt. 

For all the misery today's winter storm caused in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada, tbis one turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant one, all things considered. 

Strong downslope winds this morning did cause some damage to trees and power lines along some of the western slopes of the Green Mountains, especially in southern Vermont. I got a report today of shingles blown off at least one house on the Mendon/Rutland border. 

That strong east wind aloft did initially dramatically cut down on snowfall in western Vermont and in the Northeast Kingdom. 

But a second, several hours long batch of snow moving southeast to northwest across Vermont this afternoon made up for that. In some places, and then some.  Some Northeast Kingdom towns reported only a half inch of snow with the first batch of snow this morning, but came in with storm totals of four or five inches.

Burlington managed 6.3 inches so far, and my place in St. Albans received 5.4 inches. That second bath of snow was able to produce in what had been those drier downslope areas because the winds that had been roaring out of the east a few thousand feet overhead had greatly diminished by late morning. 

The lack of strong east winds mostly erased the "shadow" along western slopes, and snow was able to accumulate. 

The biggest snow totals I've seen so far in Vermont include 14 inches in Wilmington, 13 inches in Northfield and Rochester, and 12 inches in Waitsfield. I'm sure a few other reports will go higher, especially since some light snow will continue, especially in higher elevations through this evening. 

The big loser in the snow department is probably Bennington. Webcam images showed very little snow on the ground there this afternoon, and temperatures were in the upper 30s for a time. 

It did manage to get into the mid-30s in valleys of Vermont away from the Champlain Valley, which stayed a little cooler. But very little rain fell, which was nice. 

The warmth in far southern Vermont valleys left roads in pretty good shape there. The sun even broke through in parts of southern Vermont. 

Roads remain in relatively bad shape in much of northern Vermont. Along my road, Route 36 (Fairfield Hill Road) in St. Albans, a truck got stuck on the steep slope, blocking traffic for about a half hour late this afternoon.

Those comfortable temperatures from this afternoon will be swept away by cold northwest winds tonight. It'll get down into the single digits, with wind chills below zero. It will barely make into the low teens Tuesday.

After a brief warmup with light snow Wednesday, it's back into the deep freeze again.

You really want snow to build up in the winter on the ground in Vermont, to get spring off to a wet start and recharge groundwater.

This storm helped some, but we're still well behind in both snowfall and precipitation overall so far this month. Unfortunately, it looks like we're reverting back to a colder and drier than normal pattern through at least the end of January. 

HAVOC ELSEWHERE

This storm was decidedly less picturesque and fun elsewhere on its long trek through much of the United States and southeastern Canada. On Sunday, the heavy snow and ice caused no fewer than 630 crashes on North Carolina highways. Two people died when a car slid off Interstate 95 in North Carolina and hit trees.

The storm cut power along its tracks all the way from Georgia into southern Quebec.  At least 215,000 were without power up and down the East Coast as of late morning, according to CNN.  There's lots of tree and wire damage from the ice in parts of the Carolinas, and that will take time to fix.

The storm contributed to about 3,000 canceled flights Sunday and at least 1,200 cancelations today 

The storm produced coastal flooding and prompted some evacuations in Connecticut along Long Island Sound. 

The storm's heaviest band of snow was well west of its center, hitting near the Ohio/Pennsylvania border, on up through western New York and then to Toronto and Ottawa

Ashtabula, Ohio reported 27 inches of new snow and Erie, Pennsylvania clocked in with 20.3 inches.

Ottawa, Canada reported 17 inches of snow, its second largest snowstorm on record. A whopping 4.7 inches of that came down in just one hour. Toronto was under a blizzard warning earlier today and accumulated at least a foot of snow.

Up in Quebec City,winds roared at speeds of up to 55 mph, causing blizzard conditions up there.