That Bit Of Snow Was Nice, But Watch Out For Ice Sunday, Arctic Blast After That

This morning dawned clear and cold in St. Albans, 
Vermont with temperatures near 0 degrees. That's a
foretaste of some bitter Arctic air due here early next week.

 I suppose you could say the snow in Vermont over-performed a bit Friday, which is nice.  

I'm saying that because several places got more snow than forecast. But that's not saying much.  The forecast had said most places would get an inch or two, with locally up to four inches.

A number of places got around three inches of snow.  Rutland for some reason was a hot spot with a little over five inches of fluff. Stowe wasn't far behind with five inches. Looks like about two inches at my St. Albans, Vermont hacienda. 

Places along the coast fared much better with the snow. Several towns in eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island received a foot of snow, with Blue Hill, Massachusetts topping them all with 15 inches. Amounts of six to 10 inches were common in New Jersey, the New York City metro area and Long Island. 

Most of that snow was light and fluffy, though, because conditions aloft supported that kind of snow, temperatures at the surface were several degrees below freezing and there wasn't much wind to wreck the structure of snowflakes. 

Next up, another potential freezing rain nightmare for much of the Northeast Sunday, followed by that well-advertised Arctic blast. 

Ahead of the first of two cold fronts, winds several thousand feet overhead will be screaming from the southwest. That will warm a layer of the atmosphere aloft to above freezing. Those wind gusts and warm air won't be able to mix down to the surface all that well, so large swaths of Pennsylvania, New York and southwestern New England are under winter weather advisories for light freezing rain Sunday. 

There won't be much, but it will be enough to glaze the roads. It's a recipe for highway pileups. There's not much traffic on Sundays, so people might unwisely edge their speeds up. Then they won't be able to stop when there's a spin out in front of them, so there could be chain reaction crashes. 

 Given the bad track record of winter weather calamities on the roads in much of the nation this month, I'm a bit pessimistic.

Up here in Vermont, we'll get little precipitation with the cold fronts. Currently, only the two southernmost counties of the Green Mountain State are under winter weather advisories. But expect slick spots just about anywhere in the state on the roads tomorrow. 

Then we get into the Arctic air after the cold front blows by on Sunday night. Monday will start off cold, then a second front will drop temperatures further. 

By Monday night, it will be miserable.  More often than not, Vermont's coldest winter nights come on clear, calm nights.  This time, exceptionally cold air aloft will keep us frigid despite clouds and wind that would otherwise keep us a bit warmer. 

Those north winds will cause dangerous wind chills Monday through Tuesday, so watch it!

Tuesday still looks like it will be one of those zero degree days for highs. 

The Arctic blast looks to be a quick hitter. It'll be well below zero Tuesday night again, despite the core of the coldest air departing to our east. By Wednesday afternoon, it will be OK - teens and low 20s - then we get into average January air after that. (20s to around 30).