"Well-Behaved" Snowstorm Is Here For Your Friday. - A Very Snowy Day

The National Weather Service snowfall map, last updated
early this morning. Still a general 6-12 inch storm, but totals
bumped up ever so slightly in northern areas
compared to previous forecasts. 

 UPDATE: 8 a.m. 

Even well behaved storms can surprise a little bit.  A burst of heavy snow has come into the Champlain Valley as of shortly after 7 a.m.  Burlington and St. Albans had heavy snow falling at times.

This heavy snow is earlier than forecast. Though the snow might lighten up for a time this morning, it is still expected to come down pretty heavily again late this morning and this afternoon.

This morning's commute in the Champlain Valley is probably even a little worse than earlier expected.

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

Snow started to fall here in earnest around my place in St. Albans, Vermont at around 6 a.m. setting the stage for a  very snowy Friday.  

It was only snowing quite lightly outside my window early this morning. There's even been a few brief breaks with no snow falling. The main show for me is later this morning and afternoon.

Southern Vermont is the early winner.

Overall, forecasts are very much steady with six to 12 inches of snow expected.  The deeper snow, and the somewhat higher water content snow is in southern Vermont. Everybody gets powdery snow out of this, but the fluff factor up north will be greatest.

The snow did arrive about an hour later than anticipated in most of Vermont, because the initial flakes evaporated in very dry air on the way down.  But those early flakes moistened up the air, so it was snowing pretty much everywhere in Vermont by 7 a.m.

Driving to work will be a bit of a challenge this morning with the snow. That's especially true in southern Vermont, where the snow started earlier and has accumulated more. The drive home will be even tougher in the north this afternoon, but maybe a little easier down south.

Because of the road conditions, a lot of schools are closed in Vermont today. 

This is essentially a two part storm. Part One is underway now, focusing on southern Vermont this morning.  That snow is more directly tied to the storm center itself. The storm is pushing wet air up the sides of the southern Vermont mountains, and that rising air is unleashing that moisture as pretty heavy snow.  

Vermont Agency of Transportation traffic cam showed heavy
snow falling along Route 9 in the southern Vermont town
of Searsburg at around 6:15 a.m....

That snow will lighten up, but probably not stop, in southern Vermont this afternoon.

Northern Vermont is kind of on the edge of that first wave, which is why snowfall rates aren't exactly impressive for the first part of this morning. 

I'm also detecting some "shadowing" on the west slopes of the central and northern Green Mountains, where the moisture coming in from the south and east is being partly blocked temporarily by the mountain range.

By late morning and this afternoon, the upper level support lagging behind the parent storm should enter the northern half of Vermont.  That will help air rise more vigorously. Rising air leads to precipitation.  In this case, the forecast indicates snow in northern Vermont at a rate of one to two inches an hour.

Such snowfall rates, as I've noted in earlier posts, is impressively heavy.  If anything, forecasts for the amount of snow out of this have been bumped up a little bit in northern Vermont. Where some previous forecasts had called for six to seven inches of snow out of this, forecasts for northern areas now are in the seven to  nine inch range.

We'll go back to a lighter snowfall late this afternoon or early evening, and the snow is forecast to end altogether sometime between 8:30 and 10:30 this evening. 

...but as of 6:15 a.m. the snow hadn't quite reached Route 78
in Alburgh in the northwestern tip of Vermont. That would
change soon as snow began there shortly after this image grab.

Saturday is still forecast to be a stunningly beautiful day for playing in the snow with sunshine, light winds and comfortable temperatures in the 20s.

Sunday is looking a little tricky, though. South to southwest winds will pick up, especially in the Champlain Valley.  That light and fluffy snow on the ground will blow around, causing drifts and local problems with visibility. 

On exposed areas of the Champlain Islands, snow blowing off the frozen lake could really cause some whiteouts.

Speaking of whiteouts, the National Weather Service is telling us snow squalls are a good possibility during the midday and afternoon Sunday.  Our phones might be buzzing with snow squall alerts like they were last Saturday. 

Keep those squalls in your travel plans, as you don't want to be on the highway when one of those hits. Visibility goes to zero quickly and the chances of a crash go up exponentially during those things.