Saturday Storm Was No Blockbuster But There's Something About March That Brings Us The Big Snows

Saturday's snowstorm had the potential to be much larger
than it was, had the ingredients come together better.
That would have been in keeping with March, which
has a history of epic snowstorms in Vermont. 

Some early forecasts for the recently departed storm had called for a blockbuster.

It was not to be, of course, it was just one of those mid-sized late winter storms. Had we gotten a huge dump, though, it would have been totally in character for a Vermont March.  

There's something about March that tends to bring on the epic snowstorms. I think it's because the forces of winter are still at full force up in the Arctic, but the first warm flutters of spring air are coming up from the south.  

Warmer air holds more moisture, so when that balmy spring air goes on a collision course with an Arctic blast, all hell can break loose. And by that I mean a LOT of snow, when the conditions are right. 

I see no snowstorms on the horizon at this point, but remember, we can get a foot of snow in storms well into April. 

Which means March is still snow season. 

 Seven of Burlington, Vermont's 20 biggest snowstorms have occurred in March. That's impressive when you consider this is the time of year when it's starting to warm up a bit, which could make big snowfalls a little less likely. 

Here's a highlight reel: 

Blizzard of 1888:

This one isn't listed as one of the top 20 March snowstorms in Burlington, due to a lack of reliable records. But since people are still talking about this one, there's no doubt it was the Big Daddy of March storms, or close to it. 

Bennington reported 48 inches of snow.  Nearby Saratoga Springs, New York reported 58 inches. Other southern Vermont towns were north of 40 inches. Most of the rest of the state was in the two to three foot range.

This, however, was a much windier storm than most of them in the Green Mountain State. Which means the drift were enormous.  Wind gusts reached 30 to 40 mph or even more across the state, causing enormous drifts.

VTDigger, in a history lesson about the Blizzard of 1888, described drifts so deep that people built tunnels through them to make their way down sidewalks.  Wind swept snow down to bare ground in spots, and piling it elsewhere above the tops of first floor windows.

Of course, Vermont wasn't the only place slammed by this famous storm. Practically everyone from Washington DC north had an enormous snow blockade from this storm, and up to 250 people died in the storm. 

The Blizzard of 1888 was caused by a classic nor'easter that stalled and did a slow loop de loop just south of Rhode Island, which prolonged the heavy snow and wind in the Northeast. 

Vermont's Deepest Snowstorm, March 2-5, 1947

In March, as we warm up toward spring, we often see storms deposit mostly rain in the valleys with snow in the mountains. 

The most extreme example of this kind of thing hit southern Vermont in the opening days of March, 1947.

As the Vermont Weather Book describes it, a strong storm took an unusual path from central New England, northwestward to the northern tip of New York and then up into Ontario.

This created a nearly stalled weather front oriented northwest to southeast just south of southern Vermont. This set up a long-lasting fire hose of moisture into the Green Mountains of southern Vermont. 

Valleys had a rain/snow mix. Rutland, for instance had 16.7 inches of new snow from the storm, but 2.38 inches in liquid content, which is a LOT. But in the high elevation towns, it was all snow.  Readsboro reported 50 inches of new snow from the storm, the most on record for any place in Vermont in a single storm. 

To give you an idea how much water this "fire hose" storm had, melted water equivalent of the snow was four to five inches. That would have created a flash flood had that been rain. 

Superstorm, March, 1993

This was arguably the nation's worst winter storm of the 20th century.  The storm created a swath of deep snow amounting to 20 inches or more from northeastern Alabama to New England and on into southeastern Canada from March 12 to 14, 1993.  

Satellite view of the Superstorm 
of March, 1993 in the eastern U.S.

The storm's impacts were by far the worst in the South, as an intense blizzard struck large parts of the Southeast. Worse, the storm caused a destructive derecho, tornado outbreak and storm surge in Florida.

Overall the storm caused more than 270 deaths and $6 billion in damage in 1993 dollars ($11.8 billion in 2022 dollars).

Up here in Vermont, the storm just created a bunch of heavy snow and rare thunder snow. The 22.4 inches of snow that piled up in Burlington was at the time the city's third largest snowstorm on record. (Since then, with newer, bigger storms, it's been relegated to 8th place). Montpelier logged 25.6 inches of new snow.

This storm was designated "Storm of the Century" for good reason, but in Vermont, some wags called it "Storm of the Weekend."  The bulk of it hit on a Saturday and Saturday night, giving time for road crews to clean up things in time for the Monday morning commute. We moved on pretty quickly. 

The storm was certainly disruptive in Vermont, but could have been worse. 

Two blasts of frigid late season air did follow this storm, causing some record and near record lows for that late in the season. Burlington reached 12 below on March 15 and 10 below on March 19.  Montpelier sank to 13 below on the 15th and 16 below on the 19th. 

 Town Meeting Day Snow, 2001

A big nor'easter came just in time for Vermont's storied Town Meeting Day. The storm dumped 15 to 30 inches of snow on Vermont on March 5-6, 2001, forcing many towns to postpone Town Meeting. Snowfall rates of 2 to 4 inches per hour were common, which is really big for a winter storm. It was Burlington's seventh largest snowstorm on record.  

 

The storm was the first installment in Vermont's snowiest March on record. Burlington had 47.6 inches of snow for the month. On March 31st that year, some Vermont towns had another installment of about a foot of snow.

On April Fool's Day that year, some towns, like Plainfield and Eden had close to four feet of snow on the ground. That led to fears of severe spring flooding, but April turned out to be among the driest on record. Only minor flooding occurred

March 6-7, 2011

The storm was odd in that it began with a bout of heavy rain and mild temperatures, which caused some minor flooding and ice jams.  

Burlington, Vermont's Church Street Marketplace during
the snowstorm of March, 2011 one of the largest on record.

But the a sharp cold front dropped temperatures quickly in northern Vermont on the morning of March 6.  Burlington dropped 16 degrees in an hour. 

As a new storm moved north, snow became heavy, with rates exceeding two inches per hour. Burlington ended up with 25.8 inches of snow, the third greatest snowstorm on record.  Most of Vermont, except the far south had 18 to 30 inches of new snow. 

Needless to say, such great amounts of heavy snow made things pretty much grind to a halt in Vermont. At least for a day. There was a lot of water in the snow, too,The liquid equivalent was 0.25 inches per hour at Montpelier, with nearly an inch of water in just five hours. Between the rain at the beginning of the storm and the snow, Montpelier had a melted water equivalent of 3.25 inches of precipitation.

That's an inch or so more than what normally falls during the entire month of March. 

This was important for later in the spring. This storm ended up being an ingredient to what proved to be a disastrous spring flood season in Vermont.  It contributed greatly to an already thick mountain snowpack.  

That snow, combined with record rainfall in April and May, produced devastating spring floods and by far the worst Lake Champlain spring flooding on record    

Pi Day Blizzard  March 14, 2017

After record-shattering warmth in late February, it seemed that we'd have an early spring in 2017.  Not so fast.

The heaviest snow fell over northwestern Vermont and northeastern New York, where widespread totals of 24 to 32 inches were logged.  Burlington had 30.4 inches of snow, its second biggest snowstorm on record.  

The Pi Day Blizzard in March, 2017 snarling traffic and
cutting visibility to near zero in St. Albans, Vermont. 

During the peak of the storm snowfall rates were as high as five inches per hour, which is incredible for a winter storm. 

The snow was created by a nor'easter with a perfect path to put Vermont in a heavy snow zone. The storm also tapped super-rich moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean and steered it right into the cold air over Vermont.  

Strong winds in the Champlain Valley led to blizzard conditions in some areas.

The storm was a relatively slow mover, so that prolonged the storm and contributed to the deep snow. 

The snow created near zero visibility and pretty much made roads impassable. The video, below shows the increasing snowfall rates and the disruption to motorists near my house in St. Albans, Vermont. The snow fell too fast for snowplows to keep up with the snow, and even the snowplows had trouble negotiating the road.

If you don't see the video below click on this hyperlink to view it. If you do see it, below, click on the red arrow then the YouTube logo for best viewing.