Storm Winding Down For Most Of Vermont, But Blowing Snow, Gusty Winds Remain An Issue Overnight

A snowy March day in St. Albans, Vermont today means
the garden tools in my shed will need to stay in there
a bit longer before spring hits. 

 Snowfall amounts with today's storm are coming in near, or in some places just a little below forecasts  so far, as today's storm lacked the drama that forecasts had feared a few days ago. At least here in Vermont. 

As of late afternoon, snow totals were in the four to nine inch range across most of central and northern Vermont. Most places were in for another inch or or two of snow.  It was still snowing at a pretty good clip in eastern Vermont as of 5 p.m., so they might receive up to three inches of new snow.

Right along the shores of Lake Champlain, it looks like accumulations are lackluster.  It's hard to judge from webcams, but it looks like there's only about three or four inches of new snow in Alburgh. The WCAX web cam right along the lake shore in Burlington also seemed to show just a few inches, and actually showed a bit of clearing in the skies to the distant west as of 5 p.m.

Snow piled up more rapidly just inland from the lake, along and east of Route 7.   The National Weather Service office in South Burlington reported 7.2 inches of new snow by late afternoon. At my place in St. Albans, I was on the low end of the accumulations for once, with 5 inches.

But my place in eastern St. Albans is prone to a little upslope snow, so I expect perhaps, another inch or two of snow overnight.  But then again, I could see a bit of clearing in the skies past the Adirondacks, so maybe not

Tonight's weather setup is pretty good for decent upslope snows closer to the western slopes and summits of the central and northern Green mountains. 

That means some of those western slope towns will come in with reports of a foot or more of snow by morning. That would make the pre-storm forecasts essentially right. 

The WCAX/ECHO Web Cam on Burlington's waterfront 
actually showed a bit of clearing in the distant west
late Saturday afternoon as today's storm was a little
milder in some areas than forecasted. Still. the 
snow predictions issued before the storm will 
end up being close to reality.

As of late afternoon, there were only a handful of power outages in Vermont - less than 100 - as the wet, sticky phase of the snowfall in most areas today was pretty short lived. It wasn't enough to cave in a lot of trees and power lines.  

Winds were increasing by dusk today, but gusts were still in the reasonable 20 to 30 mph range. They'll increase further overnight with gusts of 40 mph or so.  

That could trigger just a few isolated to scattered outages, what with the wet snow now frozen onto the trees.  Still, the winds don't seem to be shaping up as anything as fierce as first expected

Road conditions weren't great all day, and will stay not great all night.  It's not impossible to get around out there, but it still isn't worth it to go anywhere unless you really have to.

All in all, it's shaping up to be a somewhat tamer storm that forecast, at least so far.  Western slope snow and wind gusts are still a bit of a wildcard over night. Blowing snow is going to be a problem all night. But it all could have been worse.

The forecast for the next few days is higher confidence than the predictions for our departing storm.

It will still be blustery and chilly Sunday with highs only in the 20s.  The sun will come out, though, at least part of the time. 

We're still looking at warmer weather through most of the week.  Tuesday will be the coolest, with highs only in the 35 to 42 degree range, which is about normal. Monday will in the low 40s, Wednesday in the upper 40s and Thursday in the low 50s.

Long range forecasts are now arguing about Friday. It will be warm, unless it's not, frankly. Some models have highs that day in the 50s, others in the low 30s. Take your pick!