Rare (For This Winter, Anyway) Subzero Cold Across Vermont

The sky looking west away from the sunrise at dawn today
in St. Albans, Vermont had that familiar look of a 
subzero morning in Vermont. Such mornings have
that distinctive salmon color near the horizon.
Mornings like today are becoming more rare in 
Vermont due mostly to climate change.

 You probably noticed it if you were an early riser. It was freakin' cold this morning across Vermont. 

Virtually everyone was below zero. Hey there, Bennington, you're a toasty exception. When I checked at around 6:30 a.m. you were a balmy 4 above zero. 

Island Pond got to at least 24 below this morning, and most places in central and northern Vermont away from Lake Champlain were in the teens below zero.

Burlington was at 6 below as of 7 a.m. This isn't record cold by any means, but it's a stinger. 

This is only the fifth subzero day in Burlington this winter, which is way below the long term average. 

We've been in a declining trend in subzero mornings in Vermont over the past several decades, thank sin large part to climate change. Whereas Burlington would usually see winters with at least 20 subzero days back in the 1960s and 1970s, most recent years have had between 5 and 15 such mornings. 

We might have more subzero mornings in Burlington this winter, but I imagine not too many.  It has been below zero there as late as March 29.  But the normal low temperatures are now gradually rising. The normal low in Burlington at the start of the month was 12 above. Now it's 17 degrees. 

To see more subzero chill, it will have to be much colder, relative to average than it would in January as we had into March. 

No below zero weather is in the forecast in Burlington at least through Friday, March 3, and probably beyond that. I suppose we might see brief spells in the rest of the first three weeks of March that could get us below zero in the Champlain Valley, but that seems somewhat unlikely at this point. 

Still, long range forecasts hint at below normal temperatures in the second, third and possibly fourth weeks of March, so it's not impossible to see more below zero weather before winter finally does call it quits, 

Of course places away from the lake can get below zero into April. (Ugh!) For instance, below zero weather happened in northern Vermont on April 5, 1953 and April 7, 1972.

I really hope history doesn't repeat itself in those instances.