Vermont Storm Update: Tuesday's Storm Is Different Than Usual

St. Albans, Vermont was a bit of a winter wonderland as
dawn broke today. A new storm Tuesday in much of 
Vermont will dump a few inches of new snow, except
it will largely avoid the Champlain Valley

 It's looking more and more like the winter storm that's going to affect New England late tonight and tomorrow -  including Vermont -  is quite a departure from what we've seen most of this season

Southern New England, areas near New York City and northern New Jersey are in for a pretty good dump of snow with this. Many of those places should see half a foot or more of snow.  

The decent dump of snow still looks like it's going to extend into far southern Vermont.  Most - but not all - of our few sizable snowfalls have avoided the south and instead focused on central and northern parts of the Green Mountain State.

The amount of snow in Vermont from this system is going to be even more variable than usual. Some places might see as little as a half inch. Other places should close in on eight or nine inches. 

There's a little more moisture available in Vermont for this storm than first thought, so forecasted snow amounts have ticked ever so slightly upward for the eastern slopes and summits of the Green Mountains. 

 It's now looking like the eastern half of Vermont, with the exception of much of the Northeast Kingdom, is now in for a decent three to six inch snowfall. The White Mountains will block moisture from the Atlantic as east and southeast winds pick up. 

That means areas near St. Johnsbury could get as little as one to two inches of new snow. 

Which brings us to the Champlain Valley. Those same southeast winds will encounter the Green Mountains. The wet winds will be forced to rise when they encounter the Green Mountains. Rising air means more precipitation. Which means it's going to snow harder on those eastern slopes. 

Once the wind gets to the west side of the mountains, they'll blow downward along those western slopes. Sinking air means less or no precipitation. You see where this is going. The sinking air is really going to squelch the snowfall in the Champlain Valley. This applies to western Rutland County as well. 

It probably won't kill the snow entirely. But it will be very light. And it will mix with rain as we get into the afternoon. I supposed most of the Champlain Valley will get 0.5 to 1.5 inches of new, wet snow. Maybe one or two lucky towns will clock in with two inches. 

So, no excuses this time. Though the roads might be slick in spots for your morning commute in the Champlain Valley, they'll still be very, very passable. Just take a little extra time getting to work or school and you'll be fine. 

In the areas that get the somewhat heavier snow, this will hit during the Tuesday morning commute. Expect some school closures and crappy roads in southern and parts of eastern Vermont. 

After we're through with this little episode tomorrow night, we're still expecting a small storm Wednesday night with probably some annoying mixed precipitation. 

Another larger, probably mostly snowstorm comes along Friday afternoon into Saturday. It's still too soon to figure out how far north the heavy snow gets, and whether it will mix with schmutz. 

As we get into March, it starts to become more likely that a snowstorm can mix with other crappy stuff like ice and cold rain, so keep that in  mind, too.