Early Afternoon Vermont Storm Update: It's Still Really Over-Performing

Snowfall and road conditions definitely worse than 
expected around noon today near my place in 
St. Albans, Vermont. 

 Today's snowstorm continues to be more brutal in Vermont than most forecasts had suggested as early as last evening. The forecast in far northern Vermont, in particular, was a big bust, with much more snow than originally expected. 

As of 12:15 p.m., more 36,700 homes and businesses were without power across Vermont. That number kept going up and up all morning. 

I've seen numerous reports of sections of roads closed, mostly in southern Vermont, due to tree and power lines falling into roadways. Stay off the roads in southern parts of the state, and in high elevations of central and northern Vermont today. 

Snow totals are impressive in far southern Vermont, and they're not even done with this storm yet. The top totals as of noon included 24.5 inches in Readsboro, and a little over 21 inches in Windham, West Brattleboro and Marlboro. Weston reported 18 inches.

In the north, not as much snow has fallen, but still more than originally forecast. Totals include 14.5 inches in Northfield and 10 inches in Morrisville. 

Even up here in St. Albans, which was supposed to be spared much accumulation, we had 4.4  inches of new snow as of 12:45 p.m. 

Part of the culprit with both the high snow accumulations and power outages and was a band of intense, wet, heavy snow that moves slowly northwestward across the state this morning. Snowfall rates were two to three inches within this band. 

The unexpected strength of this band forced the National Weather Service to extend the winter storm warning to the Canadian border, including in the Champlain Valley. An additional three to five inches of snow is possible in places like Burlington and St. Albans, for a storm total expected to reach four to 10 inches. 

Accumulations will be greater than that in the higher elevations.

This band of snow began to fade a bit as it reached Lake Champlain and northeastern New York early this afternoon, but the damage in Vermont was done. 

Web cam grab of Interstate 89 in Waterbury, Vermont as
a heavy snow band passed through late this morning. 

The intense snow band also delayed an expected break in the storm in northern Vermont. But it's finally arriving. 

As a punch of dry air gets ingested into the storm, snow had become lighter in northeastern and north central Vermont.  The snow might even stop for a time before resuming later today. The lighter trend in the snowfall will probably reach the Champlain Valley for a while this afternoon, too. 

In northern areas, some valleys will get a little warmer during the break, which might give overloaded trees and wires a break through melting. Higher elevations, though, will continue to deal with this type of problem. 

The snow will start up again later today in the north.  It might not be as intense as it was this morning. But with falling temperatures and gusty winds this evening and tonight, things will remain challenging out there. 

The dry air isn't really reaching southern Vermont, so the snow will continue there today and tonight. Some favored higher terrain down there could see more than 30 inches of snow. It's beginning to look like those snowed-in areas of mountainous California down there. 

Power outages will continue all day, especially in southern Vermont. It's getting gusty out there, and the wind, if anything will increase. 

Snow will become less intense later tonight even in the south, and slowly taper off tomorrow. 

We're not done with this one yet. Buckle up, it's going to be a pretty stormy afternoon and evening, especially in southern Vermont.