Tuesday Morning Update: Snow Over-Performing in Much Of Vermont So Far, Power Outages Ramping Up

Wet snow clinging to every little branch this morning,'
St. Albans, Vermont. 

 Wet snow has been piling up in Vermont overnight and this morning, and some of the snow totals are showing that at least so far, this storm is over-performing. 

A high elevations site near Readsboro, Vermont reported 22.1 inches. Before 8 a.m. Andover, Vermont had received 14 inches of snow. Randolph Center and Shrewsbury were up to 11 inches, with Mount Holly close behind at 10 inches.  The snow will continue to crush those relatively high elevation towns all day today and well  into tonight. 

If this keeps up, we'll see totals going well over two feet.  We shall see!

Lower elevations and northern Vermont have seen more modest accumulations, as expected. Most places were in the two to four inch range as of around 7 am. today.

In northwestern Vermont, where relatively little was expected, there was already two inches in St. Albans as of 8:15 a.m. Closer to Burlington, traffic cams show perhaps only an inch of slushy accumulation, as it has been warm enough there to have some of the snow melts as it hits the ground. 

Traffic cam on Route 4 on Mendon Mountain showing'
near blizzard conditions.....

The snow will tend to taper off in the far north for a time today,  but even those northern areas are ending up with a little more snow than forecast. 

As expected, it's a heavy wet snow, and this is turning into yet another disaster for Vermont utilities. Around 9 a.m. Vermont Outages was reporting about 21,000 customers in the Green Mountain State without power, and that number was zooming up rapidly. Unsurprisingly, most of the outages were in southern Vermont where the heaviest snow has been. 

I've noticed road closures in southern Vermont, too, including along portions of Interstate 91 due mostly to crashes and jack knifed tractor trailer units. Along main roads in low elevations of northern and central Vermont, things aren't too bad as of this morning, since temperatures are near freezing. Go uphill a little bit and it's a different story. 

Today, and especially tonight, it's probably best to stay off the roads in southern Vermont, and high elevations of central and northern Vermont. Conditions will get worse on the roads in northern Vermont valleys tonight. 

The snow is the consistency of wet cement in many areas. Just that two inches of snow in St. Albans has the trees sagging remarkably.  I've already heard one small branch crack and fall in the woods. I can't imaging what those places with a foot of wet snow are going through. 

UP NEXT

The storm had an initial storm near Long Island that is responsible for most of the snow we've had so far. This storm is fading as the bombing big nor'easter takes over. That big storm is way, way off the coast, and under normal circumstances would only give Vermont a glancing blow at best.

But the big storm is being drawn westward, tugged that way by upper level low pressure. This is of course odd, but things happen. The storm will make it to near Boston later today, perform a little loop in southeastern New England tonight, all the while strengthening. Then it will slowly move eastward away from New England tomorrow. 

But along Interstate 89 in low elevation Milton, the snow
was mostly melting as it hit. Some parts of northern
Vermont won't be too bad today, while others areas,
mostly south and high elevations have a memorable, deep
and sometimes destructive snowstorm.

This will keep wild weather going in most of New England today and tonight. Southern and probably central Vermont will probably be in the thick of the storm all day and night. Northern areas, already only getting the edges of this monster, will see the snow relax for a time later this morning and early afternoon.  

In the deepest valleys of southern and central areas, the snow might stop accumulating for a time today, or at least slow down, as temperatures come up a couple of degrees. Mid and high elevations will continue to see snow, coming down at a rate of an inch or more per hour at times.

Later today and tonight, light snow will redevelop in the north and accumulate possibly a 2 to 4 more inches by tomorrow. 

As the storm strengthens, so will the wind. Which is bad news for already overburdened trees and power lines. 

Temperatures will drop some tonight into the mid and upper 20s, so that will make the snow less wet and heavy. Which I suppose is good, given the state of affairs with the power lines. But it will also enable the snow to blow around, and some areas will have near blizzard conditions at times.

This even includes the Champlain Valley. There won't be much new snow, but wind gusts to 40 mph will really blow it around in open areas. 

Things will only slowly improve tomorrow. The snow will taper off and retreat to the mountains. Winds will continue to gust to 30 or 40 mph, so that will slow down the work of restoring power. 

Even though we're in the thick of the storm now, there will probably be changes to the forecast for the rest of the storm as new data comes in. 

This will be a memorable storm for many areas of Vermont. But snow accumulation will be way more variable than we usually see with winter storms. Some areas in the far north will see less than six inches. High elevation areas in the south could see more than two feet. 

Mid-March is definitely holding on to its reputation for powerhouse winter storms in New England.