Vermont Recovering From Surprise Snowstorm; More Minor Winter Weather Still Coming

Breaks of blue sky appeared in the sky over St. Albans,
Vermont after last night's wet snow and rain, but the
darker clouds hinted at a few more snow showers in our future.

Vermont is still recovering from the surprise, rather poorly forecast snowstorm from last night.  

Temperatures were above freezing statewide this afternoon, so that the slush on plowed roads melted away. 

More snow accumulation reports came in during the day, and those totals were pretty impressive for a storm that was forecast to produce just a trace to four inches of snow. 

The highest snow totals I found were at pretty high elevations - near 1,500 feet above sea level. A spot in Northfield, elevation 1,400 feet, reported 12.5 inches. Another spot in Hyde Park, elevation 1,600 feet, had 12 inches. Other reports included 11 inches in Albany and 10 inches in Sheffield, both in the Northeast Kingdom. 

Elevation made a huge difference. Valleys in central Vermont had closer to four to six inches. Here in the Champlain Valley, downtown St Albans had absolutely no snow this morning. My place, just 300 feet higher in elevations, had an inch.

Actual snow totals from last night's storm. Map from
National Weather Service/South Burlington. Lots of'
8-12 inch reports. 

An inch of snow normally melts quickly when temperatures reach 40 degrees. But the snow was so dense that much of it remained in my yard as darkness fell. 

Vermont electric utilities have been working all day, and will be working into the night to restore power to the thousands of people who lost power due to the heavy, wet snow. At the peaks this morning, nearly 34,000 homes and businesses had no electricity.

As of 5 p.m. today, that number was down to a little under 10,000.

More wintry weather is on the way, but it shouldn't be anything extreme. At least locally. f

An impressive band of lake effect snow, laced with lightning strikes, was slamming areas downwind of Lake Erie a little south of Buffalo, New York. An even more impressive snow band was just organizing late this afternoon off of Lake Ontario, which will dump at much as two feet of snow in the notoriously snowy Tug Hill Plateau. 

The remnants of those lake effect storms will drift into Vermont late tonight and especially tomorrow as snow showers. A weak disturbance coming through in the afternoon will probably make the Vermont snow showers a little more widespread. 

This was the forecast for last night's storm. It REALLY
overperformed. 

The bottom line is you'll still need to be a bit careful driving to and from work tomorrow. In the morning, water from today's snow melt will freeze on pavement, leading to some icy patches.

 In the afternoon and evening, snow showers will produce light accumulations in many spots. It doesn't take much to make roads slippery, so even a dusting or a half inch of snow could cause problems. 

Some summits and western slopes of the central and northern Green Mountains could receive two to four inches of additional snow tomorrow.  The ski areas are off to a pretty good start. 

EDITOR'S NOTE

I will be traveling overseas between tomorrow and December 9. I'll do a post tomorrow morning, but after that, posts might not appear consistently every day and might appear at odd times, or hours you're not used to. I appreciate your patience!