Vermont Storm Pretty Much Over, But I'm Still Impressed For Several Reasons

National Weather Service map of total snowfall from
our big storm for around the region. I'm really impressed
by the areas that had at least a foot of now (dark 
orange in red) especially for an April storm. 

 As expected, today turned out to be a cloudy, raw day as morning wet snow showers changed over to cold light rain showers and sprinkles.  

At least in the valleys. 

Above 2000 feet in elevation, a little snow continued, but it wasn't amounting to a huge amount.

Final snowfall totals are in. I'm impressed by how many Vermont towns reported at least 20 inches. 

Even more impressive is it wasn't limited to just one section of the state.  That's pretty unusual (but definitely not unheard of) for any snowstorm including those that strike in midwinter. 

There were reports of that much snow in Rutland and Windsor counties, and also in the Northeast Kingdom and points in between.  Also impressive was how widespread an area at least a foot of snow fell, This includes many low elevations. Again, very unusual for an April storm, when big totals are usually limited to higher spots. 

So yes, this was a historic storm for April. 

IMPROVEMENTS

Another impressive feat is the pace at which repair crew are restoring power. At dawn, nearly 18,000 Vermont homes and businesses were without power. That number was down to about 5,200 by 4 p.m. 

Since no new snow accumulations worth mentioning are in the forecast for low elevations and very little new snow in the offing up high, the downward trend in outages will definitely continue. 

I noticed quite a bit of tree damage around St. Albans today from the heavy wet, snow.  It's not nearly as  bad as the destruction from the huge windstorm in January. But I did see snapped branches and trees.  At least two trees are damaged on my property, but most are unscathed. 

The big melt began today, despite temperatures holding
in the upper 30s. Here's my yard in St. Albans, 
Vermont at around 7:30 this morning.....

It does look like a lot of people will be doing yard clean up because of this storm once the snow melts. 

Despite today's chill - highs only made it into the mid and upper 30s - the snow melt was, well, impressively noticeable. There's that word again.  

The snow would have never melted nearly this fast back in January if we'd had the same amount of snow with the same temperatures.

It will take awhile to get rid of the deepest snow. But with warm ground and a high sun angle sending a bit of heat through the clouds, we'll lose the snow pretty quickly. It'll take a few to several days, but our regularly scheduled spring is close at hand. 

Tonight, the light rain showers will eventually change to wet snow showers in many valleys. Temperatures there will bottom out not far from 32 degreesand continue in the mountains.  With temperatures tonight near the freezing mark, not much snow.

The weather will continue to improve and warm up, but only very grudgingly at first. We'll still have a lot of clouds and light showers around Saturday. Highs will be a few degrees warmer than today, reaching the low 40s in many valleys. 

That's still chilly for April, but the melting process will accelerate just a bit. 

The sun will break out on Sunday, especially in the afternoon and evening as it gets even warmer - 45-52. That's a couple degrees on the chilly side for this time of year, but not bad.

I'll have more on Monday eclipse day weather in the coming days. But so far - knock on wood - so good. It still looks like there might be some high clouds around, but they should be thin enough to still view the spectacle.

......and the same view at 5:30 p.m. just 10 hours later.

MORE AFTER EFFECTS

The hordes of tourists to the Vermont eclipse zone will encounter plenty of slush, mud and melt water while they're here. They won't care, because as noted it's looking like the skies will be at least partly clear..

I just wonder how many GPS setups will put unsuspecting or clueless people on dirt roads. They're sodden and muddy now. With all this snow melting, it will only get worse. 

 I imagine a few people might experience the eclipse with their vehicles sunk into the mud.  

Word to the wise: Plan ahead when scoping out your eclipse viewing spots.  And seek out places to watch where you stay on paved roads to get to your destination.

No hiking, either: Hiking trails are super sensitive this time of year with the melting and the mud. You can really ruin some ecosystems tromping along hiking trails. 

Another risk from all this snow it the risk of eventual flooding. There's one to 2.5 inches of water in that new snow pack that appeared yesterday.  The melt will go on gradually enough at first, with no problems through Wednesday. 

The wild card is the end of the week. There's some sort of storm possibly brewing, and it could be a rather warm storm.

Current forecasts have temperatures in the low 60s and rain by Friday. 

That would really accelerate the snow melt and feed water into streams and rivers that will already be running kind of high. If rainfall with that storm is modest, then we're fine. If it's very heavy and comes in a short burst, we could be looking at flooding. 

It's way too early to tell how that storm will shape up.  At least it looks like it won't be another snowstorm.