Vermont's First Snow, And New York Tornado Year Continues

Screen grab from a video shows
snow flurries Sunday atop
Vermont's Jay Peak. 

Snow and tornadoes are the theme of today's little update:

Vermont Snow

As we in Vermont gear up for what will almost certainly be a long stretch of sunny, dry, warm weather, we can confirm the Green Mountain State had its first snow of the season on chilly Sunday. 

Jay Peak Resort posted on X video by Scott Shear showing gusty snow showers atop that northern Vermont mountain Sunday. It doesn't look like it was accumulating, but it was clearly snowing in the video. 

Over on Whiteface Mountain in New York, rime ice accumulated on a web cam lens, and a dusting of snow was reported.

The core of the coldest air Sunday passed over the Adirondacks and far northern Vermont. Mountains south of Jay Peak in Vermont reported no snow as it was just marginally too warm on the summits. 

It'll be a long time before any more snow falls on Vermont. Heck, it could be a long time before any rain falls in the state. 

It looks like it will be totally dry save for the rock bottom low chance of an isolated sprinkle this weekend for at least a seven days, possibly even two weeks.

New York Tornadoes

This continues to be the Year of the Tornado in New York State.

A little hard to see in this 
screen grab from a video
but that's an apparent
tornado behind the cars
Monday in Grand Island,
New York. 

New York quite possibly had one or two surprise tornadoes Monday. Video posted on X showed an apparent tornado in Grand Island, New York, which is between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. 

The National Weather Service has yet to confirm that twister, though I'm sure they will be investigating. 

There was another tornado warning southeast of Watertown, New York Monday, but I don't know yet whether anything touched down. 

On paper, there shouldn't have been much in the way of severe weather or tornadoes in western and central New York on Monday. It was relatively cool, and not humid, conditions not normally conducive to twisters. Forecasters knew a disturbance would set off some storms, but there was only a marginal risk of severe ones. 

The strong thunderstorms in western and central New York Monday afternoon and evening weakened dramatically as they moved east toward Vermont, so we only got some scattered showers out of the deal. 

Before Monday, the tornado count this year in New York was up to 29.  That includes a fresh report of a confirmed tornado came on Friday in the town of Wirt, New York, which is southeast of Buffalo near the Pennsylvania state line. 

The National Weather Service in Buffalo, New York say that tornado was an EF-1 with top winds of 100 mph. It had a damage path of six miles long, though it lifted for a time halfway through its path.  

At least a couple of the tornadoes this year in New York were pretty notable. The worst  one - an EF-2 with winds of at least 135 mph, slammed Rome, New York, causing widespread severe damage.

Another tornado unexpectedly tore through downtown Buffalo on August 5. 

The previous record for most tornadoes in a single year in the Empire State was 25, back in 1992.