Alberta Clipper Makes Things Super Intense Near Great Lakes; Here In Vermont Part 2 Coming Later Today

Forecast for additional accumulation around Vermont
for this Alberta Clipper. More than six inches in
some of the mountains, but little in the Champlain Valley
Still, travel should get tricky again later today.

 I think we ought to start this post in Erie, Pennsylvania, which is taking the cake for some of the most intense lake effect scariness of this whole episode, that's lasted nearly a week now. 

Erie County, Pennsylvania, home to nearly a million people, has had three to four feet of snow since Friday. It's gotten to the point where buildings are starting to collapse.

 Interstate 90 through that region has been closed intermittently, and when it opens, it keeps becoming the scene of multi-vehicle pileups.

Now, today, Erie County is under a blizzard warning. Another 10 to 20 inches of snow is forecast from more lake effect snows. Winds could gust to 50 mph, or even 65 mph closer to the lake today. The National Weather Service says travel will become impossible today. 

There's concern more homes and buildings could collapse under the weight of the snow. Trial by snow indeed! 

A blizzard warning is also up for the mountains of West Virginia and the extreme western tip of Maryland, too.

Meanwhile other areas around the Great Lakes, including Michigan, Ohio, New York and Ontario up in Canada are also being blinded by lake effect squalls this morning. That state of affairs will continue all day. 

What a mess!

VERMONT EFFECTS:

Here in Vermont, things are much more reasonable than they are around the Great Lakes.

The first round of snow came through overnight as expected. Much of the Champlain Valley was "shadowed" by the Adirondacks. Moisture was captured by those mountains, so little snow fell in places like Burlington. 

For the first time this season, my yard in St. Albans, Vermont
looked truely wintry after a little more than two
inches of new snow last night. 

The far northern part of the Champlain Valley did escape that shadow, as I measured 2.4 inches of new snow at my place in St. Albans.

Also as expected, the snow picked up again in the Green Mountains, with mostly two or three inch reports so far. 

There was a lull in the activity this morning as some dry air has worked its way into our Alberta Clipper ahead of its cold front. 

 Most main roads toward the tail end of this morning's commute looked like they were in pretty good shape, according to traffic cameras set up around the state.

Temperatures should creep up to slightly above freezing in the broader valleys later this morning, which will help melt remaining slush of the highways. 

But Round 2 is coming.

The clipper's cold front will come through this afternoon with batches of snow showers, some of them locally heavy, dropping temperatures quickly below freezing. Winds will pick up, so there should be plenty of blowing snow later today and tonight, too

Today's evening commute is probably going to be on the tricky side in many areas.

Just like last night, the Champlain Valley probably won't see much additional snow. Many spots there should see less than an inch. But it doesn't take much snow to ice up the roads if temperatures are falling below freezing. Take your time headed home this evening. 

Elsewhere, a few inches of snow should pile up overnight, with a good six or more inches up at the ski areas on top of what has already fallen. It should be a noisy night, too with winds gusting to 40 mph in the valleys and more than that in the mountains.

On the bright side, it should be a great early season ski weekend before the warmer air inevitably arrives next week.

Bits of snow will fall Saturday and Sunday as weak disturbances slip through. It might get warm enough for rain drops in the Champlain Valley Sunday afternoon.

A modest, warm storm should give us mostly light rain Monday and Tuesday before the forecast gets questionable again.  We don't know whether a second storm will come up the East Coast Thursday or not. And if it does, we don't know yet whether enough cold air will blow in to give us snow instead of rain. 

So if you're looking ahead toward a week from now, keep guessing. We'll figure that out within a few days from now.