Small Snowfall Over-Performs, White Christmas Guaranteed Vermont/Much Of New England

A nice little coating of snow has appeared around St.
Albans, Vermont. A little over two inches of snow fell
since Friday afternoon, and it was still snowing a
little as of 8 a.m Saturday 

The snow that hit New England Friday afternoon and evening was by no means a blockbuster - nobody ever thought it would be - but it did over-perform. 

By that I mean the snow was a bit more persistent and in some cases deeper than many of us thought it would be. That lead to some trouble on the roads, but also guaranteeing a white Christmas for many of us in New England, and large swaths of New York and Pennsylvania.

I don't yet have many snow reports as of early this morning. 

But as of midnight, Burlington, Vermont had received 2.5 inches of new snow.  A little more fell after midnight. As of 7 a.m. today, my place in St. Albans had 2.2 inches of new fluff.

It was still snowing a little in both cities as of 8:15 a.m,, and in fact, the pace of the falling snow had temporarily picked up a bit since dawn.   

Forecasts ahead of the snow called for one to three inches in Vermont, and it looks like a number of places will go a little past that amount.  

Especially since parts of Vermont and the Adirondacks could see another one to three inches of snow today. 

It was still lightly snowing there and in most of Vermont and adjacent New York, New Hampshire and southern Quebec as of dawn today. 

The snow yesterday and last night was never intense enough to trigger any kind of winter weather advisories, but it did make a mess on the roads for the Friday evening commute.

Traffic was heavier than usual, what with the people coming home from work and school and people heading to and from Christmas activities and shopping. 

The snow was deceptive, too.  You get an attitude, "Ah, it's only light snow." But all those car and truck tires often compacted that little bit of snow into a thin, hard to see sheen of black ice. 

The result was traffic back ups around crashes and slide offs. Interstate 89 southbound near Exit 17 in Colchester, Vermont was briefly closed Friday afternoon due to a crash.

It was slow going in the Boston area, and much of the rest of Massachusetts yesterday afternoon, too. 

Eastern Massachusetts ended up getting an unexpectedly good thump of snow, guaranteeing a surprise white Christmas in Boston and environs. Boston saw 5.2 inches of new snow Friday.  A few places in that area got around six inches of snow.

New York's Central Park received 1.8 inches of snow as of this morning. That opens the possibility of the Big Apple's first White Christmas since 2009.  (Though there was a trace on the ground in 2017. And in 2010, there was no New York snow on Christmas, but 20 inches fell on Dec. 26-27 that year).

Roads around the region were still iffy this morning, so be careful out there Road crews are out, but some falling snow is still sticking to the roads, 

 FORECAST

We've got a traditionally frigid pre-Christmas weekend underway in New England, a contrast to recent past balmy Christmas times.

As mentioned, it'll keep snowing in Vermont today. Just flurries in the valleys, really. Some of the western slopes of the Green Mountains and ski areas could get another couple inches of super light fluff today.     

The temperature continues to fall, - a trend that started Thursday. It was mostly in the teens across Vermont as dawn broke this morning, and readings will barely rise through the day.  A steady north wind will make it feel colder. 

The temperature still looks like it will fall to within a few degrees either side of 0 tonight.

The sun will come out tomorrow, as the song goes, but it won't heat us up at all. Temperatures will stay in the single numbers to maybe low teens in some of the milder spots. Those readings will crash tomorrow night, with everybody below zero by late Sunday night and towards dawn Monday A lucky few near Lake Champlain that will hold near zero.

We do see a bit of a milder trend heading toward Christmas and beyond, but it won't be as much of a warmup as earlier forecast.  Highs should reach near 20 Monday, in the 20s Christmas Eve and maybe near 30 or so Christmas.

Another weak system looks like it will spread some more light snow across the region to grace our surroundings on Christmas Eve. Gotta keep things looking traditional, so of course some Charlie Brown Christmas Special snow as we await Santa.