Small "Snowstorm" Was A Bust In Vermont Valleys; One More Shot At Whitish Christmas

This tiny patch of frozen snow on my St. Albans, 
Vermont property this morning at the moment represents
our only hint of a white Christmas. But we have
one more shot of an inch or two of snow tomorrow
and Saturday.

 Last night's small storm was a flop in most of Vermont's valleys. 

The thing never had much cold air to work with anyway, and there was even a little less than forecast. The result was a few hours of light rain that never did end as a period of snow, as some people hoped

In fact, it was still above freezing in many areas of Vermont as dawn approached this morning - hours after the bulk of the precipitation had moved away

Higher elevations -  as expected - did receive some snow, so your ski areas got a fresh little coat. 

 Also, traffic cameras this morning  are showing a dusting to a couple of inches of new snow in parts of central and eastern Vermont, but low elevations all through western Vermont show bare ground. 

Temperatures were falling, and we've already seen our high temperatures for the day. Untreated roads, driveways and sidewalks are freezing up early this morning, so be careful out thee.

But there will be precious little snow with this, maybe flurries in the valleys and another inch of fluff way up high. Still, if you have snow on the ground this morning, you'll have snow on the ground on Christmas.

To me, it's not that important whether we have a white Christmas or not.  I do know we have fewer of them in Vermont than we used to. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, it happened almost every year. Now,  our age climate change, not quite so much. 

The unofficial rule of thumb is a white Christmas requires at least an inch of snow on the ground. In the decade of Christmases ending last year in Burlington, six out of 10 years had a white Christmas. So it's gotten inconsistent in the age of climate change. 

For those of you who do want snow on the ground for Christmas morning, there's still some hope. 

A weak Alberta clipper that is to bring frigid air to us this weekend had been expected to pretty much fall apart on its way here. Earlier forecast indicated this thing would bring plenty of cold air with it, but no snow. 

Turns out the Alberta clipper's last gasps will be enough to spread some snow over us.  Not much, and it will be light and fluffy and nothing substantial, but it does look like it might snow pretty much region wide later Friday and part of Saturday. 

A fairly strong storm forming well east of the New England coast Friday night and Saturday might also add just a little lift to the atmosphere to squeeze out a little snow. (The storm itself will entirely miss New England).

Bottom line: We have at least a shot of seeing one to three inches of fluff by the time the potential snow ends later Saturday. The one inch amounts are more likely in the valleys, with three inches up high.

You're going to want to hide behind the parkas and scarfs Saturday and especially Sunday and Monday morning as temperatures will be well below normal. Highs on Sunday will only be 8 to 15 above, and many of us will be below zero Sunday and Monday mornings. 

Temperatures will moderate by Christmas to near normal temperatures for this time of year.