Banner Lake Effect Snow Winter, By Vermont Standards, Anyway

Finally looking like winter in St. Albans, Vermont after
 a week of light snow and flurries. And notice in this 
photo taken this morning there's finally a hint of 
clearing skies in the distance. Some sun is 
possible today for a change. 

 Lake Champlain between Vermont and New York is considered two small to be a source of lake effect snowstorms, like you see out by the Great Lakes in cities like Buffalo, Watertown and Erie. 

Oh, sure you get a little lake effect from Champlain, so goes the thinking, but nothing substantial.

Except for this winter. 

For the third time the season the Champlain Valley of Vermont on Thursday saw yet another lake effect snowfall courtesy of the still mostly unfrozen Lake Champlain.

Not all the snow came off the lake, of course.  Some of it was just that moist north wind that has been coming down from Quebec most of this week. 

 But that snow was enhanced as it picked up moisture from the lake and deposited it on places from Colchester, through Burlington and down into Addison County.

The National Weather Service office in South Burlington collected 5.4 inches of new snow yesterday.  That's more than most places in Vermont received. Early Thursday afternoon, while most of Vermont was reporting light snow or no snow falling from the sky at all, Burlington had bursts of heavy snow. 

Essex Junction reported 7.5 inches of new snow. There were several reports of five inches totals from around Chittenden County, including in Colchester, Westford and Underhill. 

The at least partly lake effect snow follows another bout of fluff off of Lake Champlain on January 5 that deposited more than four inches of snow on towns like Shelburne, Huntington and Charlotte. 

Back on December 21, up to 5.7 inches of snow, much of it lake effect off Champlain, whitened the Burlington area.

It's probable that some sections of Chittenden and Addison counties have had more than a foot of snow total this winter just from Lake Champlain. 

Of course, other areas of Vermont received snow yesterday and that had little or nothing to do with lake effect. There were reports of half of foot of additional fluff from some northern Vermont towns.  Up here in St. Albans, we had just over two inches of snow yesterday morning, with four inches so far this week. 

Vermont State Police said the persistent snowfall this week - lake effect or not - resulted in 163 weather-related crashes with 19 injuries. 

After a break in the snow total, a general one to two inches of snow is likely pretty much statewide as a weak system passes through. 

There will be other chances of light snow off and on during next week. It's possible that could include a little more Lake Champlain snow, but that kind of forecasting is hard to tease out now.

We also still don't have any big storms in sight for at least a week.