Vermont/New England In For A Long, Cold Blustery Week Or More, Mountain Snows Continue

Not much snow this weekend for most of us, but notice the
eight inch expected totals in the northern Green Mountains
of Vermont. Plus the elephant in the room, the expected
three feet of snow downwind of Lake Ontario 
north of Syracuse, New York. 

If you liked the weather in Vermont yesterday, you're going to love the next week or more. Especially if you prefer it much colder than it is now. 

The cold air is coming in, but it's taking its time, despite the rushes of north winds we've been feeling. 

Winds as expected gusted to more than 40 mph Thursday but the temperatures didn't drop quite as quickly as anticipated. 

Burlington stayed above freezing until around 6 p.m. Thursday and most of us were still solidly in the 20s this morning. 

CHILL DEEPENS

 This January is shaping up to be much like 2022. That one also had  warm first couple of days but turned out to be another exception in our past decade or two of warm winter months.

The temperature will keep falling. Starting tomorrow and lasting at least a week, it's going to be persistently cold. Not extremely frigid, but the chill will have staying power. Highs will be in the teens to around 20, with lows in the single numbers to low teens through next Thursday and very likely beyond that. 

WPTZ Chief Meteorologist Tyler Jankowski noted on Facebook Thursday that the forecast for January 4 through 12 is the coldest since 2004. 

 Still, this won't be nearly as cold as some of the notorious Arctic blasts Vermont endured in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. An example: On January 4, 1981, the low temperature in Burlington was minus 27 and the "high" temperature made it all the way up to (check notes) 13 below. 

Only a few places in Vermont were getting snow this 
morning, but traffic cam grab showed it was still
snowing and blowing along Route 58 in Lowell. 

The forecast low for January 4, 2025 is 13 above with a high of 20. So you see the difference. 

The weather maps for the next week look almost the same in our neck of the woods pretty much daily, which is a long time to go with no substantial change.

Every day for the foreseeable future will have that chill, along with lots of clouds and, almost a constant stiff northwest wind. The wind might relax a bit on Monday, but come roaring back afterwards

SNOW CHANCES

The strong, persistent northwest flow from Canada will suppress a pretty strong winter storm far to our south Sunday and Monday. That storm will eventually head way out to sea, then move north, intensify and stall near Labrador next week, keeping the cold winds over us going. 

Our only snow chances will come from moisture wrapping around that storm, and weak little disturbances riding that air flow from the northwest. I also think we might be getting a little moisture from Hudson Bay, which is usually frozen by now.   But there's still some open water up there, so that is probably adding a few extra snowflakes to the mix.

With the current weather pattern, Hudson Bay should finish freezing up soon, though. 

A strong lake effect snow band Thursday with some incredible staying power came off of Lake Ontario well south of Watertown, and held together pretty well as it clipped the southwest corner in Vermont. Its staying power extended all the way to and off the coastline of Rhode Island in the form of scattered snow showers. 

Traffic cam grab along high elevation Route 17 in Buels Gore
shows sun breaking through after fresh snow. Unsure
if that stuff that looks like steam in the background is
blowing snow or snow making at nearby ski areas.

Those lake effect snows are expected to dump up to three feet of snow mostly north of Syracuse, New York through the weekend. The snows from Lake Ontario will probably continue to reach parts of Vermont as light snow showers through the weekend, too. 

This is all good news for snow lovers in the mountains, but it means valleys will continue to see very little of it.

It will be interesting to get updates today on how much snow fell in the northern Green Mountains since yesterday

As of midday Thursday, 11.5 inches of snow had been reported at a 3,000 foot elevation in Underhill, and at another high elevation in Belvedere Center, with 10 inches in Braintree.

Even the southern Green Mountains got into the act with nine inches in Ludlow and eight inches in East Wallingford.

The snow in Vermont looks like it will keep piling up slowly in the mountains and mostly avoiding the valleys. 

The northern Greens can expect locally up to eight inches of additional snow between now and Sunday. More snow will surely fall up in the mountains much of next week.

In the valleys, nothing more than flurries and bursts of light snow. Eventually, even in the Champlain Valley, I imagine there we'd end up with a thin covering of snow, but nothing spectacular.  

Unlike the wild storminess of early January last year, the first half of January, 2025 is looking rather quiet and cold.