Cleaning Up From Last Night' Sloppy Storm As Two More Approach Vermont

Snow-laden pine branches in St. Albans, Vermont this
morning after 3.5 inches of mostly wet snow fell. 

 Well, that was fun.

As expected, wet snow last evening turned roads, especially in northern Vermont into a mess last evening as another installment in our frequent little storms continue. 

Also as expected, it got colder later on, and temperatures were well down into the 20s in all except far southern Vermont.  That froze that wet stuff. Plus, a few areas - also as planned by forecasters - got some rain and freezing rain which also iced up very nicely as temperatures dropped.

Wet snow tends to cake onto roads, too, so the snowplows can't really get rid of it as easily as fluffy, powdery snow. 

That all means that if you made it safely home from work in last evening's weather, you're going to have to take care again this morning. The snow and schmutz has pretty much stopped, but roads are still kinda messy. 

The main roads will clean up first, but even there, we have issues. Secondary roads will probably be tricky for a good part of the morning. 

Snowfall reports from last night are of course sparse from last night, but early indications are the most snow fell in places we expected: Right near the Canadian border and in the high elevations of the central and northern Green Mountains.  

Derby Line had 4.2 inches, Woodbury 4.0, and Maidstone 3.1.  Here in St. Albans, unlike places a bit further south, it was all wet snow and we had a total of 3.5 inches. Closer to Lake Champlain, Swanton reported only an inch.  Burlington had a little over an inch, as it started as rain there. 

We have at least a couple more storms to get through. More on that in a bit. 

TODAY/WEDNESDAY

After Monday's mini-thaw, we're back to cold winter weather. Those temperatures early today in the 20s won't go anywhere and could drop a little.  Cold northwest winds will make the "real feel" if you want to call it that, will make it feel like it's near 0 out there at times.

Those northwest winds will help set off some light snow showers once again in the central and northern Green Mountains, but most places up there will barely see an inch of new snow.

The cold will linger through Wednesday night, as lows both nights get down into the single numbers, with the chillier hollows managing to get below zero again.  Highs Wednesday will be in the teens to low 20s, but at least the weather will be quiet.

Briefly, anyway. 

THURSDAY AND BEYOND 

Then the next storm arrives, and our familiar roller coaster weather continues.  This one is still tricky, but the early read on this is we get a burst of snow.  I best initial guess is a lot of us will see another two to four inches of snow.  It also looks like this one will end as periods of freezing drizzle for a lot of us later Thursday and Thursday night, just to make things more fun. 

I get nervous with forecasts five or more days out. But that said, forecasts so far have been pretty consistent with another mid-size system for this coming Sunday. So far, anyway, that one looks like it might go just to the south of Vermont, so it would be a mostly snow type thing. 

After that, who knows, but the crystal ball types have at least a modest storm system coming through or near Vermont every third day beyond next Sunday for perhaps another week or two.

While snow cover in the warmer valleys of Vermont is still kind of lame, it's really starting to build up now in some northern areas and high elevations. 

Before last night's snow, there was only three or four inches on the ground in places like the central and southern Champlain Valley. But several mid and high elevations, and places near the Canadian border, the western slopes of the Green Mountains and the Northeast Kingdom were already close to or over a foot and a half of snow on the ground. 

That's not incredible by Vermont standards, but it is pretty good, especially compared to many recent warm winters. It's looking like that snow will keep getting deeper, too, as we head through February.