Vermont Has Coldest Morning In Two Years; And Is About To Become A Weather "Battleground State"

In this screen grab from a WCAX web cam this morning,
steam is seen rising from buildings in Rutland, Vermont.
Rutland had a low of 10 below this morning. 

It seems the bottom dropped out of our the thermometers overnight as everybody in Vermont got to experience an old fashioned subzero morning. 

Depending on where you were, it was the coldest morning since either February 3-4, 2023 or sometime in January, 2022.

It got down to at least 24 below at Lake Eden, Vermont. 

Elsewhere in the Green Mountain State, Morrisville touched 22 below, Newport 18 below, Montpelier 15 below. In the banana belt Champlain Valley, Burlington got to minus 8, easily the coldest this winter. 

In surrounding states, both Saranac Lake, New York and Berlin, New Hampshire were 26 below. 

As shivering cold as it was, this morning was no great shakes compared to historical standards. 

We didn't come close to breaking any record lows this morning. The honors for the worst Groundhog Day cold in Vermont goes to 1962, when it was 25 below in Burlington, minus 28 in Montpelier and a decidedly unpleasant 32 below in St. Johnsbury. 

No guarantees, but there's a probably at least a 50/50 chance or better that this morning will turn out to be the coldest in the winter of 2024-25.   We know it won't be this cold again for at least a week, but prepare for changeable weather. 

BATTLEGROUND STATE

We've fallen into a weather pattern that features storms repeatedly smacking into central and northern California and racing east/northeast across the nation into New England on a wicked fast jet stream. 

The storm track represents the battleground between Arctic air generating way up in the frigid north and the first hints of spring warmth trying to sneak up from the south. Here in Vermont, we're one of those battleground states.

Partly because they're moving so fast,  these storms don't have an opportunity to get super strong. But this battleground involving volleys of small storms is why we're having those wide swings in temperature I keep talking about. Warm fronts and cold fronts keep coming at us in quick succession.

Today/Monday 

The next modest storm is racing towards us now.  High clouds that came in around dawn prevented this morning's temperatures from getting even colder. South winds ahead of the storm will have temperatures climbing into the 20s for many of us this afternoon.

 For a few places in the Adirondacks, Vermont's Northeast Kingdom and northern New Hampshire, it will be nearly 50 degrees hotter by this evening than it was early this morning. 

The little storm will come through tonight through Monday night with a burst of snow overnight, with one to three inches of new snow for most of us. The Champlain and lower Connecticut Valleys might get under an inch, actually.

We get a mini-thaw Monday with valley highs touching 40 in several towns with a few rain drops mixing with snow showers here and there. A few more snow showers come in once it cools off Monday night, but we won't see anything huge. 

Tuesday and Onward

The fast pace of weather systems with that roaring fast jet stream overhead makes forecasting a challenge, so expect the unexpected.  And a continuation of wait a minute and it will change whether Tuesday and Wednesday look chilly but not as bad as this weekend has been. Still, at least a few of use will be below zero again early Wednesday morning. 

The next storm is due around Thursday.  Some weather models take it to our northwest, which would give us snow or a mix changing to rain. Other models keep the storm a little to our south, so that would be a snow maybe mixed with freezing rain scenario.  It won't be a huge storm, but it could be messy. 

Stay tuned for updated forecasts there.

After a break for a day or two, there probably will be some sort of new storm on Sunday, a week from today. It's way too soon to tell you how that potential storm would play out. 

Long range forecasts are iffy, but it's looking like February is going to be a more active month than January was.  Storms were lacking in January. We might not be so lucky this month.