Winter, Now Re-Established In Vermont, Will Keep Meteorologists On Their Toes

When winter winds returned on Friday, things got a little weird in parts of New England. It snowed in parts of the region, thanks of all things to Lake Huron. 

Satellite view this morning shows bands of snow cover
across southern Vermont and New Hampshire and 
parts of Massachusetts from Great Lakes effect
snows that made it all the way to the 
Atlantic Ocean yesterday. (The snow cover is
those faint streaks of lighter color you see in
the spots I referenced). Photo via Facebook.
National Weather Service/South Burlington

We know that there is always lake effect snows around the Great Lakes, especially this time of year when the relatively warm water contrasts with the cold Canadian air flowing in. 

This time of year, when that contrast is big, some of the snows can make it all the way into New England, but usually as decent snows in western New England mountains and just flurries in the valleys.

As mentioned yesterday, one particularly aggressive band of lake snow originated over Lake Huron, got an extra boost from Lake Ontario and made it all the way to Vermont.

By later yesterday morning, the band got more powerful on its trip into New England. Motorists reported poor visibility and dangerous road conditions along Route 30 in Dorset, Route 11 over the mountains between Manchester and Springfield, Interstate 89 near Sharon and other places.

The dangerous roads and snow squalls from this line continued on through a band across pretty much all of southern New Hampshire. The snow band shifted south during the afternoon, creating bursts of heavy snow across Massachusetts. One of these snow showers created wind gusts to 48 mph as they incredibly headed out to sea.

Snow accumulated to as much as 4 inches in southern New Hampshire and western Massachusetts and 2 inches in Worcester County, Massachusetts. Again, just wild for Great Lakes snow to do that in New England. I'm sure some energy in the atmosphere unrelated to the lakes sustained the snow band, but still!

Back here in Vermont, snow showers coasted the central and northern Green Mountains nicely. The state's perennial snowy spot, Jay Peak, hit the jackpot again. They received eight to ten inches of snow yesterday and last night. 

Jay Peak has had 113 inches of snow this month, which is a record for them. They are about to get more snow, and the rest of us will see some too. 

SNOWY, WINTRY OUTLOOK

Traffic camera image of Route 105 in Jay at about 9 a.m.
this morning. I'm not sure if the guy in the snow-swept
parking lot is getting ready for a backcountry ski
adventure or is discreetly peeing. In any event
this shot shows how wintry it has gotten in
some of Vermont's mountains. 

After a cold, but fairly bright day today, the next storm comes in tomorrow. 

It will be a classic light, but terribly raw and miserable late November/early December festival of snow, then occasional cold, light rain in the valleys, dank, dark skies and in some places, a gusty south wind that will chill you to the bone. 

If tomorrow's weather doesn't depress you, nothing will. There are bright sides to tomorrow's darkness, though. 

There won't be much precipitation of any kind. Rain and melted snow should amount to less than a quarter inch of rain equivalent, with maybe a little more than that. 

Snow accumulation should be less than an inch in the valleys before it changes over to rain. Areas above 2,000 feet in elevation likely won't see any rain at all. And if it does manage to rain on your ski slopes, it won't cause much damage, since the rain will be so light, and it will be barely and only briefly above freezing up there.

After that, another storm -  more of a nor'easter - will threaten on Tuesday. Early indications are the heaviest precipitation will go to our south, but most of Vermont should at least see some snow. And if the path of the storm goes a little further north, we could have a pretty decent snow dump on our hands. 

Then, the first true Arctic cold front of the season might come through Thursday with some snow squalls. And then maybe the first below zero temperatures of the season in Vermont. 

This winter is starting much stronger than most recent ones. That doesn't mean the entire winter will be rough. But the beginning of winter, 2025 kind of harkens back to the "real winters" we had back in the 1960s and 1970s. 

Also, I know long range forecasts beyond a few days are questionable, I still have to leave you with this note: NOAA's latest three to four week outlook calls for mostly below normal temperatures and leans toward above normal precipitation through about Christmas.