Snowstorm In Vermont Ending This Evening, Snow On Ground To Remain For Long Time

Vermont State Police posted this photo to Facebook
today. It was one of dozens of crashes they've dealt
with amid our day-long snowstorm. Roads remain
iffy through this evening, and probably 
into tomorrow morning. 

A few last narrow bands of fairly heavy snow were moving through Vermont as of 5 p.m. today, which will be the last harrah of our snowstorm. 

I see that there has been widespread four to five inches snow reports as of late this afternoon across Vermont. 

My place in St. Albans is lagging behind with 2.9 inches, as the drier air coming in from the northwest made an early appearance midafternoon. Burlington had 3.7 inches of snow as of 4:30 p.m. 

The snow had really tapered off by around 3:30 or so in most of northwest Vermont, which raised hopes of an easier commute this evening. But radar shows a final burst of moderate snow moving in, which is complicating the trip home. 

A more substantial band of heavier snow was extending across southern Vermont, running from Bennington County and going up toward White River Junction.

This area of somewhat heavier snow will probably help ensure the southeast half of Vermont will get the five to 10 inches of snow that had been forecast. 

This snow will keep the roads crappy for awhile yet.  As we mentioned early this afternoon, there had already been a bunch of wrecks. Vermont State Police provided the following update at around 4 p.m. today:

"Troopers have been busy keeping up with crashes, responding to 27 weather-related wrecks in the northern half of Vermont and 23 in the souther half from midnight to 2 p.m. Tuesday. Of the crashes, 17 took places on interstate highways, one with a reported injury, and 33 occurred on secondary roads, three with injuries."

I guarantee additional crashes this evening, unfortunately. Keep it slow and steady out there on the roads, folks. 

WHAT'S NEXT

Going forward through this evening, the remains snow that is falling in the northwest half of Vermont will quickly come to an end, shutting down northwest to southeast like we've been anticipating. It'll take longer to stop snowing in southeast Vermont. 

The northwest half of the state should be done with this between 6 to 8 p.m. or so. Central Vermont might have to wait until as late as 9 p.m. or so to see the snow stop. Southeastern Vermont will keep it going until around 11 p.m., give or take.

When you get up to go to work or school early tomorrow, you'll unfortunately still need to be a little careful on the roads. Yeah, I'm already sick of it, too. .It won't be snowing, but with temperatures falling into the teens to around 20, things will have frozen up pretty well. .

Be especially careful on bridges and overpasses. The ground is still kind of warm. That, and road salt, might make the overall road conditions not too bad. But the bridges won't have the benefit of the warm-ish ground underneath, so they'll have some black ice. Zipping along at 60 to 70 mph and then hitting the black ice at the bridges is not fun, let me tell you. 

Under partly sunny, chilly skies, the snow cleanup should finish up pretty well, even on the back roads. It'll be a fantastic day for winter sports statewide. 

THURSDAY TROUBLE

The next problem comes Thursday, with that Arctic cold front we've been talking about. That front still looks like it will come through during the morning, maybe early afternoon in southeastern Vermont. 

It should have a band of snow showers and snow squalls with it. That band of potential squalls could dump a quick inch of snow in a half hour to an hour. That means horrible visibility on the roads, which will quickly ice over.

Then, during the day, temperatures will crash amid frigid northwest gusts to over 30 mph. Look out for blowing snow, and keep your thickest winter coats ready, as wind chills will sink well below zero why nightfall.

Temperatures overnight will drop to within a few degrees either side of zero. That kind of weather is a bit earlier than usual in the season. Not record breaking, but still. 

The sharp contrast between the still relatively warm waters of Lake Champlain and the frigid air might create a few cold air funnels over the lake Thursday night and Friday. If you can brave the cold, you might want to get up very early Friday and check it out if you live nearby. 

It'll stay colder than we're used to at least into mid-month. 

I won't have a full report early tomorrow morning on the storm because I've got some appointments to take care of.  But I will do that later in the day and provide any update to the frigid weather that's going to blast down on us. 

Midway Through Snowstorm, Roads Are A Mess, Crashes Increasing In Vermont

Interstate 89 near Exit 16 in Colchester definitely
looked worse at noon today than it did when I '
posted a photo of the same location at around
7 a.m. this morning. There's been quite a few
crashes. Let's be careful out there! 

It's early afternoon now, and we're midway through our Vermont snowstorm. 

The snow isn't just hitting us, of course. Roads have been a mess from the Midwest to the central Appalachians and on into New England.  

One dramatic crash was down in West Virginia where a tractor trailer crashed and was left hanging off a bridge in Mason County. The driver was rescued. 

So far the storm has caused one death, out in Missouri yesterday when the beginnings of the storms snarled traffic around St. Louis. One meteorologists there said it was the worst weather-related traffic snarl he's seen in decades.

Now the storm is in New England, and causing its own traffic trouble here. There's plenty of examples here in Vermont. 

Up here in St Albans, the city police department said one its cruisers was hit by another car on a snowy road while responding to another crash. 

Some of the various examples I've seen in Vermont at different times this morning included a crash that dropped northbound Interstate 89 in Williston down to one lane for a time. Route 7 in Ferrisburgh was closed for awhile due to a crash; Route 103 in Chester was also closed for a time due to a snow-related crash, and Route 11 in Londonderry was reduced to one lane, also due to a crash. 

Shelburne Road near the on ramp to Interstate 189 was closed due to a crash around noon, too, so that must have been a real mess. 

All the traffic cams I've seen in Vermont over the past hour show snow covered roads. In other words, be careful out there folks. 

As of 12:30 p.m., it was snowing at a pretty good clip statewide. So far, as of noon, most places had maybe two to three inches of snow. It seems like there was a zone of heavier snow near and north of the Worcester range in north central Vermont. 

Total accumulation is still forecast to be the same as forecast this morning. Although far northwest Vermont might get a bit more than originally forecast. For instance, older forecasts had St. Albans receiving three inches, but now that's been bumped up to four inches. 

The snow will continue coming down at a good pace well into the afternoon.  The snow will start to diminish after 3 p.m. in far northwest Vermont.  That snow shut down will steadily move southeastward across Vermont in the very late afternoon and evening. 

It'll finally conk out in far southeast Vermont before midnight. 

Flurries might linger, but once the steady snow shuts down where you live, you'll hardly get any additional accumulation. You can start shoveling at that point. 

Even after the snow ends, it will take time to clean up the roads, so be careful driving back home tonight. In the Champlain Valley, where snow will be tapering off as darkness falls, I don't anticipate any kind of traffic nightmare like we had during that big snow on November 10. But, expect delays and be patient. 

Since it will still be snowing in southern and eastern Vermont late this afternoon and evening, roads remain lousy down there   

Snowy Vermont Day Has Begun, Decent Snowfall Almost Statewide

This morning's National Weather Service snow prediction
map is little changed from yesterday. Still looking at
roughly 6 to 9 inches in the southeastern half of
Vermont and somewhat lesser amounts northwest. 

 As of 6:30 this morning the snow was beginning, launching us into our snowy start to December.

For such an unpredictable type of weather system, the forecast has remained remarkably consistent for the past few days. This morning, we have only small changes in the forecast compared to last night. 

The most important one is the slightly earlier than forecast onset of snow than we originally thought. The original idea was it coming in around 7 a.m., but at least for western Vermont and New York, it was around 6 a.m. or so.

The first bits of snow were light, but it will increase in intensity, especially in the southern half of Vermont. 

As for this morning, you know the drill.  If you haven't left for school or work yet, you should, or should have built in extra time to get to where you need to go. As of 7 a.m. traffic cameras showed roads getting increasingly snow covered, pretty fast across much of the state.

Before you head out, check your local listings for school closings. There's a ton of them. 

By 7 a.m., I haven't heard much yet about cars sliding off the roads or hitting each other, but that will come soon enough today. The saving grace with this storm is the heaviest snow is coming after most people are at work.

ACCUMULATIONS

Not much has changed in terms of how much snow we'll get. The bottom line: This is a midsized snowfall, by Vermont standards. 

The new forecast map issued this morning from the National Weather Service in South Burlington only has subtle changes, compared to the one they gave us Monday afternoon. Maybe a tiny bit more than yesterday's forecast in northwestern Vermont. That reflects a predicted storm track that has nudged just a bit north from yesterday. 

The winter storm warning is still in effect for basically the southern  half of Vermont and the winter weather advisory is up for everyone except people in Franklin and Grand Isle counties. But even there, the road conditions are already going downhill.

There will be some nuances with the accumulations in the area covered by warning and advisories. Three to 10 inches of new snow is a good bet today, depending on whether you're in the warning or the advisory. 

Traffic cam grab of Exit 16, Interstate 89 in Colchester
at around 7:30 this morning. The heaviest snow
hadn't arrived yet, so road conditions weren't as
bad as they could have been. 

But there will be nuances. This type of storm tends to set up narrow southwest to northeast oriented bands of heavier snow. You can't easily tell in advance where they will set up. 

This means you might get into a situation where you'll have a Vermont town that gets 10 inches of snow, then a community just a dozen or two miles north gets four or five inches, then another town a couple dozen miles north of that second town gets eight, nine, ten inches. 

It's the luck of the draw. 

In so many recent winters, we've had these awful "wet cement" heavy snowstorms, uncharacteristic for us, really. This one is more old-fashioned. Powdery. Not light insignificant feathers, but it won't be heart-attack snow, either. 

It still looks like the wind will be fairly light with this storm, so the snow will be pretty piling up on tree branches. It is surprisingly blustery outside here in St. Albans, but that seems to be some sort of local effects. Most places in Vermont were reporting calm winds, or winds at or under 10 mph. 

ROCKET STORM

Forecasts that this storm would move wicked fast are coming true. The storm was near southeastern North Carolina early this morning and will be near Cape Cod by this evening. 

That leaves us with a short window for heavier snow. That should come roughly between 10 a.m.  and 3 p.m. today. By late this afternoon or very early evening, the storm will basically be over in the northwest half of Vermont, and it will end before midnight in extreme southeastern parts of the state.

Usually, at least light snow lingers for many hours after a storm passes Cape Cod as northeast winds throw moisture back into our neck of the woods. This storm, though, is pretty compact, so once it's over, it's pretty much over.

Still, I expect roads to be in not great shape as we go into this evening, especially in southern and eastern Vermont. 

OUTLOOK

The roughest start to winter since at least 2019 and probably before that will continue to slap us in the face as we go through the week. Tomorrow will be fairly calm, but kinda cold for this time of year, with highs in the low 30s. 

That Arctic cold front is still looming for Thursday morning with its batch of snow showers and snow squalls. We're watching the timing of this one, because the snow squalls might enter the Champlain Valley around the morning commute. We're hoping they hold off until a little later in the morning, but we don't know for sure yet

Temperatures will crash into the teens by Thursday afternoon and to near 0 by Friday morning. It'll sort of warm up over the weekend and into next week, but barely. It'll still be much colder than average for this time of year well into next week. 

I'll have more details on that after we get past this storm, but it looks like we'll have a few shots of Arctic air through mid-month at least. 

Monday Evening Storm Update: Pretty Vermont Snowstorm Tomorrow, But Road Will Make People Grumble

Updated snow forecast for tomorrow, from the National
Weather Service office in South Burlington 
Predicted totals are up a little bit in eastern
Vermont, about the same west. 

 I noticed high, thin clouds creeping in late this afternoon here in St. Albans, the first harbinger of our expected New England snowstorm. 

As expected, we have some change and upgrades to the watches that were up earlier. 

This fast-moving storm is covering a lot of real estate. Winter weather advisories with this thing extend from Kansas and Arkansas all the way to Maine. 

The winter storm warnings, for the heaviest snow as of these evening run through the Catskills and Capitol District of New York, on through central New England.

In general, predicted snow amounts are similar to what we had this morning, with predictions ticking up from this morning east of the Green Mountains from Brattleboro all the way up to the Northeast Kingdom. 

There's still time for the storm's projected path to shift, so by tomorrow morning, there might be some further changes in the forecast. You know the drill. 

VERMONT'S WINTER STORM WARNING

For us here in Vermont, the upgrade to winter storm warning covers pretty much the same ground the earlier winter storm watch occupied

That warning goes through the southern four counties of Vermont, Orange County, and the hilly and mountainous terrain in Addison County east of Route 7. The warning, in effect from 7 a.m. tomorrow to 1 a.m. Wednesday, calls for 5 to 9 inches of snow.

In their forecast discussion this afternoon, the National Weather Service office in South Burlington said there could easily be pockets of 10 inches or a little more snow in mostly far southern and eastern Vermont, maybe as far north as Orange County. 

That's barely with the winter storm warning criteria. But remember, this storm is rocketing through, so the snow will mostly come down in a big thump lasting just during the day, with a peak probably mid-morning to mid afternoon.

Snow could come down at a rate of an inch per hour in southern and central Vermont, which is hard for the snow plows to keep up with. If you have unnecessary travel plans in southern Vermont tomorrow, just postpone until Wednesday. It'll be easier. 

On the bright side, this will be a pretty snowstorm, The snow's consistency will be somewhat on the fluffy side - not exactly feathers, but definitely not wet cement, either. There won't be a lot of wind, either, so the snow will pile up nicely on branches and such. 

Great for the Christmas spirit if you're into that, or if you're looking for a photo opportunity to include on Christmas cards and gifts. 

FURTHER NORTH

A winter weather advisory is up for all of Vermont north of the winter storm warning, except Franklin and Grand Isle counties where the snow will be even lighter.

In the areas under the advisory, it looks like three to seven inches of new snow is in the cards. Up in Franklin and Grand Isle counties, expect maybe just two to four inches, and maybe even a notch below that in the extreme northwest up by Alburgh. 

TIMING

As mentioned this morning, it looks like the snow will start just in time for the evening commute. The start of this will be a little unusual. There might be flurries before dawn, but statewide, this will begin around 7 a.m. give or take. 

And instead of the snow creeping south to north like it usually does under this type of storm, it'll start snowing within the same hour or two window statewide. 

If you can get to your office or school before 7 a.m. that would be helpful. Or, if you can work remotely, even better. 

Even though the snow and its timing has already been blasted all over the media, people on the roads will be "surprised" by the suddenly poor visibility and slick roads on the highways. 

For the love of God, take it easy on the road. Your mistake can cause problems for hundreds of people, maybe thousands. That's because you wreck on, say Interstate 89 and traffic backs up for miles as a result. 

All those people are late for work, maybe in trouble with their bosses. They miss doctor and dentist appointments, even things like critical cancer treatments. Everybody has to just sit there, wasting gas, because of you and your wreck. 

The speed demons who cause these kinds of situations surely don't care about anyone else, so I doubt I'm getting through to them.  But I'm mentioning it because I do believe there's such a thing as karma. 

The snow, as mentioned, should continue all day. It'll start to taper off in the late afternoon and evening from northwest to southeast across the state. The roads won't be in great shape on the way home, either, so keep that in mind. 

We're still looking at a sharp cold front with possible snow squalls Thursday, followed by Arctic air Thursday night and Friday. I'll have more details in subsequent posts. 

I'll update this tomorrow morning, of course! Enjoy the snow! 

November In Vermont Was Cold, Gloomy, But Historically, It Was Actually Kinda Average

A gloomy sky over St. Albans, Vermont on November 6.
The month was chilly by modern standards, but kind
of middle of the road by 20th century comparisons. 

 The final climate totals are in for the Vermont November, 2025 and it paints a chilly picture. But it was only chilly compared to recent years, not the pre-climate change 20th century average. 

The average temperature in Burlington for November was 37.3 degrees, or three degrees chillier than what is considered normal.

 Remember, this is the new, warmer normal, influenced by climate change. Had the same November weather occurred a generation or two ago, it wouldn't have been considered all that cold. 

Out of the past 134 years, this November was pretty much right in the middle of the pack in terms of temperatures. 

Seventy Novembers were as chillier or chillier than 2025 and 64 of them were warmer.  From a historical perspective, and from the perspective of your parents or grandparents, it was actually a pretty normal November. 

Other weather stations in Vermont were also about a degree or two colder than the average of the past 30 years, but more or less in line with historical averages. 

Precipitation was close to normal, too. Burlington had 2.87 inches of rain in November, just 0.17 inches above normal. That made it the 53rd wettest out of the past 134 years. Nothing extreme there. 

Elsewhere in Vermont, rain and melted snow came out more or less average, trending slightly on wet side west, and a little drier east. 

Temperatures were strangely consistent in November. The month can feature almost summer like warmth near 70 in the early part of the month, and then hitting bitterly cols, wintry lows near the end. 

There are some wacky extremes in the history of November. In 1938 the highest temperature for the month in Burlington was 74 and the low as 3 below. In November, 1996, temperatures ranged from 74 to 9. As recently as 2022, we had a November with a high of 76, an all-time record for the month, with a low of 15 toward the end of that month. 

November, 2025 in Burlington ranged between 58 and 21. I've seen a few individual days with that kind of range, never mind a whole month.  Digging further, I've found that only six Novembers had a low as warm or warmer than 21 degrees. Usually, the low for the month is in the upper single numbers and teens. 

On the opposite end, only 25 Novembers, have had highs as cool or cooler than this year. Additionally, if you love statistical quirks, the lowest high temperature this month was 34 degrees. Only 11 Novembers had a "lowest high" that warm or warmer. 

Snowfall, by the way, was heavy, at least in the north. Burlington's snowfall was only 2.1 inches above normal, and St Johnsbury's was 2.9 inches on the heavy side. 

As the month closed, there was still a healthy 10 inches of snow on the ground in Westfield and eight inches in Montgomery. Most towns in Vermont had no snow cover or just a few inches. 

But the Green Mountains killed it in terms of snow, especially the central and northern mountains. 

Jay Peak reported an incredible 119 inches of snow during November, obviously their snowiest on record.  On a few days during November, Mount Mansfield set records for the deepest snow for the date. On the final day of the month, there was 40 inches on the ground near the top of Mount Mansfield, the second highest for the date.

LOOKING AHEAD

Incredibly, each of the past four years in Burlington were among the top ten warmest on record. It looks like 2025 might finally break that streak. 

If December temperatures this year come out around the "new normal" of 28.2 degrees, 2025 would  once again be in the top 10 list of warmest years. 

But early indications are this December has a better than even chance of being solidly on the cold side. No guarantees of course. Long range forecasts are notoriously tricky.  But we are entrenched in a shivery weather pattern that shows little sign of breaking. 

We have a decent chance of seeing the coldest December in a quarter century, but that would be nowhere near the coldest on record. That honor goes to December, 1989, that awful month that featured an average temperature of 7.5 degrees which was 20.7 degrees colder than our current "new normal." December, 1989 also featured 19 days in Burlington that got below zero.

I'm quite sure that December, 1989 cold record is safe, despite this year's chilly forecast. 

Report: Heat Waves Now Killing One Person Every Minute Around Globe

A report in the medical journal The Lancet said that
with climate change, heat waves on average are killing
one person per minute. 

As we head into winter, we don't think about heat waves all that much, but they're still making the news. 

Mostly because of their increasing intensity and increasing risk of death associated with these events, all due to climate change. 

As Grist tells us: 

"Extreme heat now kills one person every minute, according to the report, noting that the rate of heat-related deaths has risen 23 percent since the 1990s - a trend the authors attribute in large part to planetary warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels. The vast majority of the heatwave days endured worldwide between 2020 and 2024 would not have occurred in the absence of climate change."

The news is from "Countdown On Health and Climate Change" which is compiled by researchers around the world and has been published yearly since 2015 in British medical journal Lancet. 

These annual reports always seem to have bad news. Grist notes that the 2020 report said that climate change threatened to undermine the past 50 years of gains in public health. This year's report said that loss has already begun, thanks in large part to the increasing heat deaths. 

But it's not just the heat. Hot weather worsens drought, which can in turn worsen forest fires. Deaths might well be increasing due to tiny particles these fires emit.

One for-instance is last January's horrible wildfires around Los Angeles. The official death toll is around 30. But, as we noted in September, studies indicate the actual death toll might have been closer to 440, based on a review of death records around the time of the fires. 

Heat waves and droughts contribute to food insecurity, which in turn can fire up political instability. Tropical diseases are spreading away from the equator, as insects that can spread them find they can increase their range as the planet warms. 

Climbing global temperatures and heat waves are also sapping productivity and the economy. 

The 2025 Lancet report puts all these factors in stark relief. The World Health Organization, citing the report, motes that 640 billion potential labor hours were lost in 2024, with productivity losses amounting to $1.09 trillion in U.S. dollars.  

Battling climate change appears to have economic benefits, according to the report. An estimated 160,000 premature deaths are now being avoided yearly because coal-powered plants have shut down. Renewable energy now accounts for 123 percent of global electricity, and that has created about 16 million jobs worldwide. 

We have a lot of statistics here, but remember, there are real people behind all those numbers. We, as a global population have to decide: Are we going to let more and more people die in a increasingly hostile climate world, or are we going to build up a cleaner, safer future and create a higher standard of living in the process?

Most of the 1% don't care whether people live or die in a climate-ravaged world. They just want to hang on to their billions. But there's far more of us than them. Let's hope, in a peaceful way, we can overwhelm that 1% and find our way to a cleaner, cooler future. 

The cynic in mean is skeptical. But you gotta hang on to hope, too. 

Winter Storm Watches Remain In Vermont/Northeast As Snow Forecast Stays Consistent (For Now)

Latest snow prediction map from the National Weather
Service in South Burlington. In Vermont, it still
generally looks like the further south you go 
tomorrow, the more snow you'll get. 

 Overnight the forecast for our upcoming snow hasn't changed all that much in the the Northeast. 

To catch you up, a storm is forecast to rocket northeastward from the Gulf Coast this evening to near or offshore of Cape Cod tomorrow evening. 

Even if the storm had the perfect track to give the region heavy snow, the accumulations wouldn't be extreme, just because the storm wouldn't hang around long enough to dump much fluff.

So far, the Tuesday forecast has a track that would dump the heaviest snow in a band from northeast Pennsylvania, through central New York, central New England and on to southern Maine. 

So far, it looks like most people in this winter storm watch band would receive a quick six to ten inches of snow, more or less.

That's not a spectacular storm, but a sufficient enough thump to get winter started in places that haven't yet seen that much snow so far this winter.

For us in Vermont, southern parts of the state still seem to be in that band of heaviest snow. The winter storm watch is still in effect for the southern half of the state. 

Later today, I'm guessing at least the southern part of that watch zone might turn into a winter storm warning. I'm suspecting central Vermont might end up with a winter weather advisory, since some places north of Route 4 might not get quite to six inches of snow with this. (Usually, a snowfall of over six inches triggers a winter storm warning, while a winter weather advisory goes up for less than that.)

First guesses -based on subject-to-change National Weather Service forecasts - are for six to eight inches along and south of a line roughly from Rutland to Wells River.  The rest of central Vermont should get three to six inches. Northwest portions of Vermont look to be in the two or three inch range at the moment. 

No promises here, but if the snow predictions are adjusted between now and tomorrow, I think the adjustment might be toward slightly lower amounts. 

The timing of this snow is problematic. It'll start to snow probably around the time of the Tuesday morning commute. That makes me nervous because people leave home when it's not really snowing much but then quickly encounter snow and icy roads.

But they're "late" for work, so it's pedal to the metal despite the road conditions. Which leads to crashes and traffic jams. Which makes everyone late for work - or worse. 

The snow will start to taper off at about the time people are heading home from work or just afterwards.  You can see in the timing how quick this thing is.

AFTER THE SNOW

While Wednesday looks pretty quiet and a kind of on the cold side, we're still seeing trouble on Thursday. That Arctic front we've been talking about still looks to be on schedule. We still think it might come through in the morning. 

The timing might be bad again, as there might be dangerous snow squalls for your morning commute. We'll update you on that. 

We're still sure it will turn terribly cold during the day Thursday and that will last well into Friday. Strong northwest winds and crashing temperatures will make Thursday afternoon and evening miserable. By Friday morning, most of us will probably be with a few degrees of zero. Which is a little earlier in the season than we're used to. 

The cold will let up by the weekend, but temperatures will still remain below normal.

Winter is here.