Another Frigid, Subzero Vermont Morning, Next Up, More Snow, Then More Cold

It's time this Vermont Tuesday morning to play another round of the frigid game, How Cold Was It?

Another snow forecast map from the National Weather 
Service. This covers Wednesday into Thursday
morning. Once again, the Green Mountains do
well with the next storm, with some areas getting
six inches ore more up there near the summits. 

The short answer, is, damn cold. But you want specifics. 

Once again, like last Friday's cold wave, it was below zero virtually everywhere in Vermont. In most places it was even colder than last week. Preliminary figures show it got down to 6 below in the banana belt city of Burlington. That's just four degrees warmer than the record low for the date.

Elsewhere, it was 14 below in Montpelier, Newport, Lyndonville and St. Johnsbury 18 below in Eden and 19 below in Morrisville.  Checking in with the perennial cold spot Saranac Lake, New York, it looks like it got down to 24 below over there. 

At 11:59 p.m. and 12:01 a.m. today Plattsburgh, New York was at minus 11. That broke the date's record low of 7 below yesterday and the old record of 10 below today.  Plattsburgh's records only go back to 1945. There was a far more intense cold wave on this date in 1906, so the city across the pond was probably colder then than it was last night. 

Note these aren't final figures. They're just a snapshot of what conditions were at approximately the coldest part of this morning, right around dawn. 

Also, based on my quick math, the first eight days of this December are easily the coldest since the notorious December of 1989, which is by far the coldest on record. 

The good news, I suppose, is it's going to warm up for awhile. I can say that because it almost can't get any more frigid than it was this morning.  With that said, winter will keep Vermont in an iron grip for awhile yet. 

Here's an overview of what's up next.

TODAY

This afternoon will end up warmer than yesterday, which isn't saying much. We should make it into the low and mid 20s, with is about ten degrees toastier than it was Monday afternoon. That's just the actual temperature. Rising south winds, especially in the Champlain Valley will make it feel colder. 

Sunshine will start to fade behind clouds ahead of our next little storm.

WEDNESDAY

Our next little storm arrives, as usual, just in time for the morning commute. The snow probably will have just started by the time you head out the door. So plan on dealing with a slow trip in again. 

We also anticipate the biggest "heat wave" of the week during the afternoon, as temperatures will probably get to near or a little above freezing in many valley for awhile. Although a few raindrops might mix in across a few of the mildest valleys, this will be overwhelmingly be a snowfall. 

The snow will tend to taper off Wednesday night, but keep going in the mountains well into Thursday. 

This won't be a biggie. Accumulations will be an inch or two in the warmer valleys where the above freezing air will help to settle the snow a little. Elsewhere in the cooler spots and mid elevations, expect three, maybe up to four inches. 

Once again, the Green Mountain look like they'll do great, with a good six inches or more through early Thursday morning in most places high up in the chain. A couple inches additional snow might come down up there during the day Thursday. 

LATE WEEK

Thursday through Saturday will be kind of cold (highs in the 20s, lows 5 to 15) with some chances of snow. It's still hard to tell if that will be just flurries or a little more than that, so stay tuned. 

But starting Sunday and going into early next week, it looks like we might be in for the worst cold shot yet of this frigid December. 

It's part of a massive surge of Arctic air that will be flooding into most of the eastern two thirds of the U.S. over the weekend. Again, it's a little too soon to give you actual temperatures here in Vermont for that cold wave. Just expect awful weather and bone chilling cold probably Sunday into Tuesday morning.

If you want any kind of glimmer of hope, it does appear that after the intense cold early next week, we might be shifting into a new weather pattern that would at least be less cold than the weather we've had over the past week or two.