Yes, It Was Remarkably Cold In And Around Vermont This Morning. Also, Winter Will Rage On

Steam rising from Lake Champlain in the distance
on the coldest early December morning in 36 years.
Image is from hazecam.net

Midwinter cold settled over Vermont and surrounding areas this morning, giving us the most intense early December cold in years. 

A final accounting of this morning's low temperatures weren't in yet when I was writing this early today. But we know it got to at least minus 4 in Burlington, 8 below in Montpelier and St. Johnsbury and 10 below in Morrisville.

The cold extended easily into southern Vermont. Early this morning, Rutland, Springfield and Bennington were all at 4 below. 

Over in the traditional icebox of Saranac Lake, New York it got to 22 below. 

In this climate changed world it's harder than it once was to get this cold this early in the season. But it cam still happen. Obviously,.because we all experienced the joys of subzero cold this morning. 

The only recent example of this kind of cold this earlier in the season or earlier came in 2018, when Burlington got to 1 below on November 23, the earliest in the season subzero cold on record. Other than in 2018, it hasn't been this cold this early in Burlington since the notorious cold 1989. That's 36 years ago if you want me to do the math.   

Montpelier, with their 8 below this morning, set a record low for today's date. The old record was minus 7 in the frigid December of 1971. But the records at the Montpelier airport only go back to 1940. 

In places with longer term records, like Burlington, we missed the record low by a wide margin today.   The record low for today in Burlington was 12 below, set way back in 1886.  

COLD TO CONTINUE 

The worst is over for now, as weak, low-angle sunshine and a stirring of a south wind this afternoon will get us up to near 20 degrees.  That's still far below normal for this time of year, but at least it's not below zero.  Tonight will be "balmier" than last night, too.  Most of us will be in the single numbers above zero, which I suppose is an improvement over this morning.  

Ahead of the next system, we've got a damn heat wave for you on Saturday. By that I mean it could get into the low 30s. 

Enjoy while it lasts, because another Arctic blast is on the way after that. How fun! 

One weak cold front will come through Saturday night with a handful of snowflakes. That front will keep Sunday's high temperatures in the chilly mid-20s 

Then a stronger cold front arrives Sunday night with a packet of light snow. We'll have to watch and see if we get another round of snow squalls out of this. But this front doesn't look quite as able to generate snow squalls as yesterday's was.

 And if we do get the squalls, they'd come through before the Monday morning commute, not during it, so they wouldn't be as disruptive as yesterday's annoying mess on the roads. 

Highs will hold in just the teens again Monday, and most of us will probably go below zero again Monday night. I'm a bundle of joyous news this morning, aren't I?

Beyond that, things get a little more uncertain. Two small to medium sized storms look like they might come through here maybe around Wednesday and Friday.  The storms' paths are still in question. If they go by to our west, we might be in for some mixed precipitation. If they go to our south, but not too far to our south, we'll have more snow. 

It's still looking like most chances lean toward colder than normal temperatures most days at least to about Christmas. This is turning out to be the first old fashioned, wintry type December we've had in quite awhile.