Back To Winter Here In Vermont. But It's Worse Elsewhere

Though remaining snow ended in most of Vermont 
overnight, light snow continued in parts of the 
Champlain Valley past dawn. This is a traffic cam
grab of Route 7 in Ferrisburgh at around 8 a.m today.

The cold air is back in Vermont.  It makes it feel like today's date is not January 16, but January 359. January always seems like by far the longest month of the year. 

In Burlington, yesterday was the last of nine consecutive days with above freezing high temperatures. I can guarantee it will stay below freezing today. 

During the transition to colder weather in Vermont yesterday afternoon, we ended up with some lingering trouble on the roads.  

The incoming cold air stalled out temporarily, and temperatures in most places east of the Champlain Valley stayed a bit above freezing until afternoon. In the Champlain Valley, a little freezing drizzle fell in the late morning before precipitation changed to light snow. 

The result of all this was some nasty Vermont roads for awhile. There were some crashes along Interstate 89 in the Bolton area. Another two vehicle crash was reported in Fairfax.

Since this is blessed Vermont, things once again were much worse elsewhere. That's almost always the case. 

Areas in the snow belt regions of the Great Lakes saw a rash of big highway pileups over the past couple of days. 

In New York, not far from Syracuse, at least 36 vehicles crashed into each other on Interstate 81, injuring at least seven people. Two big pileups occurred in Pennsylvania, one on Interstate 90 in Erie County and another on Interstate 80 in Clarion County. 

On Wednesday, at least thirty vehicles piled up on the Indiana Toll Road in Elkhart County on Wednesday amid heavy snow there. 

Up in Toronto, Canada, nine inches of snow snarled traffic and closed schools. 

 VERMONT FORECAST

Higher elevations did get cold enough for some snow overnight Wednesday and early Thursday, even as valleys remained above freezing and rainy. The most I saw was 4.7 in Craftsbury and 4.6 in South Albany.  Other mid-elevation locations had maybe two or three inches. Very little fell in most valleys. 

 More light snow broke out Thursday afternoon and night. This was light, fluffy stuff. At least it created a thin layer of fresh powder atop the old crust from previous, rain-soaked snows. 

 The additional snow yesterday afternoon and last night amounted to one to three inches in some areas of northern Vermont. Valleys in southern Vermont pretty much missed out. 

Here in St. Albans, Vermont, at my place, I received 1.1 inches of snow. A third of an inch of that was that crusty, schmutzy stuff from yesterday morning. The rest was feathery fluff that fell from late afternoon yesterday to early this morning. 

The snow overnight has been especially persistent in the Champlain Valley for some reason.  I bet some places in the central and southern Champlain Valley and adjacent Green Mountains to the east picked up at least two inches of fluff, judging from radar images. 

Judging from traffic cameras, most roads in Vermont didn't look too bad, though some in the southern Champlain Valley and through the Green Mountains had some snow on them. Likely icy patches, too.

We probably aren't going to see much snow going forward. At least for the next few days. The heavy stuff will be mostly limited to lake effect near the Great Lakes, the kind that contributed to those pileups in Pennsylvania and New York. 

As expected, it's cold this morning, with temperatures in the single numbers in most places. It'll stay cold today, with highs in the teens to near 20.

The chill should ease off over the weekend. It'll pop back up into the low 30s in the valleys Saturday and within a few degrees of 30 degrees on Sunday. 

While we're experiencing average January weather here on Sunday, it might actually snow a little in the Florida panhandle. If it does, it'll be the second January in a row with snow there. Though last year's snow was much bigger, epically breaking records. 

We'll always have a chance of some light snow and flurries all weekend. Most places will have an inch or less. However, the southern Green Mountains could pick up a few inches from the tail end of lake effect from the Great Lakes. 

BITTER COLD RETURNS

On Monday, it's beginning to look like a nor'easter will pass by New England, offshore. At this point it looks like it will have little, if any effect on Vermont. But we'll watch this, because if the storm tracks further west than expected, we could see some snow, especially south and east. 

That would be nice, as that part of Vermont has largely missed out of snow lately. 

The nor'easter is iffy, the forecast for frigid weather is not. The middle of next week will be brutal, with highs probably staying in the single number and low teens and lows below zero. Nothing even close to record breaking but still very noticeable. 

It'll stay cold late next week and beyond, but we're not yet sure how cold. Frigid air will lurk nearby for the rest of the month, and occasionally, ooze on in to send temperatures below zero again. 

The weather pattern will remain active, with several disturbances and storms in the mix later next week and beyond. It's way too soon to say which ones, if any will affect us. It's always possible one or more of these could give us a big dump of snow, but there's no way to determine that right now.