Long Lasting Cold Entrenched Here In Vermont: Nor'easter Threatens Eastern U.S.

A clear, cold, snow covered morning around my place
in St. Albans, Vermont today. Expect the cold weather
to last a long, long time. 

The cold weather continues, and so does either cursing at, or embracing the relatively deep cover of snow we have out there. 

We're stuck with the cold for quite awhile yet. In fact, toward the end of the week, the chill here in Vermont will deepen further. 

Prospects for more snow in Vermont are pretty low. We'll have the risk of snow showers and flurries from time to time this week, but accumulations should be an inch or less statewide between now and Saturday. 

Everybody's talking about a nor'easter coming up this weekend.  I'm now almost 100 percent sure that nor'easter will happen.  I'm not entirely sure on its exact path or strength yet but it really looks like we in Vermont will just be bystanders as the storm roars on by to our east.  

COLD WEATHER 

First, we'll get into the frosty mid-winter weather that has settled in. The temperature fell below 20 degrees last Friday afternoon in Burlington. 

The temperature in Burlington is not forecast to rise to 20 degrees again until maybe next Monday, which is Groundhog Day. If this forecast holds, it will be the most consecutive days Burlington has remained below 20 degrees since January, 2005, when Burlington spend 12 consecutive days under 20.

At least our current cold wave isn't as intense as the one in 2005. Back then, Burlington ended up with eight days where overnight lows were in the minus teens.   

This go around, if it does get to the minus teens in Burlington, it'll probably be only one night, either Friday or Saturday. Even that is iffy, as forecasts so far have the Champlain Valley in the single digits below zero.  However, people away from the banana belt Champlain Valley have a good shot at seeing readings in the teens below zero again later this week.  

A reinforcing shot of Arctic air will be responsible for the even colder air late this week.  Many of its will not even get past 10 above for highs Friday afternoon.

This core of this renewed shot of horribly cold air will pass by just to our west and head due south to about Tennessee, give or take, by Saturday.  That blob of frigid air will probably bring record cold air to the Southeast. More importantly, the frigid air - basically a broken off piece of the famed polar vortex - is a key ingredient that will create that nor'reaster

It'll be a so-called bomb cyclone, one that intensifies super fast.  Many meteorologists think this storm  might explode into existence near the North Carolina coast.  As it looks now, it could easily create a rare blizzard on North Carolina's Outer Banks and other spots in eastern North Carolina and Virginia Saturday night. 

If forecasts for the nor'easter turn out to be accurate, the nor'easter could blast Cape Cod and the islands Sunday before moving on to hammer Nova Scotia. 

The storm we had the other day passed far to our south, yet many Vermont towns saw a foot to a foot and a half of snow. That storm was fairly weak. but it had a lot of moisture to work with. The air flow with it enabled that moisture to go as far north as Montreal, dumping plenty of snow along the way. 

Big nor'easters like the one coming tend to hold their rain and snow closer to the storm's center.  That means if the projected track of this nor'easter verifies, the snow will miss Vermont.  

The only way we'd get snow is if future forecasts unexpectedly take the storm much further to the north and west than we're looking at now.  We probably have to wait until during the day Thursday to have a  really great handle on the exact path this nor'easter will take. 

People in eastern New England are holding their breath for this one. They got tremendous amounts of snow Sunday and Monday, so it'll be difficult to deal with another big dump. In cities like Providence, some streets as of Tuesday hadn't been plowed yet. 

Providence had just under 15 inches of snow in this week's storm.  Boston had 23.2 inches, its eighth largest snowstorm on record. 

There's so much snow in coastal Marblehead, Massachusetts that they're dumping some of the plowed snow into the harbor. That's usually a no-no, but the town selectboard declared an emergency so it could be done in this extreme instance.  

So, there's a lot riding on the nor'easter. A path close to the New England coast would absolutely bury eastern parts of the region even if Vermont escapes unscathed. 

We'll keep you posted.