Arctic Blast Roars In; Enjoy Freezing Your Dupa Off

Vermont State plow truck caught on traffic cam this morning
clearing Interstate 89 in Bolton. Road conditions were 
definitely iffy this morning as an Arctic cold front brought
plunging temperatures and gusty winds to the state.

Our big blast of ridiculous Arctic air was arriving as i wrote this. Yippy, I guess. 

As of 7 a.m. the cold front was approaching Lake Champlain. Ahead of the front, temperatures were in the reasonable teens, with fairly light winds. There was an inch or two of fresh fluffy snow on the ground out there. All in all, very lovely.

Then the front crashed through. You could see the data from New York and northwestern Vermont as soon as the cold front went through.

 The temperature dropped to zero or below and the wind immediately became strong and gusty from the north. In many spots a  burst of heavier snow accompanies the transition into our Siberian weekend. 

The front had just barely passed Burlington as of 7 a.m. At that point, they saw a burst of heavy snow, and winds immediately rose to near 30 mph in gusts. 

So today will not be a pleasant one. Some of you in eastern Vermont will still be basking in what is comparatively summer warmth when you read this, as you might still be in the teens for temperatures for awhile this morning. 

But not for long!

This obviously won't be a record-breaking cold blast for Vermont. We've seen worse in the past. For comparison, the coldest actual temperature in this Arctic weekend in Burlington will probably be near 10 below.  Record lows this time of year are in the mid and upper 20s below zero.   

The air from Siberia that's moving in this morning is actually about as cold as the air we saw in an Arctic blast on January 23-25. This one will feel a little worse than the January cold because we'll have more wind this time. 

The overall forecast has not changed much since yesterday. In Vermont, it might not go as quickly below zero today as it did in New York, because the front is coming through the Green Mountain State at a time of day the temperature is normally rising. 

The temperature should fall throughout the day in Vermont. It might briefly hold steady early this afternoon with the sun coming out, but it won't matter. Most of us will spend the day within a few degrees either side of 0. 

Gusty north winds blowing all that fluffy snow around will make it feel brutal out there. 

Road conditions this morning weren't great, either, and will probably be slow to improve. The snow will tend to taper off as the morning goes on. The mountains could hold to a little fresh, windblown falling snow this afternoon.

If you insist on going skiing or riding today, you might want to check with your favorite ski area first.The resorts might have wind holds on some of their lifts. And wind chills on exposed mountain slopes will be falling into the 20s, 30s and even possibly 40s below zero this afternoon.

The wind will continue to crank all night tonight at between 10 and 20 mph as temperatures fall to within a few degrees either side of 10 below.  The combination will bring wind chills close to 30 below. 

 We're getting into late winter now. The sun angle is improving a bit. It's now the same angle as it was in the opening days of November. That higher sun angle will allow us to warm up to -- get ready for this! -- 5 above zero or so Sunday afternoon.   I think if this same cold wave hit in late December or early January, we might have highs at or below zero instead because of the lower sun angle earlier in the winter. 

There's your sign of spring, I guess.

It'll quickly go back below zero tomorrow evening and stay there until around mid morning Monday.

We're still looking at a warming trend next week. Monday should get up into the teens. Still cold, but better. After a final below zero morning low Tuesday for most of us, the rest of the week should be pretty average for mid-February. There might be a little snow, but nothing really to worry about. 

For a good month now, the computer models have kept cranking out large, complex storms for us roughly 10 days from when those forecasts are released. Then when we get closer to the date of the supposed storm, practically nothing shows up.

This morning's American model was no different. Social media scare mongers might seize on that computer model to say we're in for big, nasty storms February 18 and 22.  Don't believe it. Only start getting worried about a big winter storm if meteorologists are saying one is coming within three or four days.  

By the way, our Siberian express cold wave is more impress in the Mid-Atlantic States than it is here.

The onslaught of frigid weather is being accompanied by wind gusts to 60 mph in places like Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. 

In Washington DC the wind chill is forecast to be below zero for up to 30 consecutive hours. That's the longest stretch of such cold for them since 1994. Some power outages caused by the high winds might not get repaired for a couple days because of the frigid weather, making this Siberian Express especially dangerous in that region.