Latest Vermont Snowfall Ends, Except In Northern Green Mountains

Heavy snow falling along Route 242 in Westfield
not far From Jay Peak around 8 a.m. today. More than
a foot of snow will fall in that area today, but 
most areas in Vermont will see very little 
snow today. But it will be wintry. 

The snow is pretty deep for this time of year in Vermont, thanks to a remarkably early winter. 

Both the cold and the snow are pretty impressive. Right now, there's about 10 inches of snow on the ground here in St. Albans.  

So far, some of the highest snow totals I've found from yesterday are 8.7 inches in a higher elevation in Waterbury, 7.5 inches in Maidstone, and 6.5 inches in Ludlow and Albany (that's Vermont, not New York).

It actually got warm last night, as Burlington reached 36 degrees around and just after midnight. That's the first time we've had a normal high temperature since November 27. It's been colder than average since then. 

TODAY

That 36 will be the high temperature for today. We've got a wintry day in store, once again. For the rest of your Thursday, the temperature will slowly fall through the 20s. Northwest winds will increase, with gusts for many of us going up over 30 mph. Which means the wind chill will get worse, too. 

Some areas, especially the southern Champlain Valley might see some breaks of sun today, but it won't be an impressively sunny day for most of us. The lower Connecticut Valley in southeast Vermont will probably be rather sunny, so head down there if your Seasonal Affective Disorder is really acting up. 

It won't be a nice day, if you'll allow me to be Captain Obvious once again. 

For most of us, we're pretty much done with the snow.  There will be some flurries and snow showers around, and some blowing snow. A few places in northern and central Vermont could get an inch or so of snow.  Which means roads conditions will be fair to middlin,' as they say. 

Not much snow in Vermont today, except a patch of 6 to as
much as 18 inches in the northern Green Mountains

The exception is the northern Green Mountains. The upslope snows will keep going. From about Sugarbush north to Stowe and Smugglers' Notch, we're probably talking four to as much as eight inches. 

But the real story is up by Jay Peak, once again. They always get a lot of snow, but this year is insane. And today will remain part of that insanity. 

The upslope snow near the Canadian border will be so persistent that the National Weather Service in South Burlington is saying that between shortly after midnight this morning (a few hours ago as of this writing) and Friday morning, Jay Peak could see 18 inches of new snow. 

That's on top of the eight inches or so they received Wednesday. True, the snow coming down on Jay Peak today is super fluffy and will compact down a lot. But still!  

A winter weather advisory is up for the northern Green Mountains, as you might imagine. Right around Jay Peak, you'll see some near blizzard conditions with all that snow and wind. 

LOOKING AHEAD

We've got a few more days of wintery weather to look forward to.  Tomorrow will be a little warmer as south winds temporarily take hold. Some of the warmer towns will get to near 30 degrees. 

The six to 10 day outlook from NOAA covering
the days between December 16 and 20 has warmer
air spreading across the U.S. We in Vermont
will stay near the edge of the warm air
so we'll have probably flip-flopping 
conditions between cold and mild. 

Another well-advertised shot of cold air is due to come in Sunday, with another spate of snow showers, especially in the mountains.  

Highs in the 20s on Sunday will drop to the teens on Monday. It looks like clouds and wind might prevent temperatures from going way below zero like they did on Tuesday morning. 

Then - here's something interesting - we have a huge shift in the weather pattern coming up. 

Instead of intrusions of frigid air from Canada, a strong west-to-east jet stream will flood most of the Lower 48 with warmer air starting toward the middle and end of next week. 

It looks like we'll be near the northern fringe of that balmy air, with frigid air lurking not far to our north in Canada. 

That arrangement pattern probably means we'll flip flop pretty quickly and often between fairly mild days and chilly ones. The rapid fire parade of small to mid-sized storms will probably continue, but we'll have to deal with mixed precipitation, ice and even rain from time to time, in addition to modest snowfalls. 

It's way too early to tease out exactly how these storms will affect us starting toward the end of next week. But expect surprises, and occasional breaks from the midwinter cold we've had to deal with.  

Vermont's Jay Peak, Not Open For Season Yet, Dealing With Too Much Of A Good Thing

Jay Peak Resort in northern Vermont posted to social
media this photo of resort crews prepping the slopes
for next week's opening amid heavy snow. People
have already been flocking to the resort, and
some of them have been causing serious
headaches and dangers for the resort. 

The people who run Jay Peak Resort, in far northern Vermont, say they have had - incredibly - nearly   four feet of snowfall in the past two weeks. 

The problem is, the resort is not open for the season yet. They were planning on opening at the very end of the month, around Thanksgiving. But the resort is pushing up the opening date to this coming weekend, given the unexpectedly snowy circumstances.

But the crew up there has to first get everything set up and running to accommodate those skiers. 

Meanwhile, all that fresh natural snow is too tempting to ignore, and people are heading up to the mountain to ski and ride, even thought the lifts aren't operating yet. 

Which leads us to Skiers Behaving Badly. 

In a Facebook post today, Jay Peak Resort General Manager Steve Wright reported that over the weekend, there had been two break-ins at lift shacks, two fires, two groups of lost skiers and "an injury severe enough to wipe out the entire season for someone who thought adding backflips into their early season matrix was a good and swell idea."

People were also ignoring pleas to stick to the Tramside part of the resort so that crews could get the Stateside, where crews were operating winch cables. Skiers and riders were running over the winch cables, which is a BIG no-no.

That's a big danger to the skiers and riders, AND the crews operating them. The Facebook post states: "We care a hell of a lot for the Mountain Ops team, who while grooming/winching /snowmaking in near whiteout conditions, also have to navigate folks ignoring pretty simple requests."

Uphilling and skinning - attaching skins to skis so you can climb uphill and not slide backward - is pretty much a pre-season tradition at ski resorts when there's a ton of snow before the resort opens.

Since lifts aren't open yet, people climb ski slopes, then blast down from the top on the not-officially-open trails 

Some resorts, including Jay, tend to tolerate this as long as uphillers don't get in the way of work crews or otherwise violate rules. Jay Peak refers to a culture of watching out for each other and respecting basic rules of engagement and civility in the sport as having been "Raised Jay." 

The Facebook post acknowledged experienced uphillers who are behaving fine, but the early winter weather has "brought out new folks owning an attitude resembling altogether different from Raised Jay." 

My guess is some of these troublemakers have brought their phones so they can shoot scenes for clicks on social media. 

By the way, since Jay Peak isn't open yet, there's no ski patrol there yet to rescue anyone who does something stupid. 

Here's another thing. It's hunting season. Deer hunters aren't going to do their thing on the Jay Peak trails. It's stupid, plus they know the deer woh't be there. 

But one person commenting on Jay Peak's Facebook post said he saw back country skiers hiking up the hills near Route 242, passing by a deer hunter's truck. The skiers were not wearing blaze orange, so there's an accidental shooting in the making.  

I noticed the comments on Jay Peak's Facebook posts were supportive of the resort's warnings, but cautioned that you can't easily stop a mix of stupidity and entitlement. "What are the chances a jersey joey or Mickey Montreal will listen to this?," one person asked. 

Another said this type is the scourge of most resorts, warning of another type of ski resort jerk, the "Killington Karen."  

In a sign that this is why we can't have nice things, Jay Peak is threatening to block uphilling or any other activity on the mountain for everybody until the resort officially opens. Because of the entitled few that are wrecking things. 

I haven't checked in with other Vermont resorts that aren't open yet, but if I had to guess, they're seeing some of the same problems Jay Peak Resort has seen in recent days.

Do better, folks!  

Vermont's First Snow, And New York Tornado Year Continues

Screen grab from a video shows
snow flurries Sunday atop
Vermont's Jay Peak. 

Snow and tornadoes are the theme of today's little update:

Vermont Snow

As we in Vermont gear up for what will almost certainly be a long stretch of sunny, dry, warm weather, we can confirm the Green Mountain State had its first snow of the season on chilly Sunday. 

Jay Peak Resort posted on X video by Scott Shear showing gusty snow showers atop that northern Vermont mountain Sunday. It doesn't look like it was accumulating, but it was clearly snowing in the video. 

Over on Whiteface Mountain in New York, rime ice accumulated on a web cam lens, and a dusting of snow was reported.

The core of the coldest air Sunday passed over the Adirondacks and far northern Vermont. Mountains south of Jay Peak in Vermont reported no snow as it was just marginally too warm on the summits. 

It'll be a long time before any more snow falls on Vermont. Heck, it could be a long time before any rain falls in the state. 

It looks like it will be totally dry save for the rock bottom low chance of an isolated sprinkle this weekend for at least a seven days, possibly even two weeks.

New York Tornadoes

This continues to be the Year of the Tornado in New York State.

A little hard to see in this 
screen grab from a video
but that's an apparent
tornado behind the cars
Monday in Grand Island,
New York. 

New York quite possibly had one or two surprise tornadoes Monday. Video posted on X showed an apparent tornado in Grand Island, New York, which is between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. 

The National Weather Service has yet to confirm that twister, though I'm sure they will be investigating. 

There was another tornado warning southeast of Watertown, New York Monday, but I don't know yet whether anything touched down. 

On paper, there shouldn't have been much in the way of severe weather or tornadoes in western and central New York on Monday. It was relatively cool, and not humid, conditions not normally conducive to twisters. Forecasters knew a disturbance would set off some storms, but there was only a marginal risk of severe ones. 

The strong thunderstorms in western and central New York Monday afternoon and evening weakened dramatically as they moved east toward Vermont, so we only got some scattered showers out of the deal. 

Before Monday, the tornado count this year in New York was up to 29.  That includes a fresh report of a confirmed tornado came on Friday in the town of Wirt, New York, which is southeast of Buffalo near the Pennsylvania state line. 

The National Weather Service in Buffalo, New York say that tornado was an EF-1 with top winds of 100 mph. It had a damage path of six miles long, though it lifted for a time halfway through its path.  

At least a couple of the tornadoes this year in New York were pretty notable. The worst  one - an EF-2 with winds of at least 135 mph, slammed Rome, New York, causing widespread severe damage.

Another tornado unexpectedly tore through downtown Buffalo on August 5. 

The previous record for most tornadoes in a single year in the Empire State was 25, back in 1992.