Video: Sunday/Monday Storm Not Quite As Predicted, But Still Had Its Dark Season Beauty

Aftermath of early week storm in St. Albans, Vermont.
I made a video, shown in this post of the storm from
start to finish. Dark December gloom to bright
snow/sun. 

 As I previously reported, the storm early this week did not have the oomph some forecasters had expected.  

But it was beautiful in its own way.

Things went from dark to rainy to winter wonderland, at least here in St. Albans, Vermont. 

Video at the bottom of the post shows how the landscape changed in the two days of the storm, and the day after.

First half of the video was dark and rainy Sunday. Not a great day for outdoor stuff, but it did have its own murky, quiet beauty as the rain fell and dark clouds hung overhead on a brief December day.

Monday, we woke up to snow, which continued much of the day. The snow certainly brightened the surrounding. Wet snow clung to every single little twig. Luckily, at least in my area, the snow fell short of causing much damage to my trees.

Day after the storm featured a bright and sunny interval. It was all too brief, but it was a stunning display of early winter gorgeousness.

Anyway, enjoy the video below. Click on this link to watch, or if you see the image below, click on that to watch. The vid is a nice excursion through changeable Vermont weather. 

Video: A Garden Gets A Drink Of Water Before Another Long Dry Spell

Water beads on plant leaves after the last rain we had
on May 24 in St. Albans, Vermont. Video in this
post shows a garden and trees enjoying 
some gusty rain showers. 

 A quick hit this morning, just a video showing a grateful garden in St. Albans, Vermont getting a little drink of water from the sky this past Wednesday. 

It's been dry lately and getting drier. We got about a third of an inch of rain Wednesday, which isn't much, but we'll take anything we can get. 

Since Wednesday, the air has been bone dry with wall to wall sunshine. This state of affairs is pretty much expected to continue through Thursday at least. 

We have a shot of a few showers at the end of the week, but whatever comes does not look at all impressive, at least according to the latest forecasts. 

The gardens are getting pretty dusty, and I'm spending a lot of time on irrigation lately.  I guess that will continue all week with warm to hot temperatures and continued very low humidity. 

Eventually, it will rain again. There are hints in the long range forecasts of possible cooler, somewhat wetter weather in the second week of June. We'll see about that. 

Meanwhile, we can watch the video as sort of a rain dance for our Vermont gardens and farms. The rain and wind kind of made look like the trees and gardens were dancing. 

At the end, the sun comes back out for a quick evening visit. 

Click on this link to watch the video if you don't see the image below. Otherwise, click on the image below to watch: 

The Drip, Drip Of A Thaw Always Welcome After A March Snowstorm. With Video

As soon as the sun came out Sunday, the day after a 
modest snowstorm, the snow began to thaw. It
happens quickly with the strong March sun

 It's always amazing in March how much the sun goes to work on the snow after it stops falling.

It's not like December and January, when any snow that falls stays around, unless it really gets well above freezing. 

Last Saturday, we had about five inches of snow here in St. Albans. On Sunday, the sun came out, and the temperature got as high as 40 degrees. 

That's not an impressive thaw. But still, in March, with light winds and the strong sun, I was comfortable being outside for awhile in just boots, Carhartts and a black t-shirt. 

The snow on level ground and in the shade pretty much stayed put. But it was amazing how quickly the sun took the frosting off the trees, driveways, roofs, under the dark green of evergreens and in particularly sunny corners. 

It was a day to be out just watching it, whether at home, or running errands in town. Below is a video that gives you a taste of how winter was loosening its grip - perhaps temporarily - on Sunday. Church bells in St. Albans added a soundtrack to the sound of dripping icicles and water trickling into storm drains.   

To watch the video, click on this link, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Lake Ice Turns Into A Cool Noisefest.

A frozen Lake Champlain can offer lots of entertaining sounds
 as water freezes, ice slabs move, expand or crack

 As frigid weather took hold in Vermont in mid-January, much of Lake Champlain quickly froze over. 

Even after the lake froze in any given area, shifting slabs of ice, new ice forming, wind pressure and other factors turn the lake into a noisy place. 

On Sunday, Lake Champlain in St. Albans, Vermont was a cacophony of pops, thunks, creaks, groans and gawd knows what.  Video of this is below. 

Some of the noises in my video sound like I had the sniffles, but that wasn't me. That was the ice making that sniffly sound. 

As usual, mobile device users might not be able to see the video displayed in this post, so click on this hyperlink to view

Otherwise, click on the image below. Click on the arrow and the YouTube icon for best viewing. 

There's Still False Storm Hype Out There, Despite Tranquil Forecast

This image on the National Weather Service home page was
not at all colorful this morning. That's a good thing. Lots
of color on this map means lots of warnings and 
weather dangers. Seems mostly clear for 
Thanksgiving travel today! 

 Gawd, I  hate clickbait. 

That's when you put out some sensational or shocking news out there on social media to garner clicks, eyeballs and presumably income, even though the actual news is much less exciting. 

With weather forecasts, it's fine to say some long range computer models suggest something noteworthy, like a big storm, IF you qualify it somehow in the headlines and prominently in the story that the storm is not set in stone. 

As of a week ago, some computer models a week ago were suggesting the possibility of a very disruptive storm in the United States Thanksgiving week.

As better data came in, it became clear by Friday that the early computer models were a bit overwrought. No major storm would form. Just the typical November ick in spot. 

Still, as of Friday and even Saturday, major players like AccuWeather hyped the potential storm in their headlines, which I think pushed it too far.  At least AccuWeather backed down somewhat with the headlines when it became clear Thanksgiving travel would not get screwed up by any kind of big storm. 

Still, as of this morning, AccuWeather still had a link to their story on Twitter, posted just yesterday, headlined, "Brewing storm to threaten disruptions at worst possible time."

To be clear, there might be periods this week where some corners of the nation might have kind of "meh" weather that's not great, there is no storm to speak of that's brewing.  

As of this morning, the Weather Channel still had a headline up headlined "A Couple Of Rough Travel Days Ahead."

With the volume of travelers, and staff shortages, combined with not-at-all-extreme rain showers and gusty winds in the Northeast Monday, flight delays and a few cancelations are inevitable, but this isn't Armageddon, and weather will only be a bit player in any chaos. 

NBC News was still tweeting on Friday the headline, "Thanksgiving week storm gearing up to affect busiest airports in the nation."   Sorry, no it wasn't. 

There are YouTube videos up posted just yesterday, some correctly saying no big storms are on the horizon, others still hyping.

 To pat myself on the back a little bit, my headline for potential Thanksgiving week storminess that I posted last week said. "Still Question Marks For Next Week."

My Friday morning headline was, "We Can Forget About That Thanksgiving Storm, (I Think!)"

The "I think" was to cover my ass in case there was an unlikely surprise shift in the forecast. So far the only shift I see is turning an already mediocre expected cold front even more lame. 

I'm not a meteorologist, even though I've had training in the field. I'm just a weather enthusiast who relies on outfits like the National Weather Service to get my information. Sometimes I get things wrong.  Happens to everyone. I apologize, correct or explain myself and move on. We're all humans. Nobody gets it right all the time. 

I also happen to like, even love clicks in my direction on social media.  But it's irresponsible for anyone to exaggerate things to cause false alarms, all in the effort to gain attention.

I know that's the way of the world these days. Social media clicks are the new personal validation and also money making enterprise. But this old fart still rebels against all that. 

So sue me already.