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. 

 

Sort Of Cold Today In Vermont As We Await Severe Weekend Arctic Blast

"Planet Claire" style skies over West Rutland, Vermont
during last evening's northern lights display. Photo by Brent
Barnett via Meteorologist Jess Langlois/Facebook
 

 It really wasn't quite as cold this morning as I thought it might be here in Vermont, which is great news, considering what's coming.  

I hope you didn't miss it, but skies partly cleared last evening, so a lot of us got to see the northern lights. 

Viewing from the naked eye, it looked like the northern half of the sky over St. Albans had a pink haze. It almost made me think we were on the B-52s' Planet Claire.  "Planet Claire has pink air....."

Most of us started the day in the teens, which was actually a smidge above normal. Those readings won't go anywhere today. We'll stay right there in the teens. 

Tonight will get down into the single numbers above zero for the most part. The cold hollows might sneak a degree or two below zero. Banana belt towns might hold closer to 10 degree for so.  No biggie.

We've got one more brief warm up coming in before the bottom drops out of everything. The upcoming "warm" spell won't really feel that way since winds will be gusty most of that time. Wind chills ruin everything. 

Tomorrow will get into the 20s on increasing south winds. Tomorrow night will hold in the 20s as those south winds get stronger. The Champlain Valley could see gusts to 40 mph or so.  Nothing earth shattering, you'll hear the roar in the trees

The balmy day will be Thursday when many of us will hit the low 30s ahead of that Arctic cold front blasting out of Canada.

We won't get much snow out of what will essentially be a series of cold fronts. Some of us, especially in the northern Green Mountains, can expect some scattered snow showers tomorrow.  We'll have even more snow showers Thursday, and a couple towns might see the snow come down pretty hard, but really briefly. 

Between now and Thursday night, most of us will get less than an inch of snow. The Green Mountains could score a couple of inches.

COLD WAVE

I'm sort of burying the headline hy waiting until now in this post to talk about the Arctic cold that's coming. But it's still three days away, and it's easier for me to do things chronologically. Sue me. 

We will however, go from the above mentioned Planet Claire to bone chilling former Planet Pluto.

Well, OK, the average temperature on Pluto is minus 387 degrees Fahrenheit, says NASA.  I know we won't get that cold. But this weather wimp will whine that it will feel like 387 below. 

At this point, the cold wave looks like it will be a long slog, with the worst of it coming from Friday night to Monday night. 

The chilliest daytime during this whole escapade will probably be on Saturday. Many towns, especially in northern Vermont will probably stay at or below zero.

If Burlington's high temperature does not make it above zero Saturday, it will be the first time that's happened in four years.  If it stays under zero, that will make it the first time since January, 2018 they've stayed below zero all day. 

The expected low temperatures Saturday night should be mostly in the teens below zero. That'll likely make it the coldest night since February 4, 2023.

A slow warm up should start early next week, but temperatures will stay below normal.  

We'll have more on the cold snap as it draws nearer.

Christmas Eve Vermont Weather Update: Snowstorm Mostly Over, But Busy Weather Regime Continues

It's a winter wonderland out there in St. Albans,
Vermont this morning. Same for the rest of the 
state as yesterday and last night's storm ensures
a white Christmas. Weather conditions going
past Christmas will be kind of harsh. 

 Our small snowstorm behaved about as forecast, as the few initial reports that have come in so far indicated a lot of people got four or five inches of new snow. 

We have our White Christmas, 2025 in the bag.

The most new snow I've seen so far is eight inches in Woodbury and  6.5 inches, in Moscow, which is right near Stowe. Where I'm at in St. Albans, we collected 4.7 inches of new snow.

Burlington had five inches of snow on the ground this morning. White Christmases had been declining in the Queen City, but with this storm, four of the past five Christmases had snow on the ground.

If there's still five inches on the ground tomorrow, that will be the deepest Christmas snow since 2017.

DEPARTING STORM

The storm is consolidating now along off the Maine Coast. The southwestern part of that state is getting a good dump of snow, with a total of 6 to as much as 14 inches expected in that part of Maine by the time it ends later today.

Back here in Vermont, some of the storm's upper level support was still over us so area of light snow were continuing even after dawn broke. Traffic cameras show most main roads aren't perfect, but pretty good. 

As of 8 a.m the biggest area of lingering snow was slowly moving south through the Champlain Valley, mostly in southern Chittenden and Addison counties so the roads are probably in the worst shape there. 

Secondary roads statewide are still not fully cleaned up, either.  So, as usual, take it easy this morning wherever you're going. 

It got a little above freezing overnight in the Champlain Valley, so the snow you're shoveling this morning might feel a little wet and heavy.  

It could get a little windy at times as the morning goes on. It won't be anything wild like we had last week. But it will blow snow off the trees, so if you're driving through areas that have a lot of pine trees, for instance, you might have brief problems with visibility. 

Today and tonight will be mainly cloud, with a few places getting some clearing. It will be seasonably cool in the upper 20s today, so no big deal there.

WINTRY FORECAST

 This is turning out to so far be the harshest winter in a decade, and there's no rest for the weary. 

But it looks like we're about to get back into the regime we had in early and mid December. That means frequent bouts of frigid air extending into January. In between those Arctic blasts, we'll have mostly small to medium-sized storms. We'll also have those dreaded windy days fairly frequently, too. 

Christmas Day will bring us the start of those series of cold blasts.  The first half of the day will be OK, with temperatures in the 20s to near 30 and some scattered snow showers. But a cold front will come through in the afternoon. That's when temperatures will start to crash and wind will pick up.

By late in the afternoon and the evening, winds will be gusting to 30 or 35 mph again. Overnight, temperatures will tumble and end up close to zero by Friday morning. On Friday itself, highs will only be in the upper single number to mid teens. At least the winds will die down by then.

Friday night and early Saturday, a storm diving down from the Great Lakes to the Mid-Atlantic states might clip southern Vermont with just a little snow. Then, temperatures will hold roughly steady Saturday night and rise into the 20s Saturday. That'll give us a quiet interlude until the next storm.

That one will probably come in later Sunday, as it looks now. Details on this are fuzzy, but it looks like we might be in for that dreaded mixed precipitation later Sunday, into Sunday night. and maybe into Monday morning. 

The computer models are still arguing amongst themselves as to whether will be mostly snow, ice or mostly rain. We'll have this nailed down a little better in a couple days. At least I hope so.

The storm could also bring some gusty winds. Then, on the back side of Sunday night's storm, it looks like we'll have more gusty winds and plunging temperatures. Those cold temperatures looks like they'll last most of next week.

Enjoy or at least endure this year's flashback to what winters used to be like.