No Outdoor Brunches In Vermont Today: Wicked Cold As Expected

Had to re-up the cold air hurts my face
to illustrate the Arctic blast we're in the
midst of experiencing. 

 Sure enough, it was solidly below zero everywhere in Vermont this morning  as we "enjoy" our blast of Arctic air courtesy of the lovely folks over in Siberia. 

I guess we can rejoice in the fact that this isn't record cold. Just unpleasantly nippy. 

As is usually the case in the first full morning of a cold wave like this, temperatures across Vermont were pretty uniform as the day started. 

Almost everyone in Vermont had temperatures in the single numbers below zero as of 8 a.m. today.  

A north wind is keeping the atmosphere mixed so everybody gets to enjoy roughly the same level of cold. 

Had it been clear with calm winds, temperatures would be all over the place this morning, with  relative warm and cold pockets. That's what we have coming tomorrow. More on that in a bit.

Winds were a little lighter in northern New York, and temperatures were in the teens below most places there. 

Watertown, New York went to calm winds overnight and, incredibly, they got down 35 below. Actual temperature, not the wind chill.

Speaking of wind chill, it felt like it was in the 20s below across most of Vermont this morning with north winds blowing at around 10 mph, give or take. As my headline suggests, take your brunch inside a cozy restaurant, maybe near the fireplace. 

The wind will keep us feeling frigid all day today. But, the core of the very coldest air is moving out, and the sun will also more or less shine most of the day. That means we should get above zero for actual temperatures this afternoon. Those north winds will keep blowing, so we can expect wind chills in the teens below through the day.  

Watch out if you're crazy enough to go skiing or something 52 blike that today. The wind chills on those exposed slopes could be ridiculous. The wind chill on Mount Marcy, New York last evening was 63 below. On Mount Mansfield, it was 52 below.

It'll be a little better up there today, but not by much. 

TONIGHT AND BEYOND

About as wintry a satellite view as you can get. This
one, taken Sunday morning, shows solid snow cover
remaining all the way down to Virginia. Those clouds
you see off the entire East Coast are caused by
frigid air flowing over warmer Atlantic water. 

The second night of a Vermont cold spell like this gets hard to predict. Some places will still have breezes that will prevent temperatures from completely bottoming out. Some sheltered valleys could end up with calm winds and readings well into the 20s below by dawn tomorrow. 

Also, there might be some areas of cloudy skies around for awhile tonight. If they clear out fast, it'll turn colder. If the clouds hang on, it won't be quite as bad.  So, please forgive your local Vermont meteorologist if they tell you tonight's lows across the state will range from minus 5 to near 25 below. 

Monday still looks like it will be another cold day as the frigid Arctic high pressure only begrudgingly. That high will probably be right on top of us during the day, so expect sunny skies, light winds and highs in the low to mid teens. Not that bad, honestly. 

After another subzero start to the day Tuesday, clouds will fill in ahead of the next little Alberta Clipper storm from Canada. That'll probably deposit another one to three inches of snow on the Green Mountain State Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Unlike several other Alberta Clippers in recent weeks, this one won't have particularly frigid air behind it. It looks like we'll have a few days of average, quiet weather late in the week. Average this time of year means highs in the 25 to 32 degree range with lows between 5 and 15 degrees.  

Maybe we're turning a corner. There's actually a chance this weekend might be the coldest weather we'll see until next winter. Of course, I might have just  jinxed us into being in the 20s below until April. Let's hope not! 

Death Toll Rising From Winter Storm; Stubborn Deep Cold Raising The Stakes

The city of Oxford, Mississippi continues to post
photos of the ice storm destruction. Another example.

The death toll from the massive winter storm has risen to at least 34 in 14 states as the severe lingering effects of the snow and ice barrage continues to threaten more lives. 

As of mid-morning today, more than a half million homes and businesses remained without power, mainly in Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. This, as temperatures reached record cold levels in the region this morning. 

In devastated northern Mississippi, temperatures are forecast to rise into the still-colder than average low 40s. At least that will melt some of the us. But a new, intense cold snap is set to hit by the end of the week, sending overnight temperatures back down into the single digits. 

Ice storm damage in Mississippi was even worse than in a historic 1994 storm. In 1994, it took 23 days for power to be fully restored. Officials said modernization could somewhat shorten the repair timeline this time, but probably not by all that much. 

In Tennessee, Nashville residents were told some parts of the city could remain without power for a week. Outlying areas will probably wait even longer. 

While the electricity is off in and around Nashville, the frigid weather continues, which is bad news for the thousands of people shivering without heat. High temperatures in Nashville should only reach the 20s and 30s through next Monday. This is a city where afternoon temperatures are normally around 50 degrees this time of year. 

Later on, the question of where to put the debris from millions of shattered trees in hundreds of communities in the South.  Right now, mountains of tree debris lines roads and streets. In some of the hardest hit cities, it looked like nearly every tree sustained at least a little damage. A lot of those trees are entirely destroyed. 

Roads in northern Mississippi are still coated in
thick layers of ice and snow even
though the storm ended late Sunday. 
They're not equipped to remove snow and
the thaws that usually follow winter storms
in the region have failed to arrive.

North of the ice zone, people are still clearing snow from a massive area from New Mexico to Maine and Canada. 

On Monday. 56 percent of the Lower 48 of the United States was covered in snow. At least a foot of snow fell in 18 states, including here in Vermont. Toronto, Canada endured its largest single day snowfall with about 22 inches of new snow. 

Travel problems continue to reverberate even after the storm has passed. 

American Airlines said this was their most disruptive storm in the company's 100-year history. American canceled 9,000 flights in the storm.  More cancelations and delays are possible over the next couple of days. 

Flight Aware showed about 2,300 flight canceled today, even after the storm has passed. Lingering ice and snow on the ground, and the disarray caused by the tens of thousands of cancellations during the actual storm, are helping to cause the problem.

In much of the South, highways are today still covered by thick layers of snow and ice. They don't have the equipment down there to remove all that ice. Usually, southerners wait for it to melt. Normally the melt doesn't' take long. This time, it is. 

The weird, extended Arctic weather is affecting most places east of the Rockies. 

Usually - at least in recent years and decades -  a severe winter cold wave lasts only a few days, and then it's largely over.   

This time, the frigid air is staying put. 

In Minneapolis, all but one of the past 11 days have gotten below zero. The next above zero daily low temperature is not expected until this coming Sunday.   

The cold weather pattern is forecast to last well into February. New York City's longest streak of consecutive below freezing days is 16, set in 1961. Given the forecasts, that record could be broken. 

Even Florida is enduring the chill. They've already had a couple hard freezes this winter and another is due tonight. Another, strong cold wave is forecast later this week. Temperatures could get down into the low and mid 20s around Orland and mid-30s as far south as Miami. 

Even worse, a nor'easter is expected to form off the East Coast. It's still unclear whether the storm will come close enough to shore to cause a blizzard. But even if the storm misses, it's almost certain to reinforce the cold air over the eastern United States.  

 

Today's The Start Of Our Nation's Snowy, Icy Nightmare; Arctic Air Already Established

Weather channel map shows enormous area under the
gun for freezing rain in the Southeast. Pink
and purple areas to get freezing rain, with the
worst hit areas in dark purple.

It was close to 30 below with wind chills of near 50 below early this morning in northern Minnesota. That frigid air continues to race south and east, setting the stage for one of the most widespread winter storms to hit the U.S. in recent memory. 

Of course it won't be 20 below in places like Oxford, Mississippi or Waxahachie, Texas, or Hazard, Kentucky, Lumberton, North Carolina, Frederick, Maryland, or probably even Harmonyville, Vermont.

But all those places will easily be cold enough to endure lots of snow, lots of ice, and lots of brutally cold weather for the next few days. 

Media reports say at least 170 million Americans are under some kind of winter weather alert. That includes all 643,000 or so people who live here in Vermont. 

The first snowflakes and first icy raindrops have just started falling in the South and the effect are already being felt. Governors in a dozen states have declared emergencies. Natural gas prices have surged by 60 percent as people crank the heat off to ward off the icy or blizzardy chill. 

The most dangerous part of this storm is the expected freezing rain from Texas to the Southeast U.S. coast. 

This will cover a much larger area than most ice storms. Most of the areas at risk for the heaviest ice are heavily forested. That means lots of power outages as some of these trees collapse under the weight o the ice. 

Typically, if one area is hit by an ice storm, utility companies rush in from other states to help rebuild the power grid. That's going to be a more difficult this time because such a huge region is under the gun with freezing rain. 

Utility crews from further north in the expected snow zone are probably going to help. I hope some of them are staging in the southern freezing rain area now so they won't have to fight their way through heavy snow to get there. 

The heavy snow zone is itself enormous. Everybody in a broad band from northern Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas northeastward through New England will get at least six inches of snow. A number of places are in for more than a foot. 

It's also going to be dangerous after the storm. I mentioned Oxford, Mississippi. They're expecting an inch of ice, more than enough to bring down lots of trees and power lines. Unlike many southern winter storms, it's going to stay cold well after the storm in Oxford and most other places in the South. Overnight lows in Oxford are forecast to be in the single digits early next week.

There's almost too much to watch across the nation as this storm unfolds. But it's going to be an interesting few days. 

VERMONT EFFECTS

The snow squalls, the intense cold and our share of the big U.S. winter storm are all on tap for Vermont.

Snow Squalls

Another look at the brief but intense snow squall in
Burlington, Vermont yesterday. Photo is when the 
intensity was just starting to decline. 

Those impressive snow squalls yesterday here and there in Vermont brought zero visibility and winds to 45 mph in some spots yesterday. 

More snow squalls are in the works today as that Arctic cold front approaches. Already, as of 8:30 a.m. one narrow band of fairly heavy snow was entering the northwestern corner of Vermont. Another such band was in Rutland County.

We'll see more of this through the day. Some of the squalls might even hit after the front passes and while temperatures are dropping. So in that respect, these could be more dangerous than those that hit Thursday. 

It was warm enough Thursday for the snow to quickly melt off the roads once the squalls departed. Today will be colder, so the road conditions won't improve as fast. And of course if you're caught in one of those squalls on the road, good luck seeing anything in front of you. 

Nobody will get much snow out of this. Most places will see an inch or less. It's just that in some places, all that snow will come down in something like 10 minutes. 

Intense Cold

After peaking late this morning or early afternoon close to 20 degrees, temperatures will crash as stiff northwest winds pick up. The worst of it will be tonight and the first half of Saturday with the lowest temperatures and the strongest winds. Those are the hours when our extreme cold warning is in effect. 

It still looks like actual temperatures will go below zero this evening and bottom out early tomorrow morning in the upper single numbers to upper teens below zero. Wind chills will be in the 20 to 40 below range. 

It still looks like highs tomorrow will only make it to about zero. A little below that in the north, and little above that in southern valleys. 

Usually in a cold wave like this the second night is even colder. We originally thought that would be the case Saturday night. But that massive storm will start clouding us up by then.  Northern areas will probably be a little colder than Friday morning, but with less wind.

Southern Vermont, where the clouds will arrive first, might be a little warmer Sunday morning than Saturday morning. Don't break out the Hawaiian shirts, though. It will still be below zero

The Storm

As we suspected last evening would happen, the winter storm watch that was in effect for southern Vermont has bee extended through the state all the way to the Canadian border.  The computer model keep pushing the storm a little north, and also frigid, dry high pressure north.

The high pressure is important. If it was centered close to us, moisture coming up this way would get eaten up by the dry air, and we'd get little snow. If the high is further north in Quebec, the moisture would have an easier time invading, so we'd get more snow. 

The computer models are disagreeing on exactly how much snow we'll get Sunday into Monday. Early guesses have five or six inches near the Canadian border to over a foot near the Massachusetts border.

Don't take that as gospel. There will be adjustments.

We can tell you that we know southern Vermont will get more snow than the north. We don't have to worry about sleet and freezing rain. And this will be an unusually cold snow storm. 

Temperatures during the event will be in the single numbers and low teens. It will probably be a pretty fluffy snow. None of that wet, heavy crap we've often gotten in recent winters. 

Cleanup after the storm in Vermont isn't going to go great either. Temperatures will be low enough after the storm so that salt won't work great on the roads.

Actually cleanup won't be easy anywhere because there's a nationwide shortage of road salt. Until now, it hasn't been a particularly cold winter in the U.S., but there's been a lot of icy storms. Salt is in short supply. 

Or even nonexistent in some communities.

The City of Vergennes posted on Facebook yesterday that it is entirely out of salt.  Rutland is almost out of salt, too. So is Monkton and West Rutland. And probably some other Vermont towns. 

The salt shortage is hitting the entire state. The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles has temporarily waived driving hour limits for salt delivery drivers until the end of the month because of the high demand. 

It'll stay cold all of next week, though not as cold as tomorrow. Still, highs in the low to  mid teens and lows near zero don't sound like fun.

The weather pattern over the next two weeks tends to favor more nor'easters. It's hard to tell whether any of them will come close enough to Vermont to give us more snow, so we'll just have to wait and see. 

 

Extreme Cold, Winter Storm Gathering Force In U.S.; Vermont Involved Too

The National Weather Service web site home page
has most of the eastern United States in blue,
indicating extreme cold alerts or winter storm
watches. That patch of pink in Oklahoma is
an upgrade to a winter storm warning. Much
of this map will turn that pink or purple
in the coming days. That will indicate winter storm
or ice storm warnings  

 If you looked at the map on the home page of the National Weather Service website this morning, you would have noticed almost everything east of the Rockies is colored blue. 

All that blue indicates the dangerous weather much of the nation is facing starting today and going through the weekend. 

Extreme cold watches and warnings, and winter storm watches are all depicted in varying shades of blue. 

This will be a deadly, very expensive winter storm. 

Note: For my Vermont readers, I have what's in store further down in this post. But first, the national situation

INTENSE COLD, SNOW, ICE

Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina have declared states of emergency already because of the storm. I'm betting other states will follow suit. 

Arguably the scariest part of this batch of winter weather is the huge area that are at risk for destructive freezing rain. The band of ice would extend from central and northern Texas, through the northern Gulf States, the mid-Misssissipi Valley, the southern Appalachians and on into the Carolinas and Virginia.

At least some of these areas will have enough ice to cave in countless trees and power lines. Electricity might be out for days. Roads might also be blocked for days, too. It won't warm up immediately after the storm, so the ice will continue to wreak havoc even after skies clear. 

In some areas that see freezing rain, temperatures could be as low as the upper teens, meaning a much greater share of the rain would freeze than you would  normally see in an ice storm. 

North of all that ice, a broad band of heavy snow is expected from the southern and central Plains through a large are of the Midwest and into the Northeast.  

Exactly where the worst of the snow and ice is still TBA, but we do know that at least tens of millions of people will have one of the worst, if not the worst winter storm they experienced in years.

I'm seeing news footage this morning of people clearing supermarket shelves of food and other supplies ahead of the storm. If you have travel plans this weekend, good luck! I'm sure flights throughout most of the eastern two thirds of the U.S. will be a mess. Major airlines are already waiving rebooking fees. 

I would also suggest picking another time for a road trip across, for instance, Arkansas. Or dozens of other states for that matter. 

Places like Home Depot and Lowes are reporting runs on portable generators. Electric utilities have told customers to prepare for multi-day power outages. 

In much the winter storm zone and north of it, extreme cold warnings, watches and advisories extend from the Plains to northern New England. 

The most intense cold will be up in North Dakota and northern Minnesota, where wind chills will be near 50 below. A lot of those places will have three consecutive nights in the 20s and 30s below. 

You probably noticed that those affected by the Arctic blast are under extreme cold warnings and watches. That might seem odd to people who are more familiar with wind chill warnings and watches.

The National Weather Service abandoned wind chill alerts in 2024 to streamline warnings and make them more clear. After all, it can be dangerously cold outside with or without wind. There had been a misconception among the public that extreme cold is dangerous only if there's wind. 

Extreme cold watches and warnings make it clear that it's the temperature that makes it dangerous. Extreme cold warnings mention wind chills if the gusts make the "real feel" of the air outside feel horrible. 

VERMONT EFFECTS

The forecasts have been trending north with the snow with t

A brief burst of snow dusted the evergreens around
my house in St. Albans, Vermont this morning. 
Expects more snow showers today and tomorrow
before the Arctic blast arrives later tomorrow,
We might get part of that big winter
storm later Sunday and Monday, too.

his vast winter storm, so expect at least a few inches of snow later Sunday and Monday in parts of, or maybe all of Vermont.  More on that in a bit, but we've got other interesting weather to get to first. 

There's a LOT to talk about, so let's dive in! 

We've still got a couple cold fronts to get through today and tomorrow, which means snow showers. We still think we'll see some snow squalls in the mix here and there, so be ready for some changeable road conditions and sudden shifts in visibility. 

The snow showers have already started this morning. A pretty heavy but brief burst of snow came through my perch in St. Albans a little before 8:30 a.m. 

I'll be hard to tell in advance when and where these snow bursts show up, so stay on your toes! Total accumulation through all this will be mostly an inch or less, with locally slightly higher amounts. 

Today will be the last mild day we see for awhile, ,as temperatures head into the 30s. The colder air behind this first front isn't all that cold. It'll get into the teens tonight and up to near 20 or so tomorrow morning or early afternoon. 

But then the second front with its snow showers and squalls introduce us into the Arctic hell. The extreme cold watch for all but a sliver of southeastern Vermont will probably turn into a warning later today. 

Friday night will be brutal as temperatures fall through the single numbers and then below zero. Winds will be gusty fro the northwest.  Temperatures still look like they'll bottom out in the upper single numbers to teens below zero by Saturday morning. Highs will be within a few degrees either side of zero. Yuck!

That big winter storm might prevent temperatures from dropping as low as they otherwise could Saturday night. The coldest temperatures hit on calm, clear nights. High clouds billowing far north and east of the storm could come in overnight, halting the temperature plunge.

The clouds are literally cold comfort though. Temperatures overnight and into Sunday morning will drop into the teens below zero, with a few spots in the 20s below. It'll be the coldest night at least since February, 2023 or perhaps before then.

Those high clouds are a harbinger of what to me is a bit of a surprise. It now looks like we could get some snow out of that immense winter storm. 

Once the storm is near the East Coast, it's expected to strengthen more than earlier forecasts indicated It's also now projected to head a little further north than earlier guesses.

At this point, the storm is still wanting to go south of New England. That would normally mean we'd get little if any snow.  But the area of snow north of this thing is going to be much wider than a normal storm. 

It now looks like everyone in Vermont will get some snow out of this Sunday night and Monday. But for now, anyway, the heaviest snow looks like it would stay to our south. 

In southern Vermont, the National Weather Service office in South Burlington gives about an  80 percent chance of at least two inches of snow, a roughly 60 percent chance of six inches and perhaps just a 20 or 30 percent chance of a foot of snow.

In northern Vermont, the odds are for about a 65 chance of two inches and a 40 percent of six inches of snow. There's just a 10 to 20 percent chance of a foot up north.

The storm is still far away from New England, so projections could easily change one way or another. 

Most of the time, when it snows around here, temperatures are somewhere in the 20s to around 30. This go around, temperatures will be in the single numbers to low teens while it's snowing. So early guesses are this will be a very powdery feathery snow. 

Although it won't be brutally cold after the storm goes by, it will still be much colder than normal. Early guesses have daily high temperatures for all of next week in the teens, with lows within a few degrees either side of zero. All that is a good 10 degrees colder than normal for this time of year.  

Extreme Cold, Snow Hits Alaska, Northwest Canada

While we in Vermont endured the second coldest December in a quarter century, things were even worse - much worse - in Alaska and large swaths of northern Canada. 

Lovely weather for swimsuits in 
Fairbanks, Alaska.  There's a "40 below"
club in Fairbanks in which people pose
in swimsuits near this sign when it gets
to 40 below or colder. 

Fairbanks, Alaska endured its coldest December since 1980. Winters in Fairbanks and the rest of interior Alaska are absolutely brutal to begin with. But last month was ridiculous, at least by modern day, climate changed standards.

The average temperature for December in Fairbank was minus 22.8 degrees, which is a whipping 18.5 degrees colder than their already miserably frigid normal. It got as cold as 48 below on December 27 and 28  the coldest it's been in Fairbanks since 2012. 

Fairbanks might set a record for most consecutive days in which the low temperature was 15 below or colder. The current record is 38 days.  As of January 2, they were up to 29 days. 

The annual New Year's Eve fireworks show in Fairbanks was canceled due to the extreme chill. As the clock struck midnight in Fairbanks last night, the temperature was a thoroughly unpleasant 44 below. Even if they had launched the fireworks, it would have been hard to see them. Visibility was a half mile in freezing fog. 

By noon local time on January 1, it was still 44 below in Fairbanks.

As Rick Thoman noted on Substack, the remarkable part of the cold wave in northwest North America is the duration, even more than the low temperatures   He noted that through the first 26 days of December, parts of the Yukon were running an incredible 36 degrees (F) below normal. 

The intense cold in interior Alaska also covers northwestern Alaska. In Yukon, Canada, the temperature got as low as 68 below, the coldest it's been in Canada in 50 years. 

Earlier in December, Yukon Energy said the territory's power grid has been under significant strain as people try to stay warm. Demand reached 90 percent of availability supply. 

A break in the frigid conditions in at least parts of northwestern Canada seems to be finally looming. Whitehorse, Yukon, could finally see a day with no subzero temperatures toward Friday. Readings could actually climb into the low 20s above zero in about a week. 

Fairbanks, Alaska is expected a break of sorts, too. It'll get worse before it gets better with lows in the 50s below in Fairbanks and through much of interior Alaska. The coldest spots could hit 60 below.

Believe it or not, this isn't as cold as it can possibly get in Fairbanks. The most intense cold wave on record there was on January 13-15, 1934, when the daily low temperatures were minus 65, minus 66 and minus 64. The coldest of those three days remains the chilliest on record in Fairbanks. 

The current interior Alaska icebox regime is destined to finally ease in a few days. 

Instead of temperatures in the 40s below, in about a weeks time, that city is expected balmy readings in the single numbers and teens below zero. Which is more or less normal for them for this time of year. 

 JUNEAU SNOW

Four feet of snow fell in Juneau, 
Alaska in the final four days of the month,
The weight of the snow sank boats in
Juneau Harbor. More than 80 inches
of snow fell there in December. 

Much further south in Alaska, Juneau had 82 inches of snow in December,  Normal snowfall for December in Juneau is 18 inches. 

More than half of the month's total - 49 inches - fell in the final five days of December.  The snow is so heavy that it has sunk numerous boats in Juneau's harbor and threatens to collapse roofs on houses and other buildings.

At least eight boats had sunk in the harbor as of midday Wednesday, the Juneau Independent reported. Dozens of other boats were saved when harbor crew and boat owners got to the harbor on time to clean snow off the vessels

December was also frigid by Juneau standards. The average temperature for the month was 17.9 degrees, more than 12 degrees colder than average, 

The Juneau snow won't disappear anytime soon. The National Weather Service calls for temperatures in the teens through Sunday in Juneau, then more snow. 

In fact snow is expected in the region every day in the  of upcoming week It could mix with or change to rain late in the week around Juneau, which I imagine will turn things even messier.  

Gobsmacked By Incredible Gulf Coast Snow; Dangerous, All-Time Record Cold This Morning, Travel Paralyzed In Region.

Screen grab of web cam showing snowball fights and
dogs playing on snowy Bourbon Street, New Orleans.

The incredible snowstorm that hit the Gulf Coast Tuesday is easily one of the most incredible weather events I've ever seen. 

Snowfall records were shattered as near blizzard conditions swept what are normally balmy, palm tree-lined beaches. 

New Orleans was buried beneath an official eight inches of snow, its largest snowstorm on record. Some sections of the city had more. Photos of a measurement in New Orleans' Garden District showed a solid foot of new snow. 

The Washington Post was as gobsmacked as I was when I saw these weather observations out of New Orleans.   

"A late morning observation from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport reported a temperature of 27 degrees, heavy snow, 1/8 mile visibility - and three inches of snow on the ground. Two inches fell in one hour."

For at least seven consecutive hours heavy snow fell on New Orleans.

I saw one video showing a highway with zero visibility in snow and blowing snow.  I thought I was watching one of those lake effect blizzards in Buffalo. It was a highway in southwest Louisiana.  

Milton, Florida, not far from Pensacola, had 8.8 inches of snow, more than doubling the old record for largest snowstorm in Florida history. (The old record was four inches, also set in Milton). Pensacola, Florida and Baton Rouge, Louisiana each had 7.6 inches.  Mobile, Alabama clocked in with 7.5 inches. 

These shattered all-time records for snowfall in those cities. 

For comparison, the 24 hour snowfall in Milton, Florida of 8.8 inches is much more than double   the largest 24-hour snowfall in Milton, Vermont so far this winter, which was just 3.4 inches. 

Many northern parts of the United States have had less snow this winter than parts of the Gulf Coast, which is insane. 

Sioux Falls, South Dakota has had 6.2 inches of snow this entire winter so far, less than many Gulf Coast beach towns. Since December 1, Anchorage, Alaska has had 3.8 inches of snow (though to be fair, Anchorage did have some hefty snowfalls in late October)

DANGEROUS AFTERMATH

The Gulf Coast and Southeast snow zone is massive, running through most of the Texas coast, all the way through northern Florida and up into coastal Georgia and South and North Carolina. 

Somebody's Florida vacation photo
from Tuesday. 

The storm was departing and the last of the snow was departing the Southeast Coast, but the Gulf Coast is not out of trouble.

Tuesday was the fun day for most, as big and festive snowball fights broke out on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Airboats that normally cruise through marshlands were pressed into service as snowmobiles. 

Families marveled at a snowstorm that they've never seen before and probably never will again unless they move north. 

But all that snow is now sitting there.  You can't drive anywhere. The Gulf Coast has elaborate and detailed emergency plans on what to do if a hurricane hits. Not so much with a snowstorm. 

It's obviously seriously cold on the Gulf Coast, and they're not equipped to handle it. What if there's a fire or medical emergency? How will ambulances and fire trucks get to the scene?

As of last night, a 150-mile stretch of Interstate 10 was closed. New Orleans borrowed 14 snow plows from an Indiana company.  Bucket loaders that normally shove sand off roads after hurricane storm surges were also pressed into service as snow plows in the region. 

The snow is not going to immediately melt much.  The forecast high temperature today in New Orleans today is 31 degrees. Clear skies, lighter winds and a snow covered ground brought the temperature in Mobile, Alabama down to a record-shattering 11 degrees this morning, with an expected "high" temperature today of 32 degrees. 

Even more extreme, Lake Charles, in southwestern Louisiana was down to just 6 degrees above zero this morning.  The previous record low for the date there was 18 degrees, so that's just incredible for them. 

Lafayette, Louisiana, where nine inches of snow fell yesterday, was at just 4 degrees above zero early this morning.  That is the coldest temperature on record for any date in Lafayette. New Iberia, Louisiana also set its all-time record low temperature at 3 degrees. So far, Beaumont, Texas has tied its all time low at 10 degrees. 

That's what a clear night sky with snow cover will do to you. That's never happened before in these cities, hence the extreme cold. 

Already, four deaths have been reported in the cold wave and snow, and I'm afraid that toll will rise. 

Temperatures are forecast to rise into the low to mid 40s across the Gulf Coast Thursday and Friday, which will melt some of the snow. But streets will still be in rough shape with overnight freezes.

Finally, temperatures this weekend will be back in the normal upper 50s and 60s, which should make the last of the snow disappear. 

WHY IT HAPPENED

You really need an exacting setup for this kind of weather event and it just so happened this time. 

Big Arctic cold blasts come all the way down to the Gulf Coast from time to time. But usually. that frigid air crosses the coastline and enters well into the Gulf of Mexico. Any storms that try to form on the leading edge of the cold air usually are too far south to bring any kind of precipitation to places like New Orleans.

Or, the cold air stops just short of the Gulf Coast, so it's warm enough for rain, not snow. 

This time, the leading edge of the frigid air stopped a short distance south of the Gulf Coast. As is often the case, a storm formed along the leading edge of the cold.  The storm pumped humid air northward over the frigid air near the surface in just perfect alignment with the coastline. 

The best moisture aloft and the best cold, moist air along the coast aligned perfectly to set up the snow. 

I won't blame climate change for this.  It was all probably a fluke. But some scientists say climate change does make the jet stream meander more, which can sometimes bring cold air oddly south, like in this case.  

Also, the Gulf of Mexico waters are still unusually warm, which can be blamed on climate change. The warmer waters probably boosted the amount of moisture available to the storm, which increased the amount of snow that could fall. 

Videos:

Blowing and drifting snow on the beaches of Louisiana and Texas, along with road havoc in the region. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below click on that. 

The music doesn't stop in New Orleans just because it snows. Here's a trumpet player in the city's blizzard. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.