Big Parts Of Colorado Just Had Their Biggest Snowstorm In Almost A Quarter Century; Up To 28 Inches Reported

Apparently, no al fresco dining in Estes Park, Colorado
after 28 inches of snow fell yesterday and today. 
Photo via Facebook from Matt Levitt Weather

A late season snowstorm has hit large swaths of Wyoming and Colorado which sounds depressing for so late in the season.  

Instead, people are rejoicing, because as the snow melts, it will put the first real dent in the areas's drought in months. 

New snow was reported as deep as 26.1 inches way up in the high country of Boulder County. The city of Boulder itself got about 10 inches. Up in Estes Park in Larimer County, between 22 and 28 inches fell. 

All of Colorado is experiencing a drought. The snow is great news.  What had been expected to be an extraordinarily early start to the fire season might be postponed by a few weeks.  At least in the Front Range.

There was quite a bit of water in that snow. As of late this morning, Fort Collins reported 5.3 inches of snow with total melted precipitation of 1.75 inches. 

Denver itself reportedly got around three or four inches downtown, and around 4.5 to 5 inches around the rest of the city.  This means this was the second or third largest snowstorm of the "winter" even though it hit well into spring.  It was the biggest May snowstorm in Denver since 2003. 

The Denver snow, melted down, amounted to at least 1.1 inches of what is basically rainfall. 

 Final tallies aren't in yet, which is why I"m saying "at least." 

As the snow falls. the warm ground is making it melt from the bottom, and the water soaks into the soil. Once the snow stops, rising temperatures will make the remaining snow melt, which will continue to add moisture to the soil. Gradually, instead of running off like downpours would. So this is perfect. 

Northwestern Colorado is experiencing the worst drought conditions in the state. Many areas in western Colorado unfortunately mostly missed out on the precipitation. Grand Junction, Colorado only had 0.05 inches of precipitation. Gunnison had a little under a quarter inch. 

Which means the drought and potential fire problems are not at all over in Colorado. And most of the rest of the West. 

This isn't to say the storm caused no problems. It did. 

Trees has mostly leafed out in the Denver and Boulder areas thanks to a record warm winter and toasty early spring. Peonies were even blooming. The weight of the snow on leafed out trees caused many branches to snap. Some of them onto power lines. 

About 47,000 Colorado homes and businesses were without power as of early this afternoon. 

Coloradans face some garden misery tonight. The snow is ending, but a snow covered ground means it'll get very cold very fast tonight. A freeze warning is in effect for the entire area that had snow. 

The snowstorm in Colorado will soon be forgotten. The snow will melt and quickly!

 Forecasters expect the highs in the low 60s around Denver tomorrow, near 70 Friday through Sunday and rising to the low and mid 80s by early next week.

And the snowstorm isn't traveling anywhere else to hassle any springtime enthusiasts. It's just kind of dwindling away to nothing and drying up.

Friday Evening Vermont Update: Unexpected Champlain Valley Snow Blitz Ending

 Um, happy spring?

Road conditions and visibility were horrible on
Route 15 in Colchester, and in the rest of the 
Champlain Valley this afternoon

Vermont and New York's Champlain Valley got a traffic-snarling dump of snow today, as many of you have already figured out. 

Spring arrived at 10:46 this morning and it started snowing literally minutes after that. 

As I noted this morning, the Champlain Valley was going to be the wildcard with this brief but pretty intense storm. 

The hope was we'd get a fair amount of rain in addition to some slush coming out of the sky But temperatures ended up just a little cooler than everybody expected.

So, it really puked snow for awhile. Visibility was down to almost zero at times during the peak of the snow this afternoon.  

Burlington got 4.9 inches of snow, most of it in just three hours.  That was actually a record snowfall for today's date. The old record was 3.4 inches in 1951. As of early this morning, Burlington was only forecast to receive an inch of snow today. Oops. 

Although mostly snow was expected in northern Vermont along and east of the Green Mountains, the snow fell with such vengeance that there was trouble there, too.

A partial list of road closures because of today's snow include Route 74 in Cornwall, Route 100B in Moretown, Route 302 in Orange and Route 114 in East Burke. 

Back in the Champlain Valley, traffic slowed to a crawl. And backed up epically in some places. 

The 4.9 inches that Burlington got might not be the final total, as it was still snowing lightly when that accumulation was announced. 

The good news is that this blast of snow is pretty much done. The snow was leaving northern Vermont as of 5:30 p.m. and we have only flurries to look forward to tonight.  

Road conditions in the Champlain Valley were rapidly improving. Secondary roads were slushy for the most part as of 5 p.m. Interstate 89, which was a snow covered mess most of the afternoon, was pretty much just wet by 5 p.m. in the Champlain Valley. It helped that it got a little above freezing late this afternoon and this evening after the snow tapered off. 

Do be careful overnight and early Saturday, though. All that slush and water will refreeze, especially on untreated surfaces

Precipitation will keep going at a good rate further into the evening in southern Vermont, but most of that was falling as rain, as expected. 

Clouds will start to break up tomorrow morning and we'll get some sun at least some of the time.

And yes, we're at risk still of another storm Sunday that has a good chance of giving at least part of Vermont more snow. I'll have much more on that forecast today, along with news on continued fairly chilly and sometimes potentially snowy weather again in the upcoming week. 

Some Of The Best Videos To Come Out Of The Blizzard Of ' 26

Blizzard aftermath in Fall River, Massachusetts. This
city reported the most snow out of the storm - 41 inches. 

The Blizzard of '26 was certainly one of the most photogenic storms we've had. 

The blinding snow, the coastal flooding and the immense effort to clean it all up made for some good visuals.  

There is of course TONS of videos taken in the storm. I'm sure I missed some really good ones But I found some dramatic and cool videos too.

We have some of them here. 

Here's how New York City looked. I'll never understand why New Yorkers try to use umbrellas in blizzards. Anyway, click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

As always, videographer John Petramala went out into the storm, hanging out amid the whiteouts, waves and storm tides of Scituate, Massachusetts. Toward the end of the video, I'm not sure what's up with the driver of the white car, but JEEZ! Again, click on this link to view or if you see it, click on the image below. 

One man's experience battling the blizzard from his home in Rhode Island. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.  

News report from Sandwich, Massachusetts on Cape Cod give you an idea of just how extreme the blizzard was.  Click on this link

We have more of the obligatory nor'easter ocean waves crashing onto Scituate, Massachusetts houses, and also the whiteout conditions on local highways, and stuck cars. Click on this link to view or if you see the image below, click on that.

Really cool mostly drone video by Aaron Rigby of people in Providence, Rhode Island neighborhoods trying to dig out from the city's biggest snowstorm on record, the day after the snow ended. You can see  some side streets hadn't been touched by city plows yet. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

In Herbert Von King Park in Brooklyn, New York, area residents turned the open space into a snow sculpture park. It appears dozens of them are there. There's even an igloo where the television reporter conducted part of her interview. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Are Pennsylvania Ice Jams A Glimpse Of Vermont's Early Spring Future?

An ice jam in Swanton, Vermont after a rainy, warm
January thaw in 2018. This will be the first early
spring in a few years in which ice jams are
a real concern However, there's no
evidence that there's anything imminent. 

 Rain and a spring thaw in parts of Pennsylvania last week caused several potential dangerous ice jams.

Luckily, the Pennsylvania jams either broke up fast enough to prevent serious damage or hit in rural areas where there was little to damage. But those jams last week prompted some flash floods warnings and evacuations. 

It was a reminder, though, that a winter with lots of cold and snow can really create trouble when the spring thaw arrives in earnest. 

The same thing could happen here in Vermont later this spring. 

After a bitterly cold late January and early February. the weather abruptly turned in western Pennsylvania last Thursday and Friday. Thunderstorms dumped bursts of heavy rain on that region last night. By noon Friday, Pittsburgh's temperature was up to 63 degrees. 

That kind of late winter weather is a recipe for ice jams. Thick ice on rivers broke up in that weather, and the chunks of ice got stuck on river beds, bridge abutments and other obstacles. 

 It has temporarily gotten colder in Pennsylvania, so the risk of ice jam floods has eased. But if there are still frozen waterways there or anywhere else, there's a risk of ice jam floods as we head toward spring.

"Anywhere else" includes here in Vermont.

Pennsylvania's experience makes me wonder what might happen in Vermont later this spring. Ice on the rivers is thicker than it's been in years. There's a fair amount of snow on the ground ready to melt.

No real thaws or heavy rain is in the forecast. But a little more snow is in the pipeline. Thankfully no big storms, though. The later we get into March without a thaw, the more likely the weather could change abruptly to something warm and rainy. Which would set us up for ice jams. 

As prepped as Vermont seems for ice jam floods, we have a more than decent chance of avoiding trouble. In Vermont's history, we've had winters that were much colder, much snowier and much icier than this one. After most of those winters, the spring melt was gradual enough to only give us the usual minor spring lowland flooding. 

I'm only bringing this up because this is the first winter we've had in awhile in which river ice has gotten thick enough to build strong ice jams if the weather is right for them. 

To avoid trouble, we'll want perfect sugaring weather. That means mild, thawing afternoon and chilly subfreezing nights with only light precipitation. Under those conditions, the snow and ice softens and  gradually melt. . 

If we have a sudden, rainy warmup later in March, and the ice jams do develop, we can still be just fine.

Much like in Pennsylvania, our ice chunks under this fast thaw scenario would get hung up on river bends and other obstacles. The ice jam would then create flooding just upstream fro where the stuck ice is.  

Where these ice jams set up would spell the difference between slight inconveniences and real trouble. The unlikely but worst case scenario would be an ice jam just downstream from Montpelier. That would back the water up into the downtown, like it did so devastatingly in 1992.

Since Montpelier is to some extent recovering from the even worse July, 2023 flood, we don't need that. 

Bottom line: Don't panic, since there's absolutely no reason to. Instead just be aware if we have a spell of warm, rainy weather coming up over the next month.  

Wild Weather Videos: Wildfires In Plains, Incredible Sierra Nevada Snows

A huge wildfire in Oklahoma earlier this month. It was
one of many extreme weather events so far this month. 

Before this week's big blizzard hit the Northeast, other dramatic weather hit the U.S. raged. We had Plains wildfires, and incredible snows in the Sierra Nevadas. 

Everybody has cameras these days, so we have video of all these goings on. We have some examples here. I'll have Blizzard of '26 videos in a separate post. 

Here's a video of a wildfire blowing into Woodword, Oklahoma on February 17. It gets pretty dramatic with fires whirls toward the end. As always click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that

To say it snowed in California's Sierra Nevada mountains last week is definitely an understatement. To give us an idea of how it looks, Live Storms Media provided us with the scenery in Soda Springs, California. Looks like a good three feet of snow fell there within the first day and a half of the storm, as you can see in the video. I believe they eventually had about eight feet of snow. 

Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

I have no idea why anyone would drive their Prius over California's infamous Donner Pass in a blizzard ,but here we are. Next video is people struggling in their vehicles amid heavy snow, shortly before authorities finally had the sense to shut down the heavily traveled highway. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

It isn't just the United States. Dramatic video shows an avalanche hitting a train in the Swiss Alps.  Nobody was injured in this one, and rescue services got everybody off the train within two hours. An avalanche his another train in Switzerland, derailing it and injuring five people. 

Here's the video of the train getting hit, along with some updates on other avalanches in the region. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 Next, a cool aerial view of the ice in Pennsylvania's. Susquehanna River beginning to break up and jam in thawing weather recently. Rivers in the state had been heavily iced over by intense early February cold. The thawing lately has contributed to ice jams. Click on this link to view, or as usual if you see the image below click there. 

Epic Blizzard Of '26 Winding Down After Setting Records, And Wowing People With Snow, Wind

New York City, like many other places in the Northeast
endured blizzard conditions today. A few areas set
all time snowfall records, while a few more
were closing in on their records. 

 The Great Blizzard of '26 is departing this evening, but it certainly will take awhile for many to get over it. It was a record-setter in some places. And a lot of places are buried under more than two feet of snow.
 

As of 3:45 p.m. today, a little over 6,000 flights had been canceled today, says FlightAware.com.  The mess doesn't necessarily end tomorrow. Even though the snow will be over, the hang over from today had already forced 2,000 cancelations Tuesday. Some more will probably be added. 

As of around 4 p.m. today, more than 570,000 homes and businesses were without power in the Northeast. That includes more than 287,000 in Massachusetts and just under 100,000 in New Jersey. 

Power crews in Massachusetts weren't able to get to outages this morning and early afternoon because of zero visibility, blocked roads and winds of up to 65 mph

New England

It was still snowing in eastern New England late this afternoon, but some pretty incredible totals have already been reported. And they're setting records. 

As of 1 p.m., Providence, Rhode Island has 32.8 inches of snow, shattering the city's record for biggest snowstorm in its history. The old record was 28.6 inches in the famous Blizzard of '78, February 6-7, 1978

Rhode Island's statewide record for biggest snowstorm also has an excellent shot at being broken. 

The National Weather Service office in Boston said it would update all the snow totals in southern New England at around 7 p.m. this evening. 

Warwick, Rhode Island, about eight miles south Providence, had 36 inches of new snow. The record for biggest snowstorm in Rhode Island was also in the Blizzard of 1978, when 38 inches of snow fell on Woonsocket. 

North Kingston, Rhode Island was close behind at 35 inches. In Massachusetts, 33 inches of snow fell on Dartmouth, 31 inches fell so far in Somerset and 30 inches hit West Hanson.

The National Weather Service office in Boston said it would update all the snow totals in southern New England at around 7 p.m. this evening. 

Coastal flooding was a problem today, too. As with all the strongest nor'easters in New England, weather influencers flocked to Scituate, Massachusetts to watch enormous waves crash into a seawall then surge onto the rooftops of a row of houses. 

New York/New Jersey

The New York City area wasn't hit as hard as Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts, but hard enough.  

As 1 p.m.  New York City's Central Park had collected 19.7 inches of snow, but more snow fell after that. If no more accumulates, it will be the city's ninth largest snowstorm on record. 

New York seems to have gotten a glut of big snowstorms in the past 30 years. Including today, eight of the Big Apple's 10 biggest snowstorms have occurred since 1996. That's an impressive statistic since Central Park records go back all the way to 1869.

Most places in the New York metro area, southern Connecticut and New Jersey received at least 15 inches of snow with several reports of more than two feet. 

Newark, New Jersey was coming close to its all time record for biggest snowstorm. They had 27.1 inches by 1 p.m. today. The record in Newark for biggest snowstorm was 27.8 inches in the blizzard of 1996.

As mentioned this morning, the strongest winds were on the eastern end of Long Island. Montauk Point registered a gust to 84 mph. 

Blizzard warnings in and near New York have been lifted, but winds will keep blowing snow around. As the storm wound down, temperatures in New York City got slightly above freezing, but it will get much colder tonight. That means the slush on city streets will freeze.

However, in a sign oa a return to normalcy, New York City Public schools will reopen tomorrow. 

New York City was still seeking emergency shovelers to get at bus stops, crosswalks, fire hydrants and other public places. Pay starts at $30 an hour and increases to $45 an hour after the first 40 hours worked. 

VERMONT EFFECTS

As expected, this monster storm was too far south to be a big deal in the Green Mountain State.

Bennington received only 3.6 inches of snow out of this. I have an unconfirmed report of 7 inches on a high elevation in far southwest Vermont.

 I don't have any other snow reports from anywhere else in Vermont, but I know that nobody in the Green Mountain State got anything notable.  Way up in the northwest corner of Vermont, I managed to see a brief, very light snow flurry today. So the official total here from the Blizzard of '26 is a whopping trace.

It's going to stay cold now through Tuesday night as the departing offshore enormous nor'easter pulls down cold air from far to our north. It'll get into the single digits for the most part tonight, only reach the upper teens and low 20s tomorrow and then probably get into the single digits tomorrow night. 

A weak system could give us maybe an inch of snow Wednesday, but that doesn't sound scary.

I'll have more details on Vermont's weather future in tomorrow morning's post. Spoiler: No historic storms are in Vermont's near future 

 

Blizzard of '26 Peaking This Morning; Southeast New England Hardest Hit

Satellite view this morning of the extreme nor'easter creating
the northeast blizzard. Note the eye-like feature of the
storm center, the cold front extending down through the
Bahamas and the bumpy look to the clouds in
southeast New England, which indicates very heavy snow

As expected the Blizzard of '26 raged all night and is still going strong. 

The only major change is that it made a slight jog to the south, so the northern fringes of the storm won't be as snowy as first thought. That affects us here in Vermont, but we were never going to get the brunt of this thing anyway. 

More on the Vermont forecast further down in this post. 

Southeastern New England and Long Island, New York seem to be the hardest hit places. Again, that was expected, but it's literally cold comfort to the people who live there. Or anywhere else affected by the blizzard.

As of 7:30 or so this morning, more tham 5,600 flights had been canceled today, according to FlightAware.com

Also as of 7:30 this morning, about 463,000 homes and businesses were without power in the Northeast. That number will certainly rise as the storm continues to rage. 

This is still obviously a developing story and there will be much more. But let's break what we've got so far down by regions.

New York/New Jersey/Southern Connecticut

Montauk Point in eastern Long Island reported a wind gust of 84 mph. Stony Brook, Long Island peaked at 74 mph. Many gusts in the New York, metro area and New Jersey were in the 55 to 65 mph range.

Through 7 a.m. Quague New York, on Long Island had 23.5 inches of new snow. Islip, Long Island reported 22 inches of new snow. New London, Connecticut had 17 inches and the Bronx had 15 inches 20. Central Park also reported 15 inches of snow, the most in a single storm since 17.4 inches in 2021. It was still snowing as of 7:15 a.m, so Central Park will likely go over that 2021 total

 There were many reports of 12 to 16 inches in New Jers3ey. It was still snowing at 7 a.m., so those totals will go up. 

So far, about 126,000 customers had lost power in New Jersey and 21,000 or so in New York. 

We're still awaiting word on how severe coastal flooding has been. I did see some video of water entering streets in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  I'm shore there is at the very least beach erosion on the Jersey Shore.

The snow should stay intense in this region until around mid-morning, when it should begin to tape off, west to east. The snow should move out entirely this afternoon, except maybe in central and eastern Long Island. Winds will stay strong and gusty, so the snow will keep blowing around.

Travel bans and states of emergency remain in effect today. 

New England Except Connecticut

Screen shot of WBZ-TV meteorologist Jacob Wycoff
enduring the blizzard blasting through 
Marshfield, Massachusetts this morning. 

The blizzard in southern and eastern New England was absolutely raging as of 8 a.m. today and the region has quite a few hours to go before it all ends.

Large areas of Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts had whiteout conditions. In addition to the heavy snow, wind gusts in the 50 to 65 mph range w4re common. 

As of 7:15 a.m, 20.4 inches of snow had piled up in Exeter, Rhode Island. South Kingston, Rhode Island had 19 inches. As those reports came in, the heaviest snowfall was covering almost all of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts from about Boston south. 

Snowfall rates of three inches per hour in spots should continue through the morning. Eastern New England should have additional accumulations this afternoon. I'm sure some towns will report 30 or more inches of snow. 

Hourly weather reports from places that still had power were insane. At 8 a.m. Hyannis, Massachusetts reported heavy snow with winds gusting to 69 mph. Nantucket was gusting to 70 mph. Boston at 8 a.m. was reporting heavy snow with north winds at 38 mph gusting to 52 mph. The weather in Providence, Rhode Island was almost identical to Boston, except Providence was gusting to 63 mph .

The snow was pretty wet and heavy, especially south and east of a Boston to Providence line. What will amount to 1 to 2 feet of wet cement style snow propelled by wind gusts to near hurricane force in an area that is both fairly heavily populated and heavily forested means big trouble. 

I'm sure trees and power lines are being absolutely mowed down as I write this. Already, as of 8 a.m., 172,000 Massachusetts homes and businesses were without power and that number was noticeably rising. 

In some areas, residents have been warned that it could take day before power is restored. And while the blizzard rages, nobody can go out and start repairs. It's just too dangerous. 

Live video from Plymouth , Massachusetts showed whiteout conditions and powerful winds. The wet snow driven by those winds appear to have utility poles leaning ominously in some areas of Plymouth. There were still a surprising number of cars o the roads, though.  

On top of everything else, coastal flooding is likely from this all along the New England coast up into Maine.  

VERMONT EFFECTS

That slight jog southward in the path of this giant nor'easter is ensuring that the Green Mountain States is escaping with minor effects.

The storm is still far enough north to keep the winter storm warning going for Bennington and Rutland  counties. Even so, total snow amounts in southernmost Vermont have been cut back a little to 4 to 8 inches.

The National Weather Service have dropped winter weather advisories in Rutland and Windsor counties, as accumulations there will fall short of the 3 to 6 inches that had been predicted yesterday. tw

The rest of Vermont could still see an inch or two of snow, with little or nothing in the Champlain Valley. 

Honestly, that's OK. Most of Vermont is deep in snow, so we didn't need the disruption of a huge blizzard. I'll take today's blustery, cloudy weather with a bit of gratitude. 

The nor'easter will provide us with cold, stiff north winds gusting to 30 mph, so open areas could see a  few problems with blowing snow.

We'll really feel the cold air in the wake of the nor'easter tonight through tomorrow night with lows in the single digits and highs Tuesday barely making it to 20 if that in many areas.

A small system will probably throw a little snow at us Wednesday. Some forecasts had called for a more substantial snowfall this coming Friday, but that's definitely looking less likely. 

Sunday Evening Blizzard Update: The Wild Weather Has Started

A prediction of what the radar imagery of this
nor'easter will look like later tonight. Sort of looks
like a hurricane but it's built completely 
different from one. 

Getting a late start on my brief evening blizzard update as I had to be elsewhere.

Our major blizzard in the Northeast is underway. 

Some of the stats a facts are absolutely impressive. Meteorologist Ben Noll  says that 42 million people expect major or extreme impacts from the storm; 30 million people are under a blizzard warning and 21 percent of the nation's population will be affected by the storm one way or another.    

As meteorologist Matthew Cappucci notes, this storm is a meteorological marvel. A calm, clear eye will develop in the storm. It's not the same mechanism that you see in hurricane but it makes the storm somewhat visually resemble a tropical system

Way out to sea, in the storm's warm sector, powerful supercell thunderstorms will develop, with waterspouts. Not the skinny little almost harmless things you sometimes see off the coast of Florida. Instead, these waterspouts would be Midwestern style powerful tornadoes. 

In much of the blizzard zone today. light wet snow and raind rops. As of 6 p.m. the snow intensity was starting to pick up. An offshore really heavy band of snow looked like it would make landfall in New Jersey and New York metro area by around 7 p.m. 

The blizzard should maintain its intensity in New Jersey and southern New York until late morning or early afternoon tomorrow, 

In New England, Rhode Island has imposed a travel ban in the state starting at 7 p.m. this evening. New Jersey and New York City also have travel bans. I kind of wish Massachusetts would follow suit. I have at least one unconfirmed report that a couple major employers expect to see employees in the office tomorrow. 

If that's true, those businesses are incredibly irresponsible. Especially considering will dump 18  to 25 inches of badly windblown snow, propelled by winds of up to 75 mph near the coast. 

The National Weather Service office in the Boston area said:

"We can't stress this enough but this storm will likely bring extreme to destructive impacts south and east of the I-95 corridor, especially southeast MA and Cape Cod due to the combination of heavy, wet snow and damaging wind gusts. Heavy, wet snowfall amounts up to 2 ft with damaging winds presents a serious concern for tree damage and power outages."

 This thing means business! 

VERMONT EFFECTS 

Overall, the forecast for the big nor'easter hasn't  changed much. 

The southernmost two counties of Vermont are still under a winter storm warning for a windblown 6 t0 12 inches of snow.  That's a little more than what they were predicting this morning. Rutland and Windsor counties are still in for two to six inches. Northern Vermont from the Green Mountains east should get an inch or two, plus blowing snow due to stiff north winds. 

The northern and central Champlain Valley on Monday should only get an inch or less with those gusty winds an blowing snow.

There's still chances that snow bands could behave differently than currently forecast, so look for updates tomorrow morning

I'll have a detailed post on this nor'easter tomorrow morning, of course!

 

Northeastern U.S, Hunkers Down For Blizzard Of '26. Up Here In Vermont, We Catch The Edge Of It

Fox Weather has this graphic of expected snow amounts
Click on the image to make it bigger and easier to see,
Note the spots of expected two feet or more in '
New Jersey and Massachusetts

Million of people in the Northeast this morning are bracing for an intense, highly dangerous blizzard as forecasts seemingly get worse with every cycle of forecasts. 

The area under blizzard warnings expanded a little more overnight. All of Delaware and New Jersey are in the blizzard warning zone. So is southeastern Maryland and a few counties in Pennsylvania.

The blizzard warming was nudged northward to about Newburgh in New York's Lower Hudson Valley. In Connecticut. the blizzard warning yesterday just covered the southern coast. Now, that warning goes into central Connecticut.  In eastern coastal New England, the blizzard warning now extends as far north as Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 

There's been some changes to the forecast in Vermont, too. We'll get into those further down in this post.

WHERE IT STANDS

The storm is off to its expected slow start this morning, with patchy areas of light rain, snow, sleet and fog.   But it will all intensify during today and reach its screaming crescendo tonight. 

The storm was just developing near coastal North Carolina this morning and will strengthen explosively. 

By early tomorrow, the intense nor'easter will be in a position southeast of Cape Cod, at around 40 degrees north latitude and 70 degrees west longitude. That spot is known as the "benchmark" among meteorologists. It's the spot you want a nor'easter to go to give maximum snowfall to New England and the New York metro area. 

Since this storm will be so intense, the amount of snow will be magnified. So will the wind. In some areas, like New York City, this will be the second big snowstorm of the winter. This one will be much worse than the one in late January. The Big Apple is under its first blizzard warning since March, 2017. This is also expected to be the biggest snowstorm there since 2016.

 Initially, the snow will be wet and heavy, especially near the coastlines. The weight of the snow, combined with the strong winds, will probably bring down a lot of trees and power lines. There will probably be a lot of power outages. Repairs won't go quickly, considering it will be incredibly dangerous for crews to fix power lines in the midst of a blizzard.

Don't even think of flying in or out of the Northeast today. As of 8:30 this morning, a little over 3,000 flights were canceled today and nearly 3,800 flights were scrubbed for tomorrow, says FlightAware.com. I expect those numbers to go up more

Everybody is the storm zone has been told to hunker down, basically shelter in place in their homes. Any road travel should be limited to extreme emergencies, and even then, cars should be stocked with foo, water, and extra warm clothing. 

Snowfall rates should increase to two inches per hour or even a little more tonight. In southeastern Massachusetts, there could be isolated areas of up to four inches per hours. There's also a decent chance of thunder snow in southeastern New England.  

Winds will gust to or even over 50 mph in the blizzard zone. It will be almost as bad in areas covered by winter storm warnings just west and north of the areas under the blizzard warning. In southeastern New England, winds could be even stronger than in New York and New Jersey. Some areas south of Boston and on Cape Cod and the island could go past 70 mph.

Generally speaking, most places in this blizzard should receive one to two feet of snow.  Some areas could receive up to 30 inches of snow. A few records for deepest snowstorm are under threat. 

Coastal flooding is also a given with this, so expect some damage there. The coastal flooding won't be as bad as the devastation we saw in the Blizzard of 1978, but it'll still get dangerous. Some ice remains in shelters bays and such from that frigid weather earlier this month. Movement of that ice during the storm could cause added damage.

Between the possibly record breaking snow depths, the strong winds and the coastal flooding, this is one super dangerous storm.

The only saving grace I can find is this intense nor'easter won't stall like the Blizzard of 1888 or the Blizzard of 1978. In this case, the period of intense weather will last only about 24 hours. But the damage will have been done.

Also, after the storm, some slow thawing is expected to begin later this week, in contrast to the January storm.  It stayed cold for weeks after the January storm, so all that snow and ice just sat there. This time, the snow will at least start to settle in the big cities of the Northeast starting later this week. 

We're hoping everyone heeds the warnings with this intense storm. If people don't follow the rules and stay inside during this blizzard, some of them could die. 

 VERMONT EFFECTS

When a nor'easter goes over that 40/70 benchmark southeast of Cape Cod, as mentioned above, most of Vermont usually gets just the fringe effects of the storm.

Since this storm is so powerful, far southern Vermont will get a decent hit, though it will be nothing compared to what places nearer to the coast will endure. 

Bennington and Windham counties, the areas of the state closest to the Massachusetts border are under a winter storm storm warning. Those areas should get five to 10 inches of snow with winds gusting as high as 40 mph tonight an tomorrow. 

Rutland and Windsor counties have a winter weather advisory for Monday as those areas should get three to five inches of snow with winds gusting to 35 mph. That'll force a lot of blowing and drifting.

As is typical with a setup like this, snow amounts should fall sharply as you head into northern Vermont.  East of the Green Mountains in northern Vermont, there could be an inch or two of new snow out of this.  In the Champlain Valley, it'll be less than an inch. 

For those Vermonters who are for some reason desperate for snow, there's a slight possibility the nor'easter might throw a band of snow all the way across Vermont, which would give northern parts of the state a few inches of snow.

That said, the possibility of that happening is quite low. Don't hold your breath. 

The nor'easter will make things windy and quite cold for a couple days. We'll have some relative warmth today with highs in the mid-30 under mostly cloudy skies.

By tomorrow, it'll only be in the 20s for highs with a stiff north wind gusting to more than 30 mph. Readings will drop to 10 degrees or so tomorrow night and only get into the upper teens and low 20s on Tuesday. It could get close to zero Tuesday night. 

It'll warm up again to daytime highs in the low 30s late in the week. But a small storm Wednesday could spread a little snow our way. Another storm Friday gives us a shot at more snow or mixed precipitation. Those forecasts are iffy, so stay tuned for information after the nor'easter passes.   

Torrential Snow Falling In Vermont This Evening

Traffic cam grab shows heavy, wet snow along
Route 7 in Ferrisburgh late this afternoon. 

As some winter enthusiasts might say, it's puking snow out there. 

That long anticipated band of heavy snow has made its way through most of Vermont as of 5 p.m. today. The Northeast Kingdom is still waiting for it to start, but it will soon.

The National Weather Service noted the clouds that are producing the snow are oddly tall for a winter storm, resembling what you might see with heavy snow squalls. 

These aren't smoother, shallower clouds that you would see with a typical New England winter storm.  

I still think there's a low, but not zero chance of thunder snow this evening. I noticed a few lightning strikes a bit east of Watertown, New York late this afternoon

Once the snow arrived at any one location, it tended to wax and wane a bit. But when it was heaviest, it was coming down at a rate of up to two inches per hour. That's the heaviest snow rate we've seen all winter. 

We're lucky that the heavy snow in any given spot won't last more than six hours. Imagine if this were a day-long storm. 

In any event, you should be off the roads this evening as this burst of snow comes through. Judging from the web cams, the roads go from wet to snow covered in less than half an hour after the snow starts. And the snow comes down too hard to keep up with the plowing as that heavier band comes through. 

I almost guarantee there will be some traffic tie ups into this evening, especially in Chittenden County as people try to make their way home from work or school .c 

The overall forecast hasn't changed since this morning. We're still looking at a 5 to 10 inch dump, with most of it coming in that six hour burst this evening. 

The higher end totals would be in the Green Mountains, especially central and south. The lower end of that range would be in parts of the Champlain Valley, and along Route 7 in the valley floor in southwest Vermont. Down toward Bennington, it might only amount to two or three inches. 

This evening's snow still looks like it's wet and heavy.  There might be a few issues with fallen branches and power lines, but I don't think we'll see many power outages.

Notice how "bumpy" the clouds were on satellite
images as the snow moved into Vermont this
afternoon. That's a sign of convection, which
meant bursts of very heavy snow. 

Lighter snow will fall later tonight and early tomorrow to finish up the storm. It'll abruply get a little colder late tonight as readings sink into the low 20.  Saturday looks like it will turn out to be a typical mostly cloudy late February day.

 There could be some light flurries around as temperatures hold in the 20s for the most part.

Be careful cleaning up the snow. Even though it will be colder on Saturday, most of the snow that does fall on your sidewalk or driveway will feel like cement. 

Sunday looks to the pick of the weekend. It'll still be generally cloudy, with maybe some sun. Temperatures should get up into the relatively mild low to mid 30s for the most part. 

NOR'EASTER

We'll have to start talking more about that nor'easter since the latest computer models have nudged its projected path a little further to the west. 

This nor'easter looks like it will hold its precipitation shield relatively close to its center. I still think Vermont will mostly be a bystander. But, a little snow could fall from this in southeastern Vermont. North to northeast winds will probably pick up, too.

However, if you have Sunday and Monday plans to visit Delaware, New Jersey, Long Island or eastern New England, be aware that those places are beginning to look like they are really in for a storm, 

I'll have more on the nor'easter tomorrow. 

Vermont, And Rest Of North Country Still On Target For Blast Of Snow Today

The latest National Weather Service snow forecast
issued this morning. Areas in yellow and orang can
expect six to 10 inches of snow. Blue areas will
be closer to five inches. 

The sky overhead as we woke up this morning was the polar opposite of yesterday's weather. 

Instead of that beautiful bluebird sky we enjoyed on Thursday. there's an ominous gray overhead.

 That's our sign that Vermont and the rest of the North Country is in for a blast of wet snow this afternoon and evening that will have some of you crying "uncle."

It's not that this storm will be much bigger than usual. Instead, it's another installment in a long, long winter. And, as we've noted previously. the timing and consistency of this thump of snow is bad. 

TIMING

You'll want to get any driving and errands done by noon today to be on the safe side

The snow should arrive in southwestern Vermont by around noon.  Along Interstate 89, the snow will start maybe around 3 or 4 p.m., give or take. The Northeast Kingdom might be able to squeak through the evening commute before the snow starts there at around 6 p.m., again, give or take. 

The snow will come in fast. Very soon after you see the first raindrops or snowflakes, the precipitation will get heavy and quickly. Those caught out on the roads will see conditions go from great to terrible in no time. 

AMOUNTS

Overall, the forecast hasn't changed much since last night. Broad brush, most of Vermont and surrounding areas should get five to 10 inches of snow. The bulk of that snow will come down within a few hours starting in the mid to late afternoon and continuing into the evening. 

If there's any changes, the amount of expected snow in the southern and central Green Mountains has ticked up by about an inch. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple spots along the east slopes of the southern or central Green Mountains come close to a foot of snow. 

Along the valley floor along Route 7 in southwest Vermont, above freezing temperatures combined with east winds might cut accumulations down closer to three or four inches. Perhaps as little as two inches around Bennington.  

When the wind comes out of the east, the wind flows downhill along the western slopes of the mountains. Air flowing downhill tends to dry out somewhat, which explains the potentially lower snow totals there. 

In the immediate Champlain Valley, the precipitation might start out with a rain/snow mix, then quickly shift to all wet snow. The initial mix might keep total accumulations down to five or six inches. 

WET, HEAVY SNOW

I bring up the mix of rain at the start west of the Green Mountains because of an interesting temperature set up this morning. East of the Green Mountains, temperatures were only in the single numbers early this morning. West of the Green Mountains, temperatures were in the 28 to 33 degree range. Bennington was already at 36 degrees.

Those areas are starting warmer than we thought. Before the precipitation starts this afternoon, temperatures west of the Greens could even briefly flirt with 40, especially down by Bennington. Even eastern Vermont should get into the low 30s by the time the snow arrives. 

However, once the precipitation starts getting heavy, that should cool the atmosphere enough to change everyone over to snow fairly quickly. 

Still, temperatures during this evening's big thump of snow should stay close to 32 or 33 degrees. The bottom line is this will be a wet and heavy snow. Not the nice, gentle powdery snowfalls we've seen most of this winter. 

As I've noted before, wet snow turns into a particularly slippery ice when compacted beneath vehicle tires.  The snow will also come down at a rate of an inch or more per hour.  Some spots on the eastern slopes of the southern Green Mountains and southeastern slopes of the Adirondacks could briefly near two inches per hour.

Road crews cannot keep up with that rate of snowfall. People will be stuck on hills, slide-offs will gum up highways. Late this afternoon and evening will be an absolutely mess. I hope some of our readers were able to arrange to work at home today. 

This really is a dynamic storm, judging from the tornadoes it spun off yesterday in Illinois and Indiana. Here in Vermont, I think we have a low, but not zero chance of seeing some thunder snow this evening, especially south. 

As we mentioned yesterday, the snow will turn much lighter and drier in consistency later tonight a Saturday morning. A new storm near the New England coast will steal most of the atmospheric energy later today and whisk it quickly eastward out into the Atlantic Ocean. 

It won't be such a bad day tomorrow with clouds, and maybe some light snow especially in the mountains. There could even by a little sun north late in the day. 

We're still watching that nor'easter for Sunday night and Monday. It still looks like it will miss us here in Vermont.  We'll update after we get through today's mess.  

Thursday Afternoon Update: After Today's Hints Of Spring, Vermont Braces For Tomorrow's Snow'

Updated storm total map for tomorrow's storm.
Orange areas get eight inches or more Blue areas
are five inches or less. Expect some changes to
the forecast by tomorrow. The storm might end up
seeming worse than these totals suggest because
the initial surge of snow will come down hard. 

I hope you enjoyed our hints of spring this afternoon. Winter still looks like it will return with a vengeance tomorrow. 

Under strong sunshine, most places got into the mid 30s to around 40 today. An exception was right along the Canadian border, especially in the far northern Champlain Valley where temperatures held near 32 degrees. 

Now for our Thursday evening storm update:

If anything, the amount of snow we'll get has ticked up just a little since this morning's forecast. 

The storm responsible for all this is in the Midwest. It's quite vigorous, judging from the tornado watch in southern Indiana and northern Kentucky this afternoon.  The storm has prompted some flood watch in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, too. 

The storm will be weakened some by the time it gets closer to us, but it will still pack a punch when it arrives. 

 The snow will come at us from southwest to northeast, hitting the Bennington area first early in the afternoon. By 4 p.m give or take it will be along and south and west of Interstate 89. The snow will then fill in toward the Northeast Kingdom by dark or so. Stay tuned for updates as the timing might change a little.

The storm will be more intense than the predicted snow totals suggest. Once the snow arrives, it'll very quickly go from flurries to very heavy snow, piling up at a rate of an inch or more per hour. It still looks it might start off mixed with rain in the lower valleys but will quickly go to snow.

You won't want to be on the roads when this arrives. The initial burst of heavy snow will be wet an heavy. That kind of snow compacts under car tires to create a particularly slick variety of ice. I anticipate big tie ups on the Interstate with a lot of slide offs and potential crashes once this hits.Like I said this morning, if you can work from home tomorrow instead of going into the office, do that. 

As expected, the National Weather Service has updated all the winter alerts for Friday The southeastern quarter of Vermont and the Green Mountains from the Massachusetts border north to about Sugarbush are under a winter storm warning from late Friday morning to Saturday morning. 

The southeastern Adirondacks of New York and southern New Hampshire are also under a winter storm warning. Everybody under the warning should get a storm total of 6 to 10 inches 

Winter storm warnings are usually issued when there's an expectation of at least six inches of snow. The rest of the region is under a winter weather advisory for four to seven inches of snow. (Forecaster think some areas will see six inches of snow in the advisory area, but not everyone will. 

The initial burst of heavy, wet snow will account for most of the accumulation with this thing.  You will be shoveling wet cement when it comes time to clear sidewalks and driveways. 

Overnight Friday and into Saturday, our storm will weaken rapidly as a new storm gets going along the New England coast and then goes quickly out to sea. Light snow will continue into Saturday, mostly in the north and mountains. The consistency of the snow overnight Friday and into Saturday will be nice and fluffy. That will give us a bit of a break, anyway. 

There's no great surge of frigid air coming in after this storm for a change. Highs Saturday will approach 30. Under partly cloudy skies Sunday, we should make it into the mid-30s.

That nor'easter  I mentioned this morning for Monday still looks like a miss for Vermont. 

 

No Power, More Deaths Sea Tragedy, Cleanup Woes In Wake Of Two Winter Storms

The remains of four houses the collapsed into the sea in
Buxton, Outer Cape, North Carolina over the weekend and
today from the nor'easter that battered the state. 
Image from The Island Free Press/Facebook

 For once, there are no major winter storms hitting the United States today. 

But the two whoppers that slammed the nation over the past two weeks are still having their effects. Sometimes in deadly and dangerous ways. We have some examples as this is still an ongoing story. 

Sadly, the death toll continues to increase. In Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves has confirmed 23 deaths in his state associated with the January 25-26 ice storm. In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear on Monday morning said that state's death toll had risen to 16. 

As of this morning, nearly 50,000 Mississippi homes and businesses remained without power as of this morning. More than 25,000 customers still had no power in Tennessee.  As of this weekend, pretty much the entire town of Holly Springs, Mississippi was without power, and most roads were too icy to travel on safely. 

In North Carolina, four homes have now collapsed into the waves of the Outer Banks from the snowy, windy nor'easter that hit over the weekend. 

We mentioned here one of those houses collapsed early Sunday morning. But since then, another house went down Sunday night and two more fell in this morning, the Island Free Press reported. 

The storm has departed North Carolina, but the vulnerable homes were weakened by battering waves over the weekend and large swells are still being generated on the Outer Banks from the storm. 

A total of 20 homes in Buxton and Rodanthe, North Carolina have fallen into the ocean since September.

The rest of the Carolinas are cleaning up from the massive snowfall. It was wild that the whole state of North Carolina was blasted. There was a dry spot in the middle of the state that "only" got three to six inches. But the coastline, the southeast corner, the west and mountains all saw reports of at least a foot of snow.

Fresh snow cover meant clear skies and calm winds in North Carolina meant temperatures fell to incredibly low levels this morning. It got as cold as 5 above in the town of Kinston, not far from New Bern. Most places in eastern North Carolina were in the upper single numbers and teens this morning. 

Aside from a small amount of mixed precipitation expected Wednesday night, thawing is expected to set in across the Southeast, which would hopefully melt the snow and ice off the streets by the end of the week.

Elsewhere, amid rough seas off of New England, a 72-foot fishing boat called the Lily Jean sank offshore off Cape Ann, claiming seven lives. One of those who passed away had Vermont connections. Jada Samitt, a recent graduate of the University of Vermont was on board as a fisheries observer from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This tragedy sounds a lot like the famous account of a ship disaster in "The Perfect Storm.'

The Lily Jean was in a 2012 episode of the History Channel show "Nor'Easter Men."

In the Northeast, the cold has been relenting. Rivers, harbors and bays are frozen. Water mains and pipes have been bursting. And hypothermia is killing people. In Pittsburgh, numerous people have been seen on the city's frozen three main rivers, despite the fact that the ice is on top of flowing water. That makes venturing onto the ice especially dangerous.

In New York City alone, 16 people have died outside in the cold, Mayor Zoran Mamdani said. It appears 13 of the deaths were due to the cold and the other three were overdoses. 

New York got one slight bit of relief today as the temperature rose to slightly above freezing for the first time since January 23.  However, a new, intensely cold Arctic blast is set to invade the Northeast at the end of the week and this upcoming weekend.  

Southeast Reels After Big Snowy Nor'easter, Extreme Florida Freeze

The scene in New Bern, on the North Carolina coast this
morning. Photo from Storm Chaser Stephen Jones/Facebook

The second weird, extreme southern winter storm in a week is heading out to sea this afternoon, leaving some pretty incredibly winter scenes in the Carolinas. Meanwhile Florida is shivering in record cold.  
.Y

The Southeastern United States is having a classic New England winter day, with deep snow on the ground, sunshine overhead with the storm headed away cold gusty northwest winds and temperatures in the 20s,  In Florida, morning lows were in the 20s. 

This is the second year in a row that an extreme snowstorm and record shattering cold hit the far south of the Lower 48. 

In January, 2025, an unprecedented snowstorm brought near blizzard conditions from New Orleans to Pensacola.   Florida set its all time record deepest snowstorm with 8.8 inches. Temperatures fell to all time lows of just 3 above not far from the coast in southwest Louisiana. 

This weekend's storm wasn't quite as extreme as last year's in the south. But it was close. 

SNOWY CAROLINAS

Visible satellite shows snow covering all of North 
Carolina and much of South Carolina today.
Those streaky clouds around Florida are caused
by frigid air flowing over warm water. It's the
same as lake effect snow clouds in the Great Lakes.
Flurries were seen as far south as Sarasota, Florida.

In North Carolina, 17.7 inches of snow fell in Longwood, which is near the coast. A foot of snow fell on Lake View, South Carolina, which is a a little north of and slightly inland from Myrtle Beach. 

In the Carolinas, the only two snowstorms that in memory that were bigger than this weekend's were  one that hit in December, 1989 and another in March, 1980. 

As skies cleared Sunday, satellite photos showed the rarity of snow covering all of North Carolina much of South Carolina and parts of eastern Georgia. 

Snow fell as far west as Atlanta, Georgia and the eastern half of Tennessee.

The storm caused a pileup involving up to 100 cars along Interstate 85 in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Traffic was snarled across the state as people who did venture out quickly got stuck. 

On the Outer Banks of North Carolina, one house fell into the ocean during the storm in Buxton. That's the 17th house to fall into the eroding shores in Buxton and Rodanthe, North Carolina since this past September. 

Video showed full blizzard conditions in Nags Head, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina last night. 

To add to the Outer Banks weather chaos, a large fire broke out at an unoccupied home in Nags Head. At last report the fire was largely contained. 

On the bright side, recovery from the storm in North Carolina will be easier than it was in places like Mississippi and Tennessee last week, which were hit by an extreme ice storm. The ice was followed bye days of subfreezing temperatures that did little to melt the mess. 

In the eastern Carolinas, temperatures should go a little above freezing tomorrow, and then highs for the rest of the week will be in the 40s to around 50. Not exactly warm for them, but it should help anyone trying to drive anywhere. 

FLORIDA

Snow flurries were seen as far as Sarasota, and St. Petersburg, Florida. Other flurries were seen in and around Jacksonville. 

The main story was the cold. In Orlando at 7 a.m, it was 25 degrees with a wind chill of 13. Miami was down to a record low for the date of 35 degrees with a wind chill of 26.  

The Florida freeze is part of a weather pattern that has brought oddly mild air to parts of the Arctic while shoving cold air far southward to where is almost never goes. Wind trajectory maps show the air made a straight shot from the North Pole to Miami.

Here's a great demonstration of how warm (for the Arctic) high pressure is making parts of the far northern part of the world warm, while frigid weather blasts places much further south. 

Orlando, Florida suffered through a record low temperature of 24 degrees this morning. Jacksonville, Florida hit 23 degrees and Tallahassee reached 21. Meanwhile, this morning's low in Nuuk, Greenland was 26.

 Orlando's records go back as far as 1892.

Other cities whose records don't go back as far as Orlando's set records for coldest for the entire month of February. Those include Daytona Beach, with 23 degrees, which broke the old February record of 24 degrees. Melbourne got to 25, breaking the mark for the entire month of February, which was 27. Vero Beach reached 26 degrees, breaking the old record low for the month of February, which had been 28 degrees.  

Florida homes are built to keep the hot air out, not the cold air. I'm sure there's going to be lots of trouble with frozen pipes, and people shivering in homes with inside temperatures in the 50s, 40s or worse. 

Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson has already sent a request to the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeking a disaster declaration for what will surely be crop damage from the deep freeze.

You'll probably see higher produce prices at the grocery store due to the Florida freeze. The state sends crops like avocados, bell peppers, broccoli, celery, corn, cucumbers, radishes, strawberries, cabbage and citrus products to much of the nation during the winter.

Farmers have been trying to spray farm fields to cover everything with a light coating of ice. The ice actually protects plants from the frigid temperatures. Other farm fields were hidden from the cold by massive row covers. 

However, at one farm, the sprinklers malfunctioned in a field of blueberry bushes, crushing many of the plants under six inches or more of ice. 

Another hard freeze is due tonight across Florida. After that, things should get a little better. The upcoming week will be cooler than average, but far from record-breaking cold.  

Widespread, Serious U.S. Damage From Winter Storm; Nice Big Vermont Thump Of Snow Just Starting

Oxford, Mississippi today. Photo by
Meteorologist Eric Graves via Facebook

Editors note: Vermont-specific storm info is further down in this post. National news summary is first.

Tales of how dreadful our giant winter storm has been in so much of the United States have been emerging all afternoon. And for many, it'll keep going overnight.  

As of mid-afternoon, five people had so far died in the storm and frigid weather, and that toll is almost surely going to rise. Two people died of hypothermia in Louisiana and three apparently homeless people were found dead in New York. 

Over one million homes and businesses across the South had no electricity as of mid-afternoon. 

I'm terribly worried about people in the South who won't have power for days. In general, houses aren't really insulated against frigid weather. 

Temperatures are likely to fall to 10 degrees or lower in western Mississippi, which has been hard hit by the ice storm. Readings won't get above freezing there until Tuesday afternoon, and even then, just barely. 

Hard-hit Nashville expects temperatures in the single digits tonight and possible as low as 0 tomorrow night. As of mid-afternoon, 203,302 homes and businesses in Davidson County, Tennessee, which includes Nashville, had no power. That represents 92 percent of the customers there. 

Some people in the county, and throughout the South, won't have electricity back for days, perhaps weeks in a few instances. 

A similarly bad ice storm struck the Nashville in February, 1994, but it didn't get nearly cold after the storm as it will this time. 

It's not just trees and power lines collapsing. At least two buildings collapsed in Gainesville, Texas, near the Oklahoma border due the heavy weight of sleet on roofs. A large race car and classic car shop in northern Mississippi also collapsed due to the ice. 

In Dallas at around 1 a.m today, traffic snarled as 19,000 people left American Airlines Center after a Mavericks game and tried to get home on freeways covered in snow and sleet. A hill on the Woodall Rogers Freeway was too much for many cars. 

Nashville today. Via Mark Fairless/Facebook

In St. Louis, for the second time this winter, traffic came to a standstill because of many crashes on the freeways around the city.

Reed Timmer's video of Oxford, Mississippi showed massive destruction to the city's trees. It reminded me very much of the tree carnage here in northwest Vermont during the Great Ice Storm of 1998. 

Similar scenes are playing out in northern Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. It was beginning to get that bad in the Carolinas this afternoon. 

 Snowfall totals are starting to get impressive. Examples include 16.6 inches in Davis, West Virginia, and more than 13 inches at sites in Missouri, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.

Even greater snow totals are likely by the time the storm ends, especially in parts of Pennsylvania, much of New York and New England. Up to 30 inches of snow could fall in New York's Catskills. 

Areas south of the ice and snow zone have their own troubles. At one point this afternoon, the National Weather Service had the southeast corner of Alabama under a tornado warning, severe thunderstorm warning, tornado watch, freeze warning, cold weather advisory, extreme cold watch, and a wind advisory. 

Air travel is still hopelessly snarled. By midafternoon, 11,727 flights had been canceled today, according to Flight Aware. Already, more than 2,600 flights tomorrow are scrubbed

As darkness fell, most, but not all of the precipitation was confined to the Appalachians, East Coast and eastern Great Lakes. 

VERMONT EFFECTS

Anyone who looks out the window can tell our storm is here. As expected, snowfall this afternoon has been quite a bit heavier in southern Vermont than in the north. 

National Weather Service storm prediction map hasn't
changed much since this morning. They might have
added an inch or two to Northeast Kingdom totals. 

Unlike in the rest of the nation, the storm here in Vermont is arguably doing more good than harm. It's definitely boosting the winter sports industry. 

The exceptionally cold air is keeping the snowflakes tiny, especially in the north, and that has also cut back on total accumulation. For now at least. 

I don't think I've seen a snowstorm this cold since February, 2015. At 4 p.m., Montpelier reported moderate snow and a temperature of 1 below. It doesn't appear any place in Vermont was warmer than 6 above late this afternoon. 

Temperatures should hold steady or grudgingly rise overnight, but not by much. It might be 10 degree or so by dawn, and make it into the mid and upper teens in the afternoon. Not great, but an improvement over the past couple of days, I guess. 

It was really snowing in southern Vermont as of 5 p.m. and snowfall rates were picking up in the north, and that trend will continue into the evening. 

The snow will keep cranking overnight, but tend to taper off in the early morning hours. In some areas, it might not be snowing at all at dawn. This might annoy some people, because a ton of school closings have already been announced for tomorrow. 

But maybe the school closings are a good idea, since the snow will pick up again during the day. 

The main storm will be heading out to sea early tomorrow, which is why we're going to temporarily lose the snow. But the huge system's upper atmospheric support will come through during the day, which will create lift in the atmosphere. Lift means snow at these temperatures. 

The snow is quite dry and is blowing off the roads fairly easily. At least at first. Road crews might have a little trouble keeping up with it is snowing hardest. Plus, salt does not work well at all when it snows at such low temperatures. 

Traffic cam grab shortly after 4 p.m. today caught
Vermont State highway crews clearing snow 
from Route 9 in Searsburg. 

Even during the lull in the snow tomorrow morning, I can't imagine road conditions will be all that great. Since it'll pretty much snow all day, the roads will stay snowy and slick all day, too. 

The National Weather Service in South Burlington hasn't change the expected accumulations much since this morning. 

They've added an inch or two maybe to the Northeast Kingdom, and now they're more or less calling for a foot of snow up there. 

The southern Green Mountains are still looking like the big winners, with an expected 18 to 24 inches. This type of storm sometimes over-performs in the southern Greens, so it's possible they could get more. No promises, though. 

After this storm goes by, I still don't see any signs any new big storms for at least ten days. But we are locked in a cold weather pattern.  If we're lucky, the weather might modify to something just seasonal chilly in about a week. 

But that just gets us up into the 20s during the afternoons. Not exactly warm. But at least the sunsets are getting later.  This coming Saturday will bring us the first 5 p.m. sunset of the year.