Quick Saturday Vermont Evening Update: More Snow Still Coming, Won't Disappear Fast

Yet another National Weather Service snow forecast map,
this one for tomorrow Click on the image to make it
bigger and easier to see. 

The sun finally started to shine and more between the clouds this afternoon as those clouds slowly thinned.  

Some of the snow across the north was melting, but not all of it. And we still have more coming tomorrow. More on that in a sec. 

You can see this time of year how snow helps refrigerate the air.  

Where snow covered the ground in the north, mid-afternoon temperatures were mostly in the mid-30s. In southern Vermont, where this is no snow, it was in the low and mid 40s.

With more snow coming nearly statewide, and a generally chilly weather pattern, perhaps until April Fool's Day, I guess we have to say winter is back for now. 

That chilly air over the next 10 days will be made slightly colder than it otherwise would be if the ground was free of snow,   

It's an example of how cold weather patterns this type of year sometimes reinforce themselves.

STORM UPDATE

Now that I've thoroughly depressed you, let's talk about tomorrow's snow. So far, not much has changed with the forecast. The bulk of the snow should come through between a little before dawn to early afternoon. 

Within that time frame, we could have a thump of fairly heavy snow for two or three hours.  That'll be enough to make the roads icy and snow covered again, The worst driving condition will be through the morning and maybe into the early afternoon. This will be another wet snow, but in northern Vermont it maybe not quite as cement-like as Friday's. We'll see about that. 

Total accumulations look like they'll be 2 inches or so in the Champlain and Connecticut River valleys. But once again, those two places are the wild cards that are most likely to get much more, or much less snow than forecast. 

Places with an elevation of 1,000 feet or more can expect three or four inches, maybe a little more in some spots. At this point, the Northeast Kingdom is in the running for a little more, maybe six inches of snow or so.

The northern Green Mountains should get the most, with maybe seven or eight inches of snow. 

One little twist in the forecast is when the snow tapers off in the afternoon, it could mix with drizzle or freezing drizzle in many spots. The freezing drizzle would obviously keep things on the icy side. And places with just plain drizzle tomorrow could end up with it freezing at night. 

We'll be in the midst of the snow will I post about it tomorrow morning. I'll have updates of course, and also, what to expect for the rest of the week. 'Spoiler: Not really springlike! 

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. 

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.  

Big Snow Thump Hitting Vermont This Evening

At 4 p.m., Interstate 89 in Williston the pavement was dry
and it wasn't snowing yet, but..........

 As expected a burst of snow was moving into Vermont as I wrote this around 4:30 p.m. The roads should start getting snow covered and slick, if they aren't already.  

 If  you weren't home by 4 p.m. in western Vermont and if you're not home by 5 p.m. in the Connecticut Valley,  you'll deal with the snowy roads. 

The overall forecast hasn't changed much since the morning  Which means it will get worse as we head into the evening as the heaviest band of snow will come through west to east. During the peak of this, snow will come down at a rate of one to one and a half inches per hour. 

At that rate, the plows won't be great at keeping up with the snow, so it might not be worth it to wait the snow out before going home. Unless you want to wait until 9 or 10 or 11 tonight before driving home.  By then, it probably won't  be snowing as hard. 

Since this storm means road conditions will go from great to bad pretty quickly, I think some people might be caught off guard. Which is why for the next few hours, you might get stuck behind some slide offs and wrecks and fender benders and people whose vehicles have bald tires. 

Though this will storm will be poorly timed and fairly intense while people are driving home for the day, this is no blockbuster. 

By 5 p.m., that same stretch of Interstate was getting 
covered with snow and traffic was starting to back up

Considering this is a rather fluffy snow, and will only amount to 3 to 6 inches of new snow for most of us. The mountains might get a bit more. We're basically just getting our snow cover freshened up a bit. 

Our evening burst of snow in Vermont is being created in large part by a squirt of warm air that is approaching us, drawn northward by an Alberta clipper storm heading in from the west and northwest.

 It got up to near 40 degrees in Buffalo, New York today and 55 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania today. The abrupt shove of warm air is rising up and over a mass of chillier air. Moisture in the rising air condenses and falls out of the sky as snow

Hence the thump of snow we're getting. 

That warm air west of us will get cut off at the pass before it can ever make it to Vermont. 

 The storm that's helping cause this snow is still going to fade away over northern Vermont, or nearby overnight. A new storm will takes its place off the Maine coast. That'll ensure the winds shift to the north before the warm air can get here. It'll shunt that hint of spring to our south instead. 

During the period early tomorrow morning when the original storm is fading and the new one off the coast of Maine hasn't gotten its act together yet, we'll see a lull I'm the snowfall.  It might even stop for awhile in the morning. You might still want to get an early start tomorrow morning as roads could still be on the iffy side. 

The snow will probably blossom out again a little bit tomorrow afternoon and evening, mostly across northern Vermont. By then, the storm off the coast of Maine will have matured.  That storm will be strong enough to pull some moist air down from the North Atlantic Ocean via Quebec. You'll probably be driving around on some snow a slush in many areas tomorrow afternoon and evening, too.

By contrast, southeastern Vermont will probably be mostly done with this storm by tomorrow morning. 

We are also done with the subzero cold for at least a week, and probably longer than that. Above freezing temperatures might arrive as soon as this Sunday. I'll have more on that in  my morning report. 

Decent Thump Of Snow In Vermont/New England Later Today. Evening Commute To Snarl

Latest National Weather snow prediction map, covering
this morning through Thursday morning. Most of us
are in for 3 to 6 inches of snow, maybe more in the
mountains, a little less extreme southeast. 

 Our little Alberta Clipper storm coming into Vermont today looks like it might over-perform.

The National Weather Service is calling for a general three to six inch snowfall across the Green Mountain State and surrounding areas. 

Winter weather advisories are up for all of Vermont except the western parts of Addison and Rutland counties, where they might be just under the amount of snow needed to trigger the advisory. 

A tiny section of the immediate lower Connecticut Valley south of Springfield is also exempt from the advisory. 

It doesn't really matter, as it's going to snow everywhere in Vermont. Most of the snow will come down in a big thump late this afternoon and evening. 

THE DETAILS:

We're starting the day off cold once again, but not nearly as bad as it was 24 hours earlier. The coldest I could find in Vermont Monday morning was 29 below at East Haven. St. Johnsbury takes the prize for most dramatic warmup. The temperature there went from 20 below to 24 above within about 10 hours. That's a rise of 44 degrees, which is really impressive. 

Temperatures this morning were mostly back down in the single numbers above zero at dawn. An exception is Plattsburgh, New York that got to at least 4 below. Burlington was right at 0,  which was a bit chillier than many places around the region. 

An interesting thing happens when Lake Champlain is frozen or mostly so. Places like Burlington and Plattsburgh, New York stop being the warm spots in the region because we've lost the influence of the relatively warm water. It's now sealed under ice. 

Until the ice melts, the only way the Champlain Valley would be warmer than elsewhere only if there's south winds. The south winds funnel easily northward between the Adirondacks and Greens, ,so balmier air brought by the south winds reaches the valley first. 

The lake isn't going to help. In fact, as we head into late winter and spring, wind coming off the frozen lake, or very winter-chilled lake water once the ice breaks up, will make places along the immediate shore of Lake Champlain often much chillier than places further away. 

Basically, Lake Champlain has turned into a gigantic beer cooler. 

Anyway, back to today. 

THE STORM 

It's going to warm up nicely - at least by our standards - everywhere this afternoon as the snow approaches. We should get well into the 20s.  Any sun you see this morning will quickly fade behind clouds as our Alberta Clipper rapidly approaches. 

The best guess is the snow coming in from the west will reach Champlain by roughly 3 or 4 p.m. today and quickly cross the rest of the state in the hour or two after that. 

Once it arrives, the snow will go from flurries to heavy snow very, very quickly. Most of the storm's snow will come in the initial three to four hours of this episode. This evening's dump will probably go at a rate of an inch per hour,  which is pretty fast. 

That means, unfortunately, on your drive home from work or school late this afternoon and this evening, you're going to run into rapidly deteriorating road conditions, bad visibility and the maximum amount of idiots surrounding you since the 4-7 p.m. time frame will be the busiest on the roads.

Unfortunately, I have an important appointment in Burlington today at 3 p.m., which means I'm going to spend my entire evening parked on a snarled Interstate 89.  I'll wave to you if you're one of the hundreds or more people stuck with me. 

The snow will tend to lighten up later tonight, leaving behind a general three to five inches of new snow. If it's still snowing at dawn, it'll barely be flurries in many areas. 

But for some of us, anyway, that won't be the end of it.  The Alberta Clipper will tend to fade out somewhere near or over northern Vermont late tonight, to be replaced by a new storm that will crank up east of Maine.

That offshore storm will strengthen, creating winds from the east that will blow into Quebec, then southward over Vermont. The moist air will wring out additional snow, especially over much of western Vermont and the Green Mountains. Those areas can expect another one, two, maybe even three inches of additional snow over those areas.

As mentioned, the total snowfall from today through Wednesday evening, as mentioned, looks like it'll amount to three to six inches for most of us. 

The western slopes and summits of the Green Mountains will do the best in this episode with several ski resorts likely seeing eight, nine or even ten inches of total accumulation. The western slopes of New York's Adirondacks and the White Mountains over in New Hampshire should be just as deep in the snow by later tomorrow. 

This has been the best winter for skiing and riding in Vermont I've seen in years. We've never gotten any extreme snowstorms, but the conditions have been great most of the time really since mid-November. 

This will be a pretty fluffy snow, so I'm not worried about the weight of snow on trees and power lines. And we won't be trying to clear wet cement from our driveways tomorrow. 

BEYOND WEDNESDAY

Finally! I'll be quiet and warmer for a few days at least. By "warmer" I don't exactly mean beach weather. Wednesday through Saturday should bring highs mostly in the mid and upper 20s and lows in the single numbers to low teens.

We have a shot at going above freezing on Sunday. If that happens, it would be the first time since January 22 we've cracked 32 degrees.

There also might be some sort of coastal storm toward Sunday and Monday. The computer models are still all over the place with this thing. Given the limited and conflicting information we have now, that storm could bring us in Vermont a snowfall, an ugly mix or absolutely nothing at all. As always, stay tuned! 

Rain Changing To Snow Early Today In Vermont, Winter Is Back

Traffic cam of Interstate 89 in Brookfield, which is close to 
the highest elevation on the Interstate has already 
picked up a few inches of snow, making for
hazardous travel. Rain was changing to snow
in lower elevations as of 7:30, so this
mornings commute is a little iffy.

 As of 7:15 a.m., road conditions were deteriorating in northern Vermont as rain was changing to snow and temperatures were falling to and then below the freezing point. 

Rain flipped to snow shortly before 7 a.m. here in St. Albans. Places in central Vermont have already gone to snow, too. The southern and central Champlain Valley and most of southern parts of the state were still raining. 

Nobody in Vermont will get much snow out go this. Northern New York was the big winner with this. 

For Vermont, whatever snow we get is a timing problem. The changeover to snow for many of us is hitting when it's time to drive to work or school. 

As temperatures dip below freezing as the snow continues to fly, you know that means road conditions won't be great everywhere. It was still raining around Burlington as of 7 a.m., but we'll see how long tha lasts,   

It's the usual admonition to drive slowly, and leave plenty of room between you and the car in front of you.

Accidents are already happening. Police and fire trucks just blasted past my house in St. Albans as of 7:15 a.m. Apparently, there's a rollover crash just up the hill from my house. 

Where it's snowing, it will continue lightly well into today. I don't have any official snow reports yet, but judging from traffic cameras, it looks like areas well away from Lake Champlain in Vermont had picked up a dusting to an inch in low elevations in northern Vermont and maybe two or as much as three inches higher up.  

Rainy areas will be snowy soon. Additional snowfall looks like it might amount to  about one to 2,5 inches in the northwestern quarter of Vermont and less than an inch in most other places.

The Green Mountains should get a two to four inch dusting to partly make up for yesterday's thawing. 

Light snow should continue in parts of northern Vermont through the afternoon. The southern Connecticut River Valley will manage just flurries, if that.

COLDER PATTERN ARRIVES

The thaw is officially OVER. 

Six of the past seven days in Burlington got to at least 40 degrees. It's going to be quite awhile before it's 40 again. 

Later this morning and this afternoon, the real cold air will catch up to us. Temperatures were only slowly falling through the low and mid 30s in Vermont right before dawn. Over in New York, in the western Adirondacks and St. Lawrence Valley, it was already getting into the teens as of 7 a.m.

That air will soon be in Vermont to solidify the ice on the sidewalks and untreated roads. By the time you go to bed, temperatures should be in the teens for most of us, and down in the single number stop near 10 by dawn tomorrow. 

That frigid weather pattern I talked about yesterday is still on its way. Usually, the initial slap from these Arctic outbreaks is pretty tame when we get into these Nanook of the North weather regimes.

That's the case this time. Temperature will recover to the low 20s Friday, and low 30s Saturday. They'll probably settle into the mid and upper 20s Sunday and Monday afternoons. So, not bad!

Between tonight and Monday, we'll have chances of snow showers, but we won't see any big piles of snow The snow cover in the valleys will remain thin for awhile after our thaw. 

Most of next week looks pretty frigid. Early guesses put high temperatures most days from Tuesday onward at around 10 degrees, maybe 15 degrees in the warm spots, with lows near zero. Chances of snow showers will continue through the week, but prospects of a big dump of snow are looking pretty bleak for now. 

There might be a brief break in the chill next weekend before it turns really cold again.

One encouraging thing is I might have been right about some of the models backing off on how cold it will get as we get closer to the events. This is looking less and less like near record cold as we head through the rest of the month. Instead, we just face annoying cold..

That means mostly below normal temperatures, but maybe not the kind of extremes we saw back in the 1970s and even early 1990s, when we'd get into the mid 20s to mid 30s below zero.

Fingers crossed that we'll avoid that! 

Saturday Evening Vermont Storm Update: Still A Mess; Trends Slightly Warmer

The air might be a little warmer with this storm than
forecasters were thinking this morning, so snow
totals were cut back a bit overnight. This map
only covers through 1 p.m. Sunday. More snow
should add to the totals Sunday night. 

 After a long trend toward colder and colder forecasts for tonight storm in Vermont and surrounding  areas, the latest forecast has more or less bumped up temperatures by a degree or two. 

This means some of the broader, warmer valleys might see more rain than anything else. In those places, says the National Weather Service, it could start of as rain this evening, maybe get cold enough for  some mixed precipitation for a while, the perhaps going back to rain, before things taper off Sunday morning. 

Colder areas, like mid and high elevations and the Northeast Kingdom, are more likely to see more snow and not so much rain. But it will still probably turn into mixed precipitation even there. 

The National Weather Service has cut back overnight snow totals in the Northeast Kingdom down to one to as much as five inches. The broader Champlain Valley could see an inch of snow perhaps less, because of the anticipated mix with rain. Most areas south of Route 4 should see little or even no snow in the warmer spots, like Bennington. 

Freezing rain is still in the card for many areas. The most likely areas for freezing rain continue to be in the southern Green Mountains, southern Adirondacks and the Monadnocks of southern New Hampshire. 

Those three areas areas are still under winter weather advisories overnight. The amount of ice accumulation has been cut back slightly to a tenth of an inch or less in the places under the winter advisory. 

That means we won't have trouble with power lines and trees, but the roads will surely be scary. Don't drive overnight if you don't have to. 

Anywhere in Vermont, roads will be iffy overnight Just keep that in mind if you want to go out partying or something.

There's still a really high bust potential with this forecast. Don't be surprised if you end up surprised one way or another by tomorrow morning,  

Temperatures will tend to start falling Sunday afternoon as the winds begin to pick up. Snow showers will start re-blossom as well. At least in northern Vermont and the mountains. Northern and central Vermont look like they might pick up two to four inches of snow from this second phase, mostly Sunday night. 

The central and southern Champlain Valley, and the low lands of southern Vermont will pretty much miss out on the Sunday night snow. 

On the other hand some of the central and northern Green Mountains could do really well. Between this evening and Monday, those areas could receive six or more inches of snow.  

A Brief New Year's Eve Early Eveing Vermont Forecast

Updated National Weather Service snow accumulation
map for tonight and early tomorrow. Most of us get
two or three windblown inches. More than that in
the mountains, a little less in the immediate
Champlain Valley. Roads iffy most of overnight. 

Darkness has fallen as of 5 p.m. as we ride out the last few hours of 2025. 

There's been minor updates to the weather forecast for our celebrations, but the overall prediction remains the same as I outlined this morning. 

As we go through the evening, there will be a rising chance of light snow as what is now a small storm develops over western New York and then drifts over northern Vermont overnight and into the wee hours of tomorrow. 

Southern Vermont, especially Bennington County, is in a position in relation to the storm to have better moisture and dynamics in the atmosphere than other sections of Vermont. 

So in the southwest corner of the state, we've got a winter weather advisory overnight for three to six inches of snow. The higher amounts will fall in the southern Green Mountains. 

Winds will pick up overnight and into the morning. That sets the stage for blowing snow. It'll be a light and fluffy snow, which blows around easily. It'll also be falling on a hard crust of snow, thanks to the freezing rain we had the other day. 

That solid crust means there won't be much friction to keep the new snow in place when the wind blows. We'll end up with more visibility problems and snow drifts than usual from a snowfall this size.

On the roads, it won't be the end of the world as far as their conditions. But it's cold enough so the snow will stick, and conditions will get slick pretty much statewide. Add in the risk of the occasional New Year's Eve drunk driver and it gets a little more dangerous. If you're out partying tonight, drive defensively, slowly and sober tonight, folks!

Aside from the Green Mountain mountain chain and parts of southern Vermont, most of us should still expect two or three inches of snow by the time it mostly stops by the time you're having your Bloody Marys late in the morning tomorrow.  There might only be one to two inches in the immediate Champlain Valley and parts of the lower Connecticut River valley. 

The ski areas should get a decent four to six inches of new snow, with locally higher amounts. Good luck measuring the damn snow, since it will be blowing around so much. 

Which leads us to the other problem. The cold. High temperatures New Year's Day will hit just after midnight tonight, when you're all out there screaming in the New Year. Those temperatures will be in the 20s at midnight, then fall through the teens into the single numbers by tomorrow evening. 

Winds gusting in the 25 to 35 mph range will keep wind chills below zero all day.  It'll stay cold until our next desperate chance of warmup of sort by around next Tuesday. 

A Bit Of Challenging Vermont Weather To Ring Out A Very Challenging 2025

We've got  modest snowfall coming overnight, with one
to three inches in most areas of Vermont. A little more
than that in the mountains. Roads could be a little
slick for New Years revelers late tonight. 

We've had a very challenging 2025, both in terms of weather and especially outside the realm of weather.  

For those of you who don't want to think about anything else that happened in 2025, I'll give you the rundown of the weather you'll see as you ring in 2026. 

Seems harmless, right?   

And for the most part, the weather will indeed be relatively safe. No new ice storms, no floods, no blizzards, not enough wind to snap the power lines. 

You should be fine tonight unless you're not careful on the roads. Or don't know how to dress for winter weather. Because it is going to snow overnight. And Vermont ain't Florida. 

So let's unpack the weather situation here:

Overnight, a small but fairly dynamic storm will move out of the Great Lakes and into northern New York and Vermont. The storm will be able to pick some moisture from the lakes and from those lake affect snow squalls going on out there. 

We had some clear skies in much of Vermont this morning, except in far southwestern parts of the state, as snow off of Lake Ontario is getting all the way to New England.

It'll cloud up pretty fast this afternoon, as temperatures rise into the mid and upper 20s.  You might start to see some light flurries after dark. Occasional light snow will continue all evening leading up to midnight. 

Most of the action will hit in northern New York, where the snow will tend to be heavier and hit hardest around midnight.  

Here in Vermont, it'll probably be snowing in many area as we ring in the New Year.  Not heavily, not all the time, but it'll be around. You'll of course encounter roads that are a bit iffy. Most of the snow in the Green Mountain State will sweep in a little after midnight. 

Most of us won't get much snow, but the timing will be bad, coming right when it'll be the peak drunk driving hours around midnight and a couple hours after. 

Since it will be cold, the snow will blow around easily, so you might have trouble seeing things if a truck passes you on the Interstate. 

If you'll be celebrating outside, dress for it. Temperatures around midnight will be in the teens to around 20. 

The little storm's cold front could stir up some snow squalls or at least pretty heavy snow showers, probably a little after midnight. So take that into consideration if you're driving anywhere after midnight. 

Maybe it'll be best to sleep it off wherever you are overnight instead of getting in your car and driving home.  Or take an Uber, though they'll be hard to come by and super expensive tonight. 

Total accumulation from tonight's little system will amount to one to three inches for most of us.  The valleys of southeast Vermont will probably get less than an inch. The northern Champlain Valley will probably come out close to three inches or maybe even a tad more. Our ski areas are in for a modest three to six inches. 

The New Year will get off to a cold start. Today, the last day of 2025, will probably be the warmest day we'll see in at least a week. As noted, it won't exactly be warm today. Starting tomorrow, daytime highs for most of us in the Green Mountain State won't get out of the teens until next Monday at the earliest. 

Low temperatures each night through next Monday will be within a few degrees either side of zero. If we manage to get a nighttime period of calm, clear weather, it could get well below zero. It's all about that persistent Greenland Block/Arctic Oscillation I explained yesterday. 

It will warm up eventually, of course. Weather patterns always change eventually. Unless we get a surprise I'm not seeing yet, the next chance of any kind of thawing or at least relatively mild air won't come until at least January 11 or so.  

Monday Evening Vermont Storm Update: Everything To Freeze Up As Arctic Winds Arrive

Route 5 near Hartland today. Photo by
Isabella Belisle, via Facebook.

The freezing rain part of our storm is just about over, but we now get to look forward to all the remaining slush and water turning to hard, slippery ice again. We will also get to not-so-joyfully experience crashing temperatures, gusty winds and sharp, almost painful wind chills. 

Most places got between 0.15 to 0.25 inches of ice that coated everything outdoors. Many of us in the Champlain Valley never saw it because it changed to plain rain a little ahead of sunrise, before most of us got up. In other places, it kept going. 

The highest ice accumulation I saw was 0.5 inches in Warren, 0.4 inches in Chittenden and 0.38 inches in Cabot and Chelsea.

Vermont State Police said that from Sunday evening to 11 a.m. Monday they responded to 92 weather-related crashes across the state, three of which resulted in injuries. Of those crashes 29 of them happened on Interstate highways and the rest were on secondary roads. 

Power outages across Vermont continued to rise through the morning peaking at around 10:45 a.m today. As of 4:15 p.m or so, outages were down to only about 700, mostly in east-central Vermont.  

Overall precipitation amounts were healthy, too. Most of central and northern Vermont received between 0.75 and one inch of rain and melted ice. Far southern parts of the state saw a little over an inch. 

Since not that much snow cover melted, the water content of it really increased. It's going to be that crunchy gross stuff if you walk through it tomorrow. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Traffic cam grab showed ice still on the trees along
Interstate 89 in Brookfield. As winds increase tonight,
some of the weighted down branches might break,
spawning new power outages. 

At 3 p.m, shortly before the cold front began to press into Vermont,   it had gotten above freezing almost everywhere in Vermont, according to reports. 

There were almost definitely cold hollows east of the Green Mountains that were still below freezing. 

It was 32 degrees in Eden. Other places, like Springfield and Lyndonville, were still at 33 degrees. Most of the rest of the state was only in the mid-30s.    

Traffic camera images in a few spots showed ice still weighing down the trees. I notices it when I did spot checks on Route 302 in Topsham, Interstate 89 in Brookfield and Route 11 in Winhall.

I'm sure ice is still on trees in a lot of other places. I bring this up because the wind will get pretty noticeable as we go through the evening. By later tonight and tomorrow, a lot of us will experience gusts over 30 mph. Maybe 40 mph in a few spots. 

Those winds could knock down a few more ice-laden branches, which would trigger a few more power outages. I don't expect anything too widespread, but keep your devices charged anyway, especially if the tree are all icy outside. 

If you still have ice encasing your car, try to get out there right away and scrape it off before it gets below freezing. Waiting until it gets really cold will make the job really hard. Remember to get the ice of all of your vehicle. If not, you'll be liable for damages if a slab of ice flies off your car or  truck and hits the person in back of you on the highway. 

If you're looking for replacement snow, especially powder after this icy episode, you're pretty much out of luck. Most places will see an inch per less of snow tonight and tomorrow. For the most part, it will be just nuisance snow showers for the rest of the week. The mountains might pick ups few inches, but that's about it. 

It'll get down to 10 degrees, give or take by tomorrow morning and stay in the teens all day. 

Obviously, as noted,  any standing water or slush on your driveway, the roads, and sidewalks will harden into ice tonight and make things treacherous in spots for the foreseeable future. 

Here's why: It's going to stay cold through the upcoming weekend and probably beyond.  I'll get into how cold the week will be and why this is happening in tomorrow morning's post.  

 

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

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

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

We have our White Christmas, 2025 in the bag.

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

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

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

DEPARTING STORM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WINTRY FORECAST

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Tuesday Evening Vermont Snow Forecast Update: Decent Dump In Green Mountains, Travel Trouble Wednesday

Through Friday morning, the next round of snow will
really pile up in the Green Mountains. Yellow shading
is six inches or more, orange is eight inches or more
Much of Vermont is under a winter weather 
advisory for three to seven inches of snow,
mostly during the day tomorrow. 

 I'm shooting out a little update on our next bout of Vermont winter weather, due tomorrow. Mainly because there are some new snow alerts up. 

This isn't exactly storm of the century. I don't want to hype it too much. But modest storms like this, typical for a Vermont winter, are still enough to raise a few alarm bells if you're going to drive anywhere tomorrow. 

A winter weather advisory is now up for most of Vermont. It's easier to tell you who's not in the advisory. Those not-in-the-advisory places are the Champlain Valley, the lower Connecticut River valley and far northern Vermont. 

The places in the advisory should expect to see three to seven inches of snow between 7 a.m. Wednesday and 1 a.m. Thursday. 

The Champlain Valley and Connecticut Valley should see two or three inches of snow. That'll still be easily enough to interfere the road conditions

The timing of this storm is - once again - not great. The snow will start just in time for the morning commute, which will mess up your trip to work. The snow will increase in intensity, with rates of up to one inch an hour in some places roughly between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. 

It's still looking like it will warm up in the afternoon, too, so the snow will turn kind of wet and heavy in the lower elevations. That's a double-edged sword. On a few of the main highways, that might help keep snow from piling up on the pavement too much. On the other hand, wet snow can pack down down into slippery ice, making things all the worse.

It looks like the warmest part of the day might come in the late afternoon or evening. Although some of the banana belt  valleys might see a few rain drops mixed with the snow, pretty much everybody will still be snowing. 

So, you might still run into trouble on your way back home from work. The roads will probably still be iffy. 

During the main storm tomorrow, the lightest snow might be in far northern Vermont.  The people who love to brag about their never-ending dumps of snow might briefly shut up as they might be a little left out at first.

However, those northern areas will make up for it late tomorrow night through Thursday night. It'll be the usual upslope snows in the central and northern Green Mountains. Again, this usually happens after a storm leaves the Green Mountain State.

The ski areas are going to win again. Between early tomorrow morning and Friday morning, a lot of Vermont's ski areas could see another eight to 12 inches of snow, on top of the riches of white powder they've already gotten over the past few weeks. The Jay Peak braggarts will be back, and other ski areas will be listening to their cash registers overwork themselves. 

No complaints from me! 

Since it will turn cold again for at least a week after tomorrow's "heat wave,"  that snow should stick around. We're also still looking at the risk of some pretty intense cold Sunday night through Tuesday morning. 

Midway Through Snowstorm, Roads Are A Mess, Crashes Increasing In Vermont

Interstate 89 near Exit 16 in Colchester definitely
looked worse at noon today than it did when I '
posted a photo of the same location at around
7 a.m. this morning. There's been quite a few
crashes. Let's be careful out there! 

It's early afternoon now, and we're midway through our Vermont snowstorm. 

The snow isn't just hitting us, of course. Roads have been a mess from the Midwest to the central Appalachians and on into New England.  

One dramatic crash was down in West Virginia where a tractor trailer crashed and was left hanging off a bridge in Mason County. The driver was rescued. 

So far the storm has caused one death, out in Missouri yesterday when the beginnings of the storms snarled traffic around St. Louis. One meteorologists there said it was the worst weather-related traffic snarl he's seen in decades.

Now the storm is in New England, and causing its own traffic trouble here. There's plenty of examples here in Vermont. 

Up here in St Albans, the city police department said one its cruisers was hit by another car on a snowy road while responding to another crash. 

Some of the various examples I've seen in Vermont at different times this morning included a crash that dropped northbound Interstate 89 in Williston down to one lane for a time. Route 7 in Ferrisburgh was closed for awhile due to a crash; Route 103 in Chester was also closed for a time due to a snow-related crash, and Route 11 in Londonderry was reduced to one lane, also due to a crash. 

Shelburne Road near the on ramp to Interstate 189 was closed due to a crash around noon, too, so that must have been a real mess. 

All the traffic cams I've seen in Vermont over the past hour show snow covered roads. In other words, be careful out there folks. 

As of 12:30 p.m., it was snowing at a pretty good clip statewide. So far, as of noon, most places had maybe two to three inches of snow. It seems like there was a zone of heavier snow near and north of the Worcester range in north central Vermont. 

Total accumulation is still forecast to be the same as forecast this morning. Although far northwest Vermont might get a bit more than originally forecast. For instance, older forecasts had St. Albans receiving three inches, but now that's been bumped up to four inches. 

The snow will continue coming down at a good pace well into the afternoon.  The snow will start to diminish after 3 p.m. in far northwest Vermont.  That snow shut down will steadily move southeastward across Vermont in the very late afternoon and evening. 

It'll finally conk out in far southeast Vermont before midnight. 

Flurries might linger, but once the steady snow shuts down where you live, you'll hardly get any additional accumulation. You can start shoveling at that point. 

Even after the snow ends, it will take time to clean up the roads, so be careful driving back home tonight. In the Champlain Valley, where snow will be tapering off as darkness falls, I don't anticipate any kind of traffic nightmare like we had during that big snow on November 10. But, expect delays and be patient. 

Since it will still be snowing in southern and eastern Vermont late this afternoon and evening, roads remain lousy down there   

Freezing Fog Ices Vermont Trees Beautifully, Ices Roads Dangerously

Freezing fog this morning in St. Albans, Vermont
coated tree branches with delicate rime ice
A rare freezing fog advisory was in effect for the
Champlain Valley this morning. 

Freezing fog enveloped large parts of Vermont overnight, especially in the Champlain Valley. It left trees and pretty much everything else outside coated in ghostly white ice.   

And made things challenging on the roads. 

Freezing fog is when all the droplets in the fog are still liquid, even though the temperature is under 32 degrees.

As soon as these supercooled droplets as they're called  hit anything - a road, tree branches, your cold car windshield, they freeze.

On trees and other outdoor objects, the frozen water takes the form of rime ice, a delicate, feathery feature that is absolutely beautiful. 

On roadways, freezing fog forms virtually invisible black ice on pavement, especially on bridges and overpasses. 

The fact that in some cases only bridges are frozen, motorists are often taken by surprise. If they're going too fast, you can get some serious crashes. Especially if the freezing fog is thick and visibility is horrible, like it was in many areas in and near the Champlain Valley overnight and this morning. 

Freezing fog happens from time to time in Vermont. We had a bout of it around Christmastime last year.  When the sun hit those frosted trees, the scenery looked magical. It made the holiday season look that much better. 

Rime ice from freezing fog formed icy little 
needles on this St. Albans pine branch this morning, 

This morning's freezing fog was particularly dense in many spots. So dense that the the National Weather Service in South Burlington issued a freezing fog advisory for the entire Champlain Valley.

 It was the first time the Vermont NWS office issues such an advisory in a decade. 

The advisory stays in effect until 10 a.m today. If you're reading this early and planning on a drive, take it slow, keep your low beams on, and really be careful around those bridges and overpasses. And try to leave as much room as you can between you and the vehicle in front of you, 

The freezing fog should gradually lift during the course of the morning. At first it will probably transition to a low overcast. Eventually, the sun should break through for at least some of us.. 

It's tricky to determine when or if the sun will actually make an appearance. In warmer times of the year, the sun heats everything up enough to create updrafts that mix the air and evaporate the fog. 

This time of year the low angle of the sun means it can't heat things up enough to readily break up the fog. Some parts of the Champlain Valley could stay under the clouds all day. Or at least most of the day. 

Outside the Champlain Valley, there was much less fog, so other sections of Vermont will just have another partly sunny, cool November day. 

Tonight, the wind will begin to stir as a weather front begins to make an approach. Those winds should prevent another round of freezing fog from forming. Except maybe in the deeper valleys of eastern Vermont. 

Green Mountains In Vermont To Get Buried In Snow By Monday

National Weather Service snowfall prediction map.
Practically nothing in some valleys, but closing in
on two feet on some mountains by Tuesday.

 The first part of our storm is over, the one that dumped a cold rain, and in some areas freezing rain overnight. 

All the was expected, and was the easy part of the forecast for this storm. And those forecasts were pretty accurate.

Now comes the tricky part. 

We have a big, classic, upslope snow event for the Green Mountains. That's when moisture-laden air, propelled by stiff northwest winds, slams into the west slopes of the mountains. The air is forced to rise up and over the mountains. 

Rising air cools. Cooler air can't hold as much moisture as milder air. So the cooler air sheds the excess moisture it can't handle as precipitation. In this case, it means snow. Lots of snow.

This type of weather scenario happens all the time, every winter in Vermont. This episode will be bigger than most of them. 

The broad brush part of the forecast is easy. We know it's going to snow a lot in the Green Mountains, especially in central and northern Vermont. We know the summits of the Green Mountains will get nailed. Few of us  will be surprised if Jay Peak gets a couple feet. That's the mountain that almost always gets buried the most in this type of situation.

We also know very little snow will come down in places like the southern Champlain Valley and the Connecticut River Valley, roughly south of Wells River. 

It's the details that are tricky.  Especially in towns on the edge of the heavy snow zone. Places that get barely an inch or two will be very close to places that get six inches, even 12 inches. 

Probably the trickiest areas to forecast are in western Vermont, east of Route 7 all the way from Pownal to Highgate. 

Right along Route 7, there probably won't be much snow at all. But heading east from Route 7, snow totals will rapidly rise.  But where will that sharp increase start? In Chittenden County, will you start seeing a fair amount of snow in Williston? Or will you need to get to Bolton or the eastern part of Jericho to find pretty deep snow?

I live on Route 36 in St. Albans. Near the lake, on that road, they'll be lucky to get an inch of snow. I live on the transition zone on Route 36 on Fairfield Hill. I wouldn't be surprised to see at least a couple inches of new snow at my house. 

But two miles up the road, at the top of the hill, there could be double the amount of snow over what will be in my back yard. Bakersfield, about 13 miles east of my place, could get a foot or more of snow.  

As I began writing this at 8 a.m. Sunday, the northwest flow has just barely started. We were getting snow flurries in St. Albans at that hour, and weather radar shows the beginnings of this upslope snow. 

The heavy snow will peak from this afternoon through early Monday. 

A winter storm warning is unsurprisingly in effect for much of northern Vermont near the Green Mountains.    As mentioned, snow amounts will vary widely between valleys and mountaintops.

It also looks like much of the Northeast Kingdom should get a fair amount of snow with this. Winter weather advisories are in effect up there. A winter weather advisory is up for Franklin County, too, where, as mentioned, snowfall will be super variable. 

Further south in Vermont, the mountain snows won't be quite as heavy. But it'll be noticeable. A winter weather advisory is in effect down the spine of the Green Mountains from central Vermont to the Massachusetts border. 

The National Weather Service is going for three to six inches, with locally as much as ten inches in this winter weather advisory zone. 

No matter where you are this afternoon through tomorrow, it's going to be windy. Expect gusts over 30 mph in most places, with a few gusts over 40 mph. 

Where it will be snowing hard, expect a lot of blowing and drifting snow. Almost blizzard conditions, really. 

By the way, the Adirondacks of New York, especially the northern and western Adirondacks, will get buried, too in this situation. Same is true for some of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. 

The bottom line: I'd avoid travel this afternoon through Monday morning along high elevation mountain roads. You know the places: Roadways like Route 17 through Buels Gore, Roxbury Gap, Route 242 and 105 way up by Jay Peak, the back roads near and east of towns like Bakersfield, Enosburgh, Cambridge, Underhill, Huntington, Ripton. 

The snow will finally tend to lighten up and stay closer to the immediate Green Mountain ridgeline starting later tomorrow into Tuesday. 

Most ski areas won't be open yet but I'm sure there will be some people hiking in for some powder skiing.  

Vermont Endured Another Nightmare Commute Tuesday. Get Used To It .

In this image from Facebook, traffic was
seriously backed up on Interstate 89
in Williston, Vermont due to icy
pavement Tuesday afternoon. 

The drive home from work here in Vermont Tuesday was just about as bad as it was Monday afternoon and evening, even though less snow fell. 

Another conspiracy of bad timing and this time lighter snow led to huge traffic jams across much of Vermont. 

Traffic was snarled for miles along Interstate 89 in Williston and Richmond Tuesday afternoon due to icy roads.  

A crash on Route 100 near the Waterbury/Stowe line blocked the road for awhile. Icy conditions made it difficult to clear the wreck. Route 15 near Essex, Route 104 around Fairfax and East Georgia, Interstate 89 in Franklin County were among the many trouble spots Tuesday. 

If you were out on the roads, I'm sure you encountered your own delays and roadway ice rinks. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

My driveway actually gave me clues as to what happened with Tuesday's mess of a drive time. 

I shoveled the wet, heavy snow off my paved driveway in the morning. The ground was warm, so the driveway stayed wet. 

Then it snowed again. 

Since the ground was still warm the new snow formed a half-melted slush atop the pavement. 

My truck tires compacted the slush with just one trip down the driveway. So imagine what happened to that slushy layer under a daytime of traffic on the highways. 

The ground was so warm it seemed to create a thin layer of above freezing temperatures just above the pavement, even though the air temperature was around 30 degrees. 

In the afternoon, the wind picked up dramatically, probably sweeping away that very thin layer of "warmer" hovering just above the blacktop.  The compacted slush then froze, creating the dangerous driving conditions we saw in many areas in central and northern Vermont. 

The bout of gusty, freezing winds hit just before the afternoon rush hour. Go figure. 

And yes, northwestern Vermont in particular is having a snowy November to be sure. 

Another 2.8 inches of snow Tuesday fell atop the 8.6 inches we had in St. Albans Monday for an impressive storm total of 11.4 inches. Burlington so far this month - as of midnight last night, anyway - has had 6.4 inches of snow, more than the 5.7 inches that is normal for the entire month of November. 

FORECAST

There's no rest for the weary, as winter weather will continue all week with frequent bouts of light snow, with a little valley rain. 

More snow is in the forecast between now and Friday
in Vermont and New York. Not much in the valleys, 
but the central and northern Green Mountains
can expect another six or more inches. 

We should see very little snow in the immediate Champlain Valley right near the lake. And probably no snow or just a dusting in the Connecticut River Valley south of White River Junction this week.

Other valleys in central and northern Vermont will see anywhere from one to as much as five inches of new snow spread out between today and Friday morning. 

The northern and central Green Mountains, especially near the summits, will probably see 6 to 12 inches in that period. 

That will be followed by a possibly icy storm toward Saturday night and Sunday

Here are the details:

Today

As I write this at 7:30 a.m, it's snowing once again here in St. Albans. Just what we need, right? I'm sure there's slick areas on the roads again. The snow isn't coming down hard, but it's enough to cause trouble. 

In the valleys, it'll get a little above freezing this afternoon, so that should help. The snow and rain showers might tend to thin out a bit this afternoon too. Snow accumulations today should be less than an inch, with a little more in the mountains. 

As we saw yesterday, it doesn't take much snow to create havoc. 

Cold air coming in will probably change any rain back to snow and re-create ice on many roads tonight. The chillier air looks like it will come in later than it did Monday evening, so things might not be so bad late this afternoon on the roads.

Thursday

Tomorrow morning's commute might be hazardous again, as another burst of snow comes through. Like today, it won't be much, with an inch or less in most of the valleys. But the mountains will probably pick up several inches

It'll still be snowing, at least lightly in many locations all day Thursday and into Thursday night. Once again, there might be a few raindrops in the valleys as temperatures get a little above freezing.

There should be a little  more snow and falling temperatures Thursday evening. You know what that means. 

Weekend

We'll get a break from the constant snow and cold rain showers Friday afternoon through Saturday, though it will stay cold. But there's yet more trouble on the way. 

A new storm diving down at us from Lake Superior is threatening us with freezing rain later Saturday night into Sunday. 

The storm is still days away, so the particulars on this are sketchy. The best chance of freezing rain looks like it will be east of the Green Mountains, but stay tuned on that. 

Behind that storm will be another bout of snow and snow showers, once again focusing on the central and  northern Green Mountains. It's quite a head start for the soon to start ski season. 

It looks like Killington has opened for the season as of today, but only advanced trails are open so far.  Jay Peak expects to open on November 22, about a week earlier than originally planned.

Other ski resorts in Vermont are planning their seasonal grand openings around Thanksgiving weekend. That holiday falls on the 27th this year.  

In the valleys, those of you who are stuck under a mid-winter type deep snow cover in northwest Vermont will have to live with it for awhile. I don't see any real warmup for at least a week from now. 

Heads Up, Vermont: Burst Of Poorly Timed Snow Could Mean Commute Headaches Again

A pleasant late snow covered late afternoon Sunday
near Fairfield, Vermont. More light snow will add
to that blanket of white this week. 

Last week's light but persistent snow in northern and central Vermont caused havoc on the roads, prompting Vermont State Police to issue press releases telling people to slow the hell down. 

Well, we face another week of that sort of thing. 

Timing is the issue, as the snow might surprise or at least annoy commuters.  

The trouble starts today. There was a little light snow overnight in northern Vermont, so there were a few slick spots this morning,

However, just in time for the trip home late this afternoon and evening, heavier snow showers and a few snow squalls plan to roam northern New York and Vermont, especially western parts of the state. 

It won't be everywhere, and the exact timing is hard to divine as of this morning. But just be prepared for the possibility. They could arrive anytime this afternoon. They also will be hit and miss, with some towns in northern Vermont seeing  a quick inch of snow in a squall, with two towns over seeing pretty much nothing 

A nearly full moon rises late Sunday afternoon over
a Fairfield, Vermont farm. 

What makes this evening's situation potentially worse is that temperatures in the warmer valleys will probably sneak up to near or a little above freezing.

 So when it starts snowing, the roads will get wet. As the squalls intensify, the wet roads will quickly freeze, then get covered with a thin layer of snow. 

When that  happens, it takes people by surprise. You're cruising on dry or wet roads at 65 mph in the Interstate and suddenly, you're going that fast on a skating rink.  That sort of thing tends to end poorly.

Then we get to Tuesday.

Again, the day will start not bad, but by afternoon and evening, a new round of snow showers should move in. Just in time for the evening commute. It'll be a little colder than today, so the snow will stick to the roads until they are plowed and treated. And even that won't last long as more light snow ill continue to come down

More slow going, more slide offs, more idiots causing accidents. 

Sigh.

The light snow and snow showers will last through Tuesday night and into Wednesday at least. 

Just like last week, most of us won't get much new snow out of this, with northern Vermont mostly seeing one to four inches by Wednesday night. The central and northern Green Mountains will once again win the snow jackpot with many mountains seeing six inches or more.

And, once again, the big snow loser will be the lower Connecticut River Valley, where either nothing or a dusting is in the cards.