The Vermont Sky Was A Strange Color This Morning: Blue!

Skies beginning to clear late yesterday afternoon
in St. Albans, Vermont. That darker stuff you
see at the top of the photo is still hanging off 
the eaves of my house. We still have snow
on the ground around here. 

 I awoke this morning here in St. Albans, Vermont to find quite a bit of blue sky.

Aside from a few glimpses of sun last Saturday, this is the first time the sky was truly mostly clear since November 8. That's a long time to be under the clouds, so it was almost shocking to see the blue skies this morning. 

Also shocking were the morning temperatures. The clear skies overnight allowed readings to really drop to easily the coldest so far this season. 

Most of Vermont was in the teens. Burlington was down to 21 degrees. Perennial cold spot Saranac Lake, New York was just 3 degrees above zero.

A few spots got particularly cold because they had snow cover, which tends to promote even chillier nights. By the way,  Mount Mansfield set another record for the date yesterday for deepest snow cover, with a depth of 39 inches. 

That's the third deepest snow on record. WCAX meteorologist Gunner Consol did some checking. He found that of the 10 Novembers with the deepest snow, seven of them went on to have above average snow depths later in the winter, and three of them were below normal. 

These temperatures actually aren't strange at all for this time of year. (The record low in Burlington today is 7 above, so we really missed that by a large margin.

The chilly November we've endured so far has been mostly a function of cold daytime highs. Nights have been relatively mild. Finally seeing a bonafide cold morning is a bit of a shock to the system.

The mostly clear skies that helped make last night and early this morning so cold will help today warm up some. The sun angle is low, so it can't warm us up the much. But the sun will still give it a try. Which means by afternoon we should be well up into the 30s. 

LOOKING AHEAD

We're still looking at a break from "exciting weather" for the next few days. The atmosphere is still rearranging itself for the next barrage of storms that might (or might not) hit once we get into December. 

In the meantime, only little systems will come through. We'll still see some sun tomorrow in case you miss it today. A weak thing will come through Friday with a little light rain, which might start off as a bit of a mix way up high in the mountains.

This coming weekend will be pretty average for this time of year.  We won't exactly see clear skies. but the sun will be out part of the time during our short days, especially on Saturday. 

You usually can't expect balmy weather for this time of year, so highs will only be in the 35 to 45 degree range, depending on if you live in a traditional Vermont ice box or the state's banana belt towns. Overnights will get into the 20s. 

Killington and Jay Peak will be open for business this weekend, so if you want to get some early skiing or riding in, go for it. (Friday's rain won't melt much snow up there).

Our next shot at any storminess would come next Tuesday night or Wednesday. It's too soon to tell what kind of storm, how big it will be, or even whether it will actually affect us here in Vermont. 

As Advertised, Winter Has Arrived In Vermont; More Coming

Snow dusting the Christmas tree we just picked up 
yesterday as it waits for us to bring it in today
from my truck in St. Albans, Vermont. Snow and
more normal winter weather is making things look
appropriate for the season. 

A little over a week ago, when we Vermonters were basking in unseasonable, record warmth, we promised that we would gradually sink into winter by now. 

Just like that, it has come to pass. We're not getting anything unusual for December. But it's wintry. 

We've had three days in a row with temperatures remaining below freezing. Most of us have a nice white dusting of snow on the ground now. 

Roads were icy for Wednesday morning's commute, and the air had a bite to it yesterday. Here in St. Albans, Vermont, we collected about an inch of snow. So did Burlington. 

Yep, it's winter.  Although this is a fairly mild version of it, and it will stay on the reasonable side. You should still expect more seasonal challenges and joys in the coming days. 

Starting now.  Most of us are waking up to some light snow falling, and that will be the state of affairs fro the rest of the day and into tonight. 

This won't be a blockbuster storm by any stretch of the imagination.  It's coming in from the west, so it doesn't really have a great supply of moisture. Plus this storm is weak. 

Even so, it's got enough energy and spunk to crank out a storm total of one to four inches over most of the Green Mountain State by tomorrow morning. Some of the higher elevations could close in on six inches with this thing, says the National Weather Service office in South Burlington. 

There will be the usual problems with roads this morning and for this evening's commute. Again, nothing extreme, but you should slow down, keep as much space between your car and everyone else's as possible, and just be sane and attentive while driving. 

It's not all that cold out, and it will stay on the relatively mild side. That sets the stage for the next challenge. 

After more flurries Thursday, then some sun and warmish weather Friday (highs near 40!), we get into the next storm. 

The next one is no huge thing either, but it will give us another challenge we'll need to get used to: Freezing rain. Ugh. 

Now, this won't be a disaster, the trees won't be caving in under the weight of ice or anything that dramatic. 

But there seems to be increasing chances that freezing rain will turn roads, sidewalks, driveways and such pretty icy Saturday night and Sunday morning.  This is especially true east of the Green Mountains, where low level cold air is more likely to linger.

The Champlain Valley is a more likely to just see a cold rain. However, I expect the experts to refine this weekend forecast as we get closer to the event, so stay tuned for updates and changes.

You know the drill, though. Every year we have to deal with such icy weather several times per winter.

One thing we haven't seen yet is true Arctic cold.  The coldest it's been in Burlington so far this season is 18 degrees, back in mid-November.  Pretty tolerable, for sure. 

I don't really see many signs of any subzero cold coming in anytime soon. I mentioned yesterday that Canada is extremely warm currently by their standards, so there's no real supply of bitter cold up there. 

Frigid air is likely to finally build up in northern and central Canada over the next week to ten days, which is what you would expect in December. 

However, forecasts call for a continued fast, mostly west to east flow across the United States. That would tend to block most of the frigid air off to our north, with few chance for any of it to break loose and head south towards us. 

If long range forecasts hold, that would mean no subzero cold in Vermont except in the coldest hollows between now and Christmas.  There's also no real sign of any sustained periods of super balmy weather either, which should give some hope to winter sports enthusiasts. 

That is IF the current forecasts hold.  As I've said repeatedly, long range forecasts can be unreliable.  Don't be surprised if there's a surprise or two.