Is Climate Change Shifting Where Dangerous Ice Storms Set Up?

Lewis County, Tennessee after the late January ice storm
Research suggests that climate change might be making
ice storms more common in the South, but more research
is needed to confirm that. Photo from Tennessee 
Valley Weather/Facebook

Are ice storms moving to different and potentially more dangerous places? 

Some scientists are beginning to think so, and that could lead to more frozen disasters like the one that blasted Mississippi, Tennessee and other southern states in late January

 Drawing on long term records, computer modeling and new measurement, scientists in Texas concluded that a warming world isn't making freezing rain go away. It's just changing where it falls and when in the winter it occurs. "

Zong-Liang Yang, an earth systems scientist the University of Texas at Austin and postdoctoral researcher Chenxi Hu looked into this. According to science.org:

"To see how these changes might be playing out in the ground, Yang and Hu turned to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Storm Events Database, which compiles weather phenomena reported by individuals and vetted by the National Weather Service. 

When the researchers analyzed county-level  records from 1996 to 2025, they saw an emerging trend: More events along a band from eastern Texas to western Pennsylvania, as well as along the Appalachian Mountains, where low, cold air can get trapped. The timing of freezing ran events also shifted from December to February."

The locations Yang described here almost exactly match the zone affected by the disastrous late January ice storm,. 

Freezing rain is thankfully a bit hard to come by compared to other forms of precipitation. Snow needs to change to rain on the way down. Those raindrops must then encounter subfreezing air just before hitting the ground as liquid, which freezes into a glaze of ice upon impact.

If the cold layer near the ground is too thick, the rain will freeze into sleet, or little balls of ice on the way down. Sleet is a pain in the butt, of course, but at least it doesn't pull down trees and power lines. 

Also, freezing rain is often transitory. It'll hit briefly as an interlude between the time snow goes over to rain as temperatures warm. The warm/cold battle of air masses must more or less stay put to create a dangerous ice storm. 

Not everyone is buying the idea that climate change is shifting the places where ice storms are most likely - at least not yet

Esther Mullens, a climatologist at the University of Florida, told science.org that it still could be just natural variations that move ice storms around, or create trends in ice storms.

In 2025, Mullens looked at ice storms over the past 80 years and concluded that natural climate variations might explain the uptick in southern freezing rain storms. She concedes it could be that the jet stream is getting wavier than it used to be. 

A wavier jet stream is more likely to bring Arctic air blasts further south, which could increase the chances of freeing rain. But climatologists are still debating whether climate change is seriously messing with the jet stream like that. 

Still, there is a pretty compelling argument that the warming of the Arctic might be creating a wavier jet stream.  A wavier jet stream is more likely to create the right conditions for freezing rain than a flat west to east upper air flow.  

Another potential effect of climate change is it might affect how heavy the precipitation is. Even with a warmer world, it still very often gets below freezing in the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere during the winter. 

A warmer world, though, is a wetter world.  A hotter atmosphere can hold more water that a cooler one. Storms like the one that hit in January draw moisture from warmer places like the southern Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean.  That moisture slams into the cold air further north to fall as snow, sleet, freezing rain or a combination of all three.

Since the January storm was wetter than it would have been before climate change began in earnest, it was probably able to dump more ice and snow on the eastern U.S. that the same storm would have a generation or two ago.

The heavier the freezing rain, the more weight you get on trees and power lines. Snow in some storms might be deeper than it otherwise might be. We have anecdotal evidence of that right her in Vermont.Burlington's weather data goes all the way back to the late 1880s. Yet, 11 of the city's 20 biggest snowstorms all came in the past quarter century. 

You get the point. Winter storms can be counterintuitively worse in our era of climate change.  

Climate change can even make lake effect snowstorms worse. Lakes would be slower to freeze during warmer winters, so they'd have more opportunity to dump heavy snow downwind of the lakes on the days it does turn cold.

The data the Texas researchers used was based on reports by humans, who sometimes under-report or over-report the amount of ice during a freezing rain event. 

NOAA is working on a new tool that uses radar, rain gauges and an ice model to map freezing rain in real time, science.org says. 

The new tool would make an analysis like what Yang and Hu did more accurate, as we'd have more precise information on how much ice accumulated and where. 

All this shows that climate change isn't just about heat waves and warmer winters. Under the right conditions the warming world can make the rare wintry intrusions much worse. Worse, even, than what your grandparents remember when they walked through feet of snow to and from school, uphill both ways.   

Some Of America's Wildest Winter Storm Videos Of 2026 Part 2

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina did not look like the warm
vacation destination it usually is judging by this photo
taken just after last weekend's southern snowstorm.
Photo from Visit Myrtle Beach
South Carolina via Facebook.

It's been a dramatic winter of storms in the U.S. There's been a lot of videos floating around social media proving that fact. 

I've already put up one round of videos back on January 28.

But, more storms, more video! So let's get into it: 

Back in late January, just after the ice storm that slammed Mississippi, Tennessee and surrounding areas, the weight of the ice was still crumbling southern buildings even a couple days after the precipitation ended. 

Here's a dramatic surveillance video of a building in Benton, Arkansas losing the battle against the weight on the roof. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Video by Storm Chaser Aaron Rigsby of wild blizzard conditions on Cape Hatteras last Saturday and Saturday night, followed by a house fire Sunday morning in Nags Head. People down there had their hands full. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.

Reed Timmer, who normally chases tornadoes, chased the winter storm down to Emerald Isle, on the barrier islands not far from Cape Lookout, North Carolina. He found snow drifts nearly burying cars. Click on this link to view or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina looked strange in the snow, too. Those palmetto trees looked out of place in the near blizzard conditions and in under the bright blue skies and blowing snow the next day. Again click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Farmers in Florida often spray water on crops when temperatures fall below freezing. This actually protects the plants when temperatures go into the upper 20s and low 30s. 

But in at least one case, at a blueberry farm, the ice quickly grew inches and inches thick because it was so cold, and the subfreezing temperatures lasted so long, that the ice accumulated rapidly. The wind also knocked over equipment, increasing the volume of water hitting the fields.   Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

If people thought the snow was too deep where they were, they should look at the Tug Hill Plateau near Lake Ontario, New York. The region gets blasted by huge lake effect snows almost every winter. This year has been especially big on snow there, as the lake keeps delivering, and a lack of thaws has kept much of the snow on the ground. 

By the way, a little more lake affect snow is forecast for the area in the next few days, but it will only be a few inches. Not several feet. For a look, here's a news video from the area: As always, click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Sad stories come out after storms like this from sometimes unexpected places. In Nashville, a plant store that sold mostly cactus and succulents lost power for a week, damaging the plants to the point they can't be sold. The owner lost $100,000 in merchandise. The insurer State Farm initially said they would cover the damage, but, as big corporations do, found a way to weasel out paying. 

It does look like people are trying to donate to help the store owner out. Here's the cautionary news cast. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below click on that.  

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.  

Vermont Christmas Is Over, Winter Weather Drags On

The sky looking west from St Albans, Vermont at dawn
today had those pink and baby blue tones that I've 
always associated with a subzero winter cold snap. 

We woke up this day after Christmas in Vermont to the coldest morning since December 7. 

Skies cleared out above a blanket of fresh snow and a big supply of Canadian air to drop large sections of Vermont and surrounding areas below zero as dawn broke. Those of us who stayed above that frigid zero mark did so just barely. 

The chill isn't that unusual for late December - Burlington got down to 2 above this morning, missing the record low for the date by a huge 28 degrees. But it's not comfortable out there, either. 

From my perch on St. Albans hill, I can see that St. Albans Bay appears to be frozen, earlier than in recent years. This really has been a colder winter than usual so far. Pretty stormy, too. 

That trend is going to continue. 

WEIRD STORM

High thin clouds will make an appearance over Vermont today and thicken as the afternoon wears on. It'll stay cold as highs only make it into the teens. 

This is due to a weird storm that will just brush by us, but cause havoc from Ontario to New Jersey. An Alberta clipper, as scheduled, is diving southeastward from Michigan to an eventual path that will take it off the Mid-Atlantic coast'.

The path of this storm is odd. So is it's strength, given it's a clipper, which usually aren't all that impressive. It was spreading snow through southern Ontario this morning and mixed precipitation in Michigan. 

It will intensify further as it heads southeast. An ice storm warning is up for western Pennsylvania today and tonight. Freezing rain there today and tonight will make travel scary to say the least. It also risks causing tree and power line damage. Today's not the day for a road trip to Pittsburgh, that's for sure. 

As the storm heads further south, it'll trigger a snowstorm from central New York down to the New York City metro area. That zone is in for five to nine inches of snow tonight. 

We in Vermont will just be mostly bystanders to this spectacle.  It'll snow a little in the Green Mountain State overnight, mostly south and west of Interstate 89. A little snow might get north of that, but it'll be inconsequential. There might be a couple inches down by Bennington. If the storm somehow manages to jog north a bit, then, of course we get a bit more snow. 

But this won't be a biggie for us. 

THE NEXT STORM 

The next system in the pipeline will be more of a problem for us. Those of  you who are thrilled we're missing out on today's ice storm in Pennsylvania aren't going to like this one. We're in for some ice Sunday night and Monday. 

Saturday and Sunday will be quiet and cold. Though, because we're setting up for freezing rain eventually, Sunday's highs on the Green Mountain summits will probably be warmer than the valleys.You need that type of inversion to get your freezing rain. 

That'll come in Sunday night. If you get your return trip home or to wherever you're headed by sunset on Sunday, you should be fine. 

At this point, fingers crossed, it doesn't look like the freezing rain will be enough to cause much damage to trees and power lines. But it will be more than enough to mess with anyone on the roads overnight Sunday into Monday morning.

If you have to work Monday, it will probably be an excellent day to work from home if at all possible. We haven't had much freezing rain and sleet yet this winter, so this will be our first real experience with it of the season. We don't have our "ice legs" yet.

,Yeah, it sucks. 

It will probably turn warm enough for awhile Monday to change things over to plain rain in much of Vermont. It won't be like a week ago though, when temperatures soared into the 50s and low 60s/

This time. it'll only make it into the mid and upper 30s. Maybe a few low 40s in southern valleys. The snow on the ground won't go away. It'll just get crusty and icy. 

The storm's cold front will probably sweep through later Monday afternoon or evening, as it looks now, anyway. The system will really crank up as it gets into southeast Canada, so expect plunging temperatures and strong northwest winds, which would continue into Tuesday. 

Most of us won't get much snow after the cold front goes through, but the central and northern Green Mountains have the potential to get a decent dump. 

It''ll stay really cold into the first few days of 2026, with a reinforcing shot of Arctic air probably arriving as we ring in the New Year. 

Sunday In Vermont: Snow Squalls Are Today's Hazard, But Unlike Rest Of U.S. Wet Get Break From Extreme Weather

A snow squall approaching St. Albans, Vermont in
February 2022 looked like a wall of snow
approaching. Similar scenes are possibly today
in parts of Vermont. 

 In the "It's always something" department, Vermont has one more hazardous day to get through today with the weather. 

The danger today will be out on the roads.

One cold front has come through. It's breezy and chillier, with snow showers around. Nothing wild .A second cold front is coming through Vermont today, and that looks like it has enough oomph to set off some snow squalls. 

Snow squall warnings were already in effect for parts of Pennsylvania this morning. 

There's a decent chance parts of Vermont might go under such warnings late this morning and afternoon. The snow squalls can be quite powerful. There's a low but not zero chance that some of the squalls today could create lightning and relatively rare thundersnow in parts of the Green Mountain State.

Snow squalls are dangerous because they abruptly turn visibility on the roads from just fine to zero. Road conditions also go from just fine to awful. That's a recipe for highway crashes. Some of the worst pileups on U.S. Interstate highways have been in snow squalls. 

If you're out driving today and go you hear a snow squall warning, and if you can, just find a way to get off the Interstate or busy highway and wait it out. Snow squalls rarely last longer than a half hour. Of course the roads will be iffy after the squall passes, but at least you won't be driving blind.

Or better yet, just stay home today. 

A February, 2022 snow squall in St. Albans,
Vermont cuts visibility to near zero. About 20 seconds
before this photo was taken, visibility was fine,
showing how quickly snow squalls can change things.

These squalls won't cause a huge amount of accumulation - probably a half inch to three inches at most. 

Another interesting thing going on this morning is that one of those lake effect snow bands coming off Lake Ontario is so powerful that it made it all the way into far northern Vermont and to the southeastern corner of Quebec.

Here in St. Albans, I caught the edge of it briefly and got one inch of snow. The snow band has since moved north. 

EXTREME WEATHER

That powerful snow squall from Lake Ontario I mentioned is part of a continuation of the extreme weather much of the United States s either dealing with or picking up the pieces in the aftermath.

Vermont is more in the picking up the pieces mode than bracing for extreme weather. The real bad stuff appears like it wants to give Vermont a break for awhile. 

As of 8:30 a.m. Sunday, about 3,000 homes and businesses were without power in Vermont, mostly in Rutland County.  Perhaps the most dramatic instance of damage yesterday came in Richmond, where the metal roof of a house blew off.

Neighbors swarmed the house during the day and pretty much replaced it by nightfall for the elderly woman living there, WPTZ reported. 

Video of the strong winds near Richmond, Vermont is at the bottom of this post.

Although today will be gusty, we won't have any winds strong enough to cause further damage. 

Saturday's storm was far more destructive in New Hampshire and Maine. Serious flooding hit Hampton Beach, New Hampshire for the second time in a week, and structures were destroyed by pounding waves and high tides in Maine. 

Blasts of Arctic air - belatedly the first real cold outbreak of the winter - is causing the continued extreme conditions this week. But not really here in Vermont

The frigid air is taking what the I, and the National Weather Service office in South Burlington call the "scenic route."  

Radar from the National Weather Service office
in South Burlington this morning shows a lake
effect snow band extending all the way from
Lake Ontario across northwest Vermont and 
southern Quebec.

It plunged southward into Montana and North Dakota, and kept going south and east, freezing the southern United States - or is about to.  

One cold blast has already hit, dropping temperatures into the 40s below zero in Montana and siccing a blizzard in the Midwest. 

Then that cold air heads northeastward from the Midwest towards us. This indirect route gives the Arctic air a chance to warm up a little bit. By the time it gets here, we end up being kinda cold, but not OH MY GOD awful.

This arrangement is also helping to create strong west to southwest winds off of Lakes Erie and Ontario, which is why western New York is getting slammed by those lake effect storms. 

The path of the cold air seems to want to suppress storms to our south this week. One on Tuesday will go out to sea well south of Vermont, but a separate system will give us light snow that day.

Another storm Friday could hit us, but early indications are that one, too will go out to sea.

Meanwhile, those storms will unleash cold, snow and ice on parts of the South this week. 

Back here in Vermont, the coldest weather looks like it will arrive by next weekend, and we might see our first subzero cold on the winter. A very late start to that idea.

The cold across the nation looks like it will be rather short-lived, too.  A warmup is about to start in the Rockies, and that should slowly move eastward across the U.S. reaching us here in New England in perhaps seven or eight days. 

VIDEO

Strong winds sweep through the Jonesville section of Richmond, Vermont Saturday.  The downslope winds can erode clouds near the mountain slopes where they originate. It happened during this storm, creating a rainbow amid the chaos. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Suddenly, Vermont Is Looking Almost Normal For Late January, That Will Continue Into February

Vermont Agency of Transportation web cam caught a 
lovely winter sunset late this afternoon along Interstate
89 in Milton. However, heavier snow showers were
making roads much slicker than they look here near
and in the Green Mountains this evening. 

 Vermont just got through the third in a series of quick hitting winter storms in about a week, and suddenly, this bizarrely warm winter doesn't look so warm and weird anymore. 

Oh, sure, January is still running way balmier than normal and the relatively colder conditions over the last five days of the month won't transform that. 

Snowfall has gotten much better, but is still unimpressive compared to some of the epic snow years Vermont has had in the past.

But the landscape now looks kind of the way it's supposed to in January.

The latest storm is all but over, and I'm sure the National Weather Service in South Burlington will drop winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories in Vermont pretty soon. Final accumulations seem to be in the five to eight inch range north, with a little less south. I did see a report of a foot of snow in Westfield, over in Orleans County.

There's some upslope snow showers on the western slopes of the Green Mountains as well.  As of about 4:30 p.m. there was nothing coming out of the sky near Lake Champlain, and some flurries inland a little bit where I live in St. Albans, about five miles east of the lake. 

Radar images looked like it was really dumping on the western slopes at that time. But that heavier snow shouldn't last that long this evening.  Flurries will probably last much of the night in the mountains, but won't be a big deal after, say 8 p.m. 

Do be careful on the roads, though. A sort of cold front has passed through late this afternoon. That has made temperatures drop and winds pick up. Roads are freezing back up, so you'll need to be careful as you're driving around this evening. 

Depending on where you are, some roads are still bad. Interstate 89 in Bolton looked snow covered and slippery on Vermont Agency of Transportation web cams. But the Interstate in Williston looked pretty good. Elsewhere, the webcams depicted a snow-covered Route 108 in Stowe with traffic seriously backed up. It looked like it was snowing pretty hard, with snow covered pavement along Interstate 89 in Waterbury. 

This photo captures the state of weather affairs in Vermont 
early this evening. In this view from St. Albans, 
clearing skies have appeared over Lake Champlain.
Where this photo was taken on the eastern end of
St. Albans, flurries and falling temperatures were 
making the road kind of slick. Heavier snow was
falling along the western slopes of the Green Mountains
to the east of where this photo was taken. 

Many areas of Vermont now have around a foot of snow on the ground after these three storms. The water equivalent of that snow seems to equate to about 1.5 to 2 inches with more in the mountains. isn't expected to last long. 

That is not at all impressive for late January, but it's definitely a closer to normal than it was about a week and a half ago. 

We're still behind in snowfall for this winter so far, but not ridiculously so, like it was just over a week ago. Back on January 18, Burlington was at 17.2 inches below normal for that point in the season. As of today, Burlington was just 8.8 inches below average. 

We at least stand a chance of seeing more installments of snow, although they will be small little incremental things. The best chance is on Sunday, when many of us could receive two to three inches of additional snow. Though, given the winter it's been, some computer models warm us up enough to get a mis. Let's hope not. 

Temperatures early next week look like they will actually be slightly below normal  for a change. It won't be a big deal for any of us, but highs near 20  to 25 and lows in the single numbers and teens will definitely feel like a change. 

Some computer models actually give us a sharp but brief Arctic outbreak around February 3 and 4 that could drop our temperatures way, way below zero. That's not an official forecast, because it's so far in the future a lot of things could change. 

But, it seems as if, for now anyway, it's winter in Vermont. About a month and a half late, but there you go. 

Colder Regime Takes Over, Earlier Than First Thought

Frosted over leaves on a cold, but still snow-free
Saturday morning in St. Albans, Vermont.

Several days ago, I said the weather this December would be even more unpredictable than usual, and so far it's playing out that way. 

It looks like the guess work on how the rest of the month will go will remain extra tricky, too.

Long range forecasts issued in November suggested we'd have a cold December.  Those predictions flip flopped to warm as the month opened. 

But now that we're supposed to be in the midst of a warm spell, it has abruptly turned colder. Not super cold, but chilly enough.

Friday was the first day since November 29 that was cooler than average. Not by much, but it was on the chilly side. 

It was in the low to mid teens almost statewide this morning, and many of us won't make it out of the 20s this afternoon. It will sort of on the chilly side most of the upcoming week. But again, nothing that out of the ordinary. 

Even with the new chill arriving, the march into winter remains behind schedule. Friday was the first day this season that did not get above freezing all day. I checked back over the past 40 years and found only two years - 2015 and 1998 - that had a later first fully subfreezing day. 

In case you haven't noticed, there's not much in the way of snow out there, either. At least not yet. Meteorologists are still expecting a little light snow tomorrow afternoon and night, mostly south and west of Interstate 89. But nobodyi in Vermont  will receive more than an inch or two. 

Another storm might or might not come along at the end of the week. Some forecast models give us a snowstorm. Some give us a mix. Some give us nothing at all. Go figure.

All this unpredictability in the daily weather this month is ironically because of a rather well forecasted weather pattern.

It features a huge blocking high pressure system over and near Greenland that wants to help send cold air south into the eastern United States, and possibly provide an environment for snowfalls.

Meanwhile, a warm ridge of high pressure wants to make the eastern U.S. warm. Since I last wrote about this feature on December 4 the battle continues and the uncertainty remains. 

Record warmth has bathed the south  under that warm ridge that's causing the battle of seasons further north.

As the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang reports, Mobile, Alabama (85 degrees), Macon, Georgia, (83 degrees)  and Savannah, Georgia (86 degrees) had their hottest temperatures for any December date on record.  

It's been in the 80s on six days this month in Houston already. The high temperature of 85 degrees on Tuesday. That would have been Houston's hottest December day on record, except for the fact it got up to 87 degrees just last December. 

Although we don't know whether this weather pattern will ultimately lead to storminess here in Vermont, it is leading to bad weather in swaths of the nation.

Much of the western United States is dealing this weekend with snow and wind. In the northern Plains, a winter storm watch is in effect for the first half of the upcoming week. 

Meanwhile, the Gulf Coast states are bracing for a possible tornado  and severe thunderstorm outbreak early next week

Early Winter Storms Try Men and Womens' Souls (Not Yet, Vermont)

This February, 2019 ice storm in northwestern Vermont 
was treacherous enough under foot. But the roads became
skating rinks, causing hours long traffic jams.  In the past
couple of weeks, this type of thing happened in two places
that got hit by modest winter storms. 

We've had precious little snow here in Vermont so far this winter, but the flakes will surely fly.

We skated through the first snowfall of the season back in mid-November pretty well. We had our share of car crashes, but it seemed to me it wasn't as bad as I've often seen with the initial white day of the winter. 

Depending on the timing, the consistency and intensity of a snowfall or ice any time of winter, but especially early on, things can get really horrible fast. 

I remember an example back in February, 2019 when freezing rain suddenly began falling across northwestern Vermont just as the evening rush hour began. The ice, the sliding cars, the fender benders and all that had practically all area roads at a standstill. This included Interstate 89.

What was normally a half hour trip home from work turned into a four or five hour ordeal for many. 

Like I said, we've been lucky so far this early season. And aside from some light snow in the forecast for at least parts of Vermont Sunday and Sunday night, we're still not looking at any big winter storms. 

Other cities and regions have not been so lucky this winter.  

I've got two examples that will make you shudder and be very happy it hasn't really snowed much in Vermont this season, much to the chagrin of skiers and riders.

It snows in Vancouver, British Columbia every winter, but their Pacific Coast climate usually brings them a steady diet of rain, drizzle, fog and clouds.

When it does snow, it's often a wet slush, which is especially treacherous under the wheels of vehicles. 

As December opened, Vancouver received about four inches of wet snow. Not a biggie. But in that hilly city, with the storm timed with the evening commute, it caused chaos. Some people were trapped behind backups and fender benders on highways for eight hours or more. Yuck.

If you don't see the image below, click on this link to view the mess. Or, click on the image below if you see it. After that, scroll down, as I have another example, as I love to be cruel. 

Next up, we go to Minnesota, especially around the Minneapolis metro area.  As we well know, Minnesota is a wintry, snowy state.  You can make an argument that Minnesota is even more wintry and horrible in the winter than Vermont.

But, apparently, people can't drive in the snow in Minnesota, either. During a wintry period from November 29 to December 2, MDOT logged 506 crashes.

MDOT also has an amazing array of traffic cameras, which offer hours of entertainment showing us people not exactly being competent in winter weather. 

From the very worthwhile to subscribe to Wham Slam Traffic Cam channel on YouTube, here's a great compilation of the Fails of early winter in Minnesota, in and around the Minneapolis metro area. Again, click on this link if you don't see the image below, or if you do, click on that. 

No More Snow Days? Remote Work Has Many Schools Rethinking Winter Days Off

A snowstorm in New York City. The city's school chancellor
has announced there will be no more snow days/school closures 
during winter storms. Instead, they'll switch to remote ]
learning on stormy, cold days. 

 Just a disclaimer here. You will see many mentions in this post that many of you will consider a dirty four letter word that you're not ready for.

Ready? That word is "snow."  So let's get on with it:

The awful pandemic proved that you can get away with working and learning from home via technology. 

Which is prompting some school officials to commit what some kids might consider sacrilege. No more snow days. 

New York City, for one, has announced there will be no more snow days for schools during winter storms. Instead, there will be remote learning. No matter how bad the weather.

New York is joining other towns and cities that are scrapping, or thinking about scrapping winter snow days. 

As early as late autumn, 2020, nearly 40 percent of school districts in a survey were converting snow days to remote learning days, according to, Education Week. Many other school districts were considering it, according to Education Week. 

As David C. Banks, New York's Department of Education chancellor said, "So, sorry kids - no more snow days, but it's going to be good for you!"

I'm not so sure.  

On one hand, it makes sense to change snow days to remote learning days to some extent, but it's still disappointing. It's true that kids need all the education they can get, and by law, they have to be in school for a certain number of days per year. If there's too many snow days, school extends into the summer. 

On the other hand, remote learning isn't as good as in person learning.  That's especially true for families that can't afford decent technology. Or can't obtain or can't afford decent internet access. As we learned in the pandemic, remote learning is also incredibly disruptive to parents who have to work. Do they call in sick to monitor the kids at home? What if their employer doesn't offer sick days? Then they don't get paid. 

I get it that parents also have to watch the kids and miss work if there's a snow day.  I'm not a parent, but I honestly wonder if it's easier to just let the kids play in the snow rather than monitoring them to make sure they're engaged in online earning.  Any parents want to weight in on this for me? I could use the enlightenment. 

One school district in New Jersey told Education Week that they are keeping snow days as it's tradition, a normal rite of passage for kids.  And I agree with that. Even if that means all the kids who had the day off for a snowstorm end up on the sledding hill behind the school. 

I'm in favor of snow days over remote learning. Kids, like all of us, deserve an unexpected break from the routine. Big snowstorms are a nice departure from the usual weekly blah, blah, blah anyway, so why not make winter storms a bit special?

Winter Storms In Weird Places Next Few Days, Nothing Of Note Here In Vermont

To lighten the mood during a snow and ice storm in South
Carolina Sunday, police arrest Elsa from Frozen for
bringing the winter weather. Elsa's not done yet. Another
winter storm is due in the Carolinas Friday and Saturday

We routinely go under winter storm watches this time of year here in Vermont. We just had such advisories the other day with that storm Monday. 

But nothing substantial is in our foreseeable future, but winter storms are hitting places that are not the usual targets. Like far southern Texas.  And, for the second time within a week, the Carolinas.

Texas is facing a classic "Blue Norther," in which cold air from Canada has an unfettered shot at heading south, blocked by absolutely no mountains from the northern Plains all the way down to the Rio Grande Valley. 

Moisture will try to ride up and over the shallow layer of cold air that will take up residence in South Texas Thursday night, so a winter storm watch is up for this odd place for some freezing rain and sleet.

Thankfully, this cold wave will be not nearly as intense or as long lasting as the one in Texas last February that trashed the state's electrical grid and caused hundreds of deaths.  

Next up, the Carolinas, which are still trying to recover from the big snow and ice storm that hit the two states Saturday.

The same expansive Arctic high pressure that will freeze South Texas will keep the Southeast quite chilly, too.  As the cold air comes in, a storm will try to get going off the Carolina coast. This will throw moisture back into the Carolinas to mix with the cold air.

Areas closer to the coast that did not get freezing rain and sleet Sunday will probably get it this time. Freezing rain is forecast to make it all the way to the coast, hitting cities like Wilmington, North Carolina and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. 

Central North and South Carolina, including big cities like Raleigh, should get at least a couple inches of snow and sleet.

 This part of the nation isn't really built for winter storms. A couple inches of snow and sleet for us in New England is no biggie, but for Southerners, it's game over. 

The huge Arctic high pressure that is messing things up in Texas and the Carolinas is screwing things up in Vermont, too.  In our case, it's preventing us from getting any more needed snow.

The high pressure will help squash that developing storm in the Carolinas to the south, and at this point, it looks like that storm will go much to far to the south and east to have any effect on us in Vermont. 

For us the small "Alberta Clipper" that will introduce us to that next Arctic shot is producing snow showers and gusty winds in northern Vermont this morning. Snow accumulation in most places should be an inch or less.

The brief cold blast from yesterday brought temperatures into the single numbers and teens below zero last night before temperatures started rising again. (Island Pond in the Northeast Kingdom got down to 22 below).

Temperatures might actually briefly rise above freezing in some spots this afternoon because of strong south winds. 

The storm's cold front will come through tonight with a round of snow showers to begin the cold snap.  The front looks like it might briefly slow down or stall near southern New England tomorrow morning, creating a potential commuter nightmare from Washington DC to Boston. 

For us in Vermont, just cold. 

Nor'easter Whiffs By Vermont, But Causes Trouble from Tennessee To Maine

You can track the expected path of the current winter storm
and future nor'easter by following the blues and pinks
on the National Weather Service home page from
Missouri and Arkansas to Downeast Maine.
Those colors represent winter storm warnings, 
watches and advisories. 

 The storm that will become the Friday nor'easter in eastern New England is already causing a lot of headaches today in places that have already been socked by sometimes dangerous weather lately. 

Freezing rain was falling in Memphis, Tennessee early this morning, promising yet another travel headache, this time in the mid-South.  

The entire state of Kentucky, battered by tornadoes and floods in recent weeks, is under a winter storm warning today for four to eight inches of snow.  West Virginia is under similar alerts. 

Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC, still recovering from that heavy snowstorm Monday, can expect another two to four inches of snow out of this today and tonight. Travel in Northern Virginia especially has not quite fully recovered from Monday and Tuesday's I-95 traffic disaster, so this will have to be watched.

New York City is expected to finally get its first snowfall of the winter with three to five inches there. Winter storm watches and warnings extend northward along the New England coast all the way to Downeast Maine. 

In New York and coastal New England, there are some signs that this storm could "overperform" and create a few hours of very heavy snowfall rates, like what happened Monday further south.  Worse, this heavy snow would be timed with the Friday morning commute in these areas, so there is a risk of more big traffic nightmares and strandings.

For us here in Vermont, this really is looking like a miss for us, though it will snow a little.  The outer fringes of the nor'easter combined with some weather disturbances floating around Friday should give us Vermonters one to three inches of snow, with the most in the southeastern half of the state. 

The National Weather Service in South Burlington tells us some areas up in the Green Mountains could receive up to four inches of fluff. I suppose there's still a chance the storm could jog toward the northwest a little more than currently expected. If that happens, snowfall will be a little more robust in Vermont than current forecasts. Snow lovers can dream, right?

Bottom line: Not a biggie for Vermont, but our thin snow cover will get freshened up a bit. 

After a quiet and chilly Saturday, that Arctic cold front is still expected to roar through Sunday.  Strong south winds will probably briefly push temperatures above freezing in some valleys Sunday before the Arctic air blasts in. 

We're still expecting a brutal Monday and Tuesday.  Temperatures will probably fall all day Monday amid nasty wind chills.  Monday night and Tuesday night will have us in the teens below zero (maybe near 20 below in the cold hollows and in the single numbers below zero near Lake Champlain). 

Luckily the intense cold won't last all that long and temperatures will ease up a bit by next Wednesday. 

National Weather Off The Rails Again; Record Heat, Big PAC NW Winter Storms, Fires And More.

Photo looks a bit like April in Vermont, but it was a 
springlike Frederick, Maryland on Sunday, where
temperatures were in the upper 50s under bright
blue skies. Maryland was on the edge of 
some record heat engulfing the southern U.S 

 In the grand scheme of things, the weather in Vermont this week is kind of boring.  The Christmas Day ice notwithstanding, the rest of this week will feature temperatures not incredibly far from normal, and any oncoming bits of snow or rain or mix  don't look too far off into bizarro world.  

Vermont's "boring" weather this week is a big exception to a national rule. I'm writing this from my temporary perch, for today in Frederick, Maryland.

Yesterday, Boxing Day was a gorgeous spring day here in Maryland.. Plenty of sunshine, temperatures well up into the 50s, the day after it was in the 60s. In Frederick, I saw a bush on one street here with lovely new pink blossoms, buzzing with bees.

Normally this time of year, it's barely 40 degrees during the day.

Frederick, Maryland was not even close to the most extreme weather the nation has been seeing the past few days. 

Hot, frigid, stormy, fiery, windy, snowy, icy, you name it. It's there. We have some huge contrasts going on in the nation as we close out the year 2021.

Let's start with heat, since it covers such a big chunk of the nation. 

On Christmas Eve, Wichita Falls, in northern Texas reached 91 degrees, that city's hottest December reading on record. 

Video from Live Storm Media showed strong winds causing minor structural damage and filling the air with thick dust around Amarillo, Texas. Winds there gusted to at least 56 mph on Christmas Eve.

Record highs continued in Texas on Christmas Day and yesterday. This heat was punctuated by a new round of odd winter wildfires that extended on up into eastern Colorado.  Most of Colorado should be a chilly snowscape this time of year.  At least Colorado's mountains and ski areas managed to get some snow Sunday. 

On Christmas Day, record high temperatures were spread far and wide. Records included 86 degrees in Abilene, Texas, 67 in Cincinnati, 74 in Paducah, Kentucky, and 72 in Evansville, Indiana.

In Rio Grande Village, Texas on Christmas Day, it was reportedly 96 degrees. If that reading is verified, it will be the record for the hottest Christmas Day on record anywhere in the Lower 48. 

Down in Houston, it's been in the 80s thirteen times so far this month, and each of the closing days of this month should also reach 80 degrees there. This will easily be that city's hottest December on record. Normal highs in Houston this time of year are in the low to mid 60s.

It's not just Houston. After four record December heat waves in the Midwest and South, many cities in the United States look assured of having their warmest December on record.

This is in huge contrast to the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, which are in the grips of a pretty intense - at least for them - spell of winter weather.

In a rare moment for the region. the field had to be cleared for a Seattle Seahawks Sunday to prepare for a game with the Chicago Bears. At least the Bears should have been ready for winter conditions. They did manage to squeak out a 25-24 win over the Seahawks. 

In California, snowfall in recent days measured in feet, not inches.  Many roads through the Sierra Nevada range, including Interstate 80, had to close due to the deep snow.  Donner Pass has had 119 inches of snow so far this month. The record for December there is 179 inches.  It's supposed to keep snowing there for the next couple of days, so that record could be challenged.

The Sierra snow is mostly good news, though, because until mid-month, snow cover was well below normal there. Now, it's a little above normal, which could help dent California's drought. 

Those winter storms and cold are extending as far east as Lake Superior in the northern tier of states. Blizzard warnings are up for North Dakota today.  Though temperatures are well below normal from Washington to Minnesota, there aren't that many record low temperature records being set. Not nearly as many as the heat records further south and east, anyway.

Some of this cold air in the Northwest will be on the move to the east, which could easily cause another round of dangerous weather in the South. 

The unseasonable, record heat in the South, combined with rising humidity, risks causing another outbreak of severe storms and tornadoes in the upcoming week. The cold air approaching might well be the spark that sets off those storms on Wednesday.  Another round of severe storms seems possible New Years Day before the cold air finally takes over. 

This in a December that has already broken the record for the most tornadoes for the month.

The weirdness extends up into Alaska.  At one point Sunday Tanana, in normally frigid central Alaska reported freezing rain with a temperature of 8 degrees. I don't think I've ever seen rain fall at such a low temperature.

For us Vermonters, the Green Mountain State seems to be escaping most if not all of the nation's weather drama.  Several small disturbances will zip on by this week. 

As the warm weather pattern in the South and Southeast breaks down this weekend and early next week, that might spin up a fairly substantial storm that could give Vermont a pretty good dose of snow rain or schmutz by Sunday and Monday.  

Lots Of Record Highs, Yes, But It IS December: Winter Hits, Too. Also: Tornado Threat

Vehicles in my St. Albans, Vermont driveway are dusted
with snow. You have to expect that in December. However,
this thin layer of snow will melt away in unseasonable 
warmth tomorrow. 

For the past couple of days, I've been jumping up and down and pulling  my hair out (not really)  over the remarkable warmth this December in the United States.  

But it IS December, so winter is making its intrusions no matter what. There's nothing unprecedented about the winter weather in some parts of the nation, but there are some cold season hazards in the forecast to talk about.  Even here in Vermont.

The storm that's about to create near record warmth in the southeastern quarter of the nation is also creating a stripe of pretty heavy snow to its north. 

Winter storm warnings are in effect for a long strip extending from Wyoming, through northern Nebraska and parts of South Dakota, on up through southern Minnesota, and into Wisconsin and through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Through this stripe, they're expecting six to 12 inches of snow, along with a lot of wind. So yeah, messy.

I'm still awaiting word if this system produced measurable snow in Denver. This is by far the latest in the season the Mile High City has waited for measurable snow.

Since this storm will be passing to the west of Vermont, we'll be in the warm side of the storm. Before we get there, though, the system's warm front will have to pass through. Which means we'll need to first endure a bit of wintry weather. 

Late tonight and early Saturday, this warm front will produce rain and mixed precipitation in the Green Mountain State. Forecasters don't think it will be enough to cause any particular problems in the Champlain Valley.

However, in protected valleys, especially east of the Green Mountains, a little sleet and especially freezing rain is good bet early Saturday. There won't be much - not nearly enough to cause problems with trees and power lines.

But as they say, a little dab will do ya, so the expected light freezing rain will make driving hazardous. Winter weather advisories are up for these areas.

If you expect to be on the roads Saturday morning, especially in the eastern half of Vermont, you might postpone your trip a bit until mid-morning. By then, it probably will have gotten warm enough to melt any ice.

We'll end up with a breezy, rather rainy and quite warm Saturday afternoon, as many of us get up to 50 or above. It'll stay relatively warm all next week. 

By the way, the biggest hazard from this far-reaching storm system isn't winter weather, which is dangerous enough. 

Ingredients seem to be coming together for a possible overnight tornado outbreak centered n the mid-Mississippi Valley, including the cities of Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis and Louisville.

The atmospheric dynamics seem set to trigger supercells and tornadoes well after dark tonight and continuing overnight. Some strong tornadoes are possible, says NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.

Overnight tornadoes, especially strong ones are especially dangerous. People are sleeping and not up and aware to receive tornado warnings. Which means even a well-warned tornado can still surprise people before they can take shelter in basements and closets and such. 

Let's hope that any strong tornadoes that do form overnight stay out of population centers, at least.

Now, back to winter weather. Another systems is expected to blast the Sierra Nevada mountains of California Saturday through Tuesday.  

That's actually a good thing for drought-plagued California. Snowfall in the Sierra has been pretty lackluster so far this season, so anything will help.

The same storm is expected to spread the first badly needed rains of the season into southern California early next week. 

Winter Blasts Where They're Not Supposed To Happen

All those blues and purples you see on today's National
Weather Service home page are winter storm warnings, 
watches and advisories, and wind chill warnings and
advisories. By Sunday, these winter storms will
extend all the way down to the Texas Gulf Coast. 

 If you enjoy the harsh, stormy, frigid weather we're used to in a Vermont winter, it seems the best thing to do for the next few days is go to Portland, Oregon. Or Dallas. Or Houston. 

Seems odd for sure, but those areas are getting hammered by for what they all consider some really extreme winter weather. 

The big blob of frigid Arctic air that has been sitting over south-central Canada and the northern Plains of the United States has oozed westward, allowing the usual parade of storms coming off the Pacific Ocean to take on a very wintry character. 

Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon do get snow from time to time, but this round is something, especially for areas around Portland. Some areas near Portland could get up to an inch of ice accumulation from freezing rain. That's more than enough to bring down trees and power lines. 

In the Columbia River Gorge east of Portland, blizzard conditions are expected to develop tonight. In Portland itself, a half a foot of snow could come down.

Things will get even more dramatic as these storms from the Pacific dive down toward Texas and the Gulf Coast.

Remember yesterday I mentioned the jet stream is bending, taking a deep dive from the northern Plains toward Texas. This will bring the super cold up there down to Oklahoma and Texas.  Combined with the storms, things will get downright dangerous in the Lone Star State and Oklahoma, mostly because they're not use to weather more typical of Vermont than a southern state 

In most of Oklahoma, six to 12 inches of snow is expected between now and Monday. What's especially odd is the forecast temperatures during this.  During the storm, Oklahoma City is expecting a high temperature of 12 degrees with a low of 0. 

That's wicked cold for them, and it's unusually chilly even for a snowstorm up in our neck of the woods. By Monday morning, Oklahoma City temperatures should be down around 6 below, which is record territory for them.  Another snowstorm is possible around Wednesday. 

The Dallas-Fort Worth area has endured more winter horribleness than they want. That massive highway pileup Thursday in Fort Worth involving about 130 vehicles ended up killing six people and injuring 65 others  -  a terrible tragedy. 

After some more patchy freezing drizzle through Saturday a snowstorm will begin in earnest around Dallas later in the weekend, with near blizzard conditions expected. 

Even more remarkably, the winter conditions will go all the way to Houston, where an ice storm and some snow is a good bet toward Sunday and Monday.  Temperatures there by Monday morning will be around 15 degrees, which is, again, record cold.

This will be the most intense and longest lasting cold snap around Houston in at least 30 years, so people there will need to hunker down. 

There's going to be a LOT of damage in Texas as crops freeze and water pipes burst in countless homes and businesses. Remember, winter insulation in buildings isn't a thing there like it is here in Vermont. 

As we talked about yesterday, after the jet stream takes that big plunge toward Texas, it will then curve northward up the East Coast. 

That means the cold air in Texas won't be able to work its way to the Southeastern United States. For instance, Atlanta expects high temperatures in the fairly normal 50s for most of the upcoming week. 

That developing bend in the jet stream up the East Coast still seems destined to bring us more storminess here in Vermont.  Most of the storms have been heading off the coast well south of us, so it hasn't snowed much here lately, except on February 2.

It still remains to be seen whether a storm on Tuesday will come up close enough to give us a lot of snow, but it does seem the chances are better for that than previous storms.  This Tuesday storm could still miss northern Vermont.  Not sure yet, we'll have to wait and see for updated forecasts.

That bend in the jet steam could become so sharp that it takes the next good-sized storm from the eastern Gulf of Mexico inland instead of along the coast. If that happens, we in Vermont might end up with a bunch of ugly mixed precipitation or even some plain rain at the end of next week. There's still a roughly equal possibility that late week storm could stay all snow.  Again, we have to wait for updated forecasts. 

Cold, Ice, Snow Grind On For U.S.; Vermont Cold, Could Still Turn Snowy

A huge 75 car pileup near Fort Worth Texas this morning is
yet another result of the winter storms causing problems
pretty much coast to coast. 

The devilishly cold, icy, snowy weather across the nation is grinding on, with no stop to the rough weather for the next several days. 

This isn't necessarily the most intense winter weather the nation has ever seen. What's making it notable is how long it's lasting.  This is no quick shot for many places. 

There are sure signs things will start to ease in the coldest places next week, but the storminess seems set to continue.

It's hard to keep track of each storm, there's so many, but here goes.

The first one is still bringing ice and snow in a stripe through the Tennessee Valley on up to the Mid-Atlantic States.  There's a wide swath of traffic accidents, and in some cases downed trees and power lines from Texas to Tennessee and Kentucky. (There was one particularly nasty 75-vehicle pileup on an icy highway near Fort Worth, Texas this morning, for instance).

This icy storm will zip out to sea well south of us later today and tonight, with no effects on us here in Vermont. 

The jet stream, which guides storms across the Unites States (and all over the world for that matter) is fairly flat in the eastern half of the United States. So the cold air comes down from Canada and then heads east. That makes us cold here in Vermont, but at least the air is modifying as it comes in. 

We end up with wind chill advisories, a few nights between now and Monday below zero, and daytimes that won't get much warmer than the low teens until Sunday, when we start to flirt with 20 degrees. The weather for the next several days will otherwise be pretty quiet in northern New England for the next few days.

Meanwhile, storms keep coming in off the Pacific Ocean, causing episodes of rain and snow there, and through the Rockies. These storms eventually head east, and over the past week or so have been zipping out to sea south of New England, so we in Vermont only get little bouts of light snow, nothing special. 

That jet stream, which has been pretty much west to east once it gets past the middle of the nation, shows signs of changing.  

It will start to aim southward toward Texas and the Gulf Coast, giving those areas a better chance of snow and ice over the weekend and early next week. 

That jet stream will then start to gradually bend more and more toward the northeast, eventually aiming from near the Gulf Coast to near us.  

If this change really does happen,  we become more prone to storminess here in Vermont. The storms would have a better chance of coming closer to us, and will have more moisture with them, having scooped up water from the Gulf of Mexico.  

The beginning of this shift in the jet stream will begin late this weekend, but will come too late for the next storm on Sunday. That one will bring a bunch of freezing rain, sleet and some snow and to much of the East Coast from probably New Jersey south to parts of the Carolinas.

This storm, like a few of the recent ones, will also  go out to sea too far south to give us anything.  (Some earlier forecasts had this storm coming further north and giving us more snow, but it turns out that's not happening).

Instead, a weaker system will probably dust us with an inch or two of snow Saturday night and Sunday. No biggie. 

Getting into the longer range gets iffy. The trend is for the next storm to be able to make it further north as the jet stream in the East keeps developing more of its south to north orientation. If that happens, we could get a larger snowstorm Tuesday. No promises, as the computer models are still all over the place with this one. Some forecast give us a bunch of snow others take it out to sea for another whiff. 

Yet another storm seems like it might follow on its heels later next week, but who knows what that will do. Just count on an active weather pattern for the next couple weeks. There will be a constant spray of storms coming across the nation. Lots of places will continue to get snow and ice through the end of the month.

Even as the cold eases somewhat, people from coast to coast will surely be battling snow and ice for the rest of the month. 

How many of these storms actually hit us in Vermont later in the month, and precisely how they hit us remains an open question. 

Destructive Ice Storm In Kentucky, Arkansas As Arctic Blast Continues

Aftermath of freezing rain in Alburgh in January, 2020.
Similar scenes or worse are likely across much of 
Kentucky and surrounding areas in the next couple days 

 Back in 1970, Elvis Presley sang about the "cold Kentucky rain," but he surely didn't have to deal with what that state is facing now. 

Kentucky, along with adjacent parts of Arkansas, southeastern Missouri and northwestern Tennessee, is in the grips of a destructive ice storm.

Freezing rain is falling in those areas, and since this storm is lasting a long time, the ice is piling up and will continue to do so.  

There's going to be a lot of tree and power line damage.  Power failures will likely last days in a few spots. This, as frigid air pours into that region.  I don't envy them at all.

Of all the places in the United States suffering from the current siege of winter weather, I would nominate Kentucky as seeing the worst of it. 

After the waves of freezing rain and sleet finally end for a time by Friday, temperatures will stay mostly  below freezing in Kentucky and surrounding areas through early next week, which is unusual for them.

Two more storms, one on Sunday and the other Tuesday, promise to bring more freezing rain and snow to the same areas. It's going to be a long lasting mess there, for sure. 

Obviously, Kentucky and environs won't be the only places dealing with winter weather. 

Winter storm warnings and advisories extend from Texas to the Mid-Atlantic states as that battle line between the Arctic air to the north and warmer stuff to the south continues to dump mixed precipitation and snow along that broad line. 

Deep cold will continue over the northern and central Plains, parts of the Midwest and around the Great Lakes for several more days.  If anything, it will get worse as we head into the weekend in places like Minnesota and North Dakota.  Some areas will get into the 40s below zero. 

For perspective, this won't be a historic cold wave by any means. There have certainly been much worse ones in the United States. But this winter was mild until a week or two ago. For the Lower 48, January, 2021 was tied for the ninth warmest on record, and all of the past ten Januaries have been at least a little warmer than average. So Americans are no longer used to winter weather like this. 

The Arctic high pressure centered in the northern Plains is suppressing the storminess south, which is why places like Kentucky are having so much trouble with ice and snow. 

As we get into the weekend, the cold will force its way southward toward Texas, which would help curve the jet stream somewhat more in a southwest to northeast direction along the East Coast. 

This could help storms move further north Sunday and again on Tuesday.  Freezing rain and snow by Sunday could get all the way up into New Jersey and the New York City area, so they have to deal with more winter weather. 

 A couple inches of additional fluff overnight in St. Albans, 
Vermont. Will storms come far enough north early next
week to bring more snow to Vermont? Nobody is sure. 

For us here in Vermont, the forecasting computer models are still all over the place for Sunday onward. 

There's a chance we could get some accumulating snow Sunday and Tuesday, but there's also a possibility all that weather could pass by to our south and east.  So who knows?

Here in northwestern Vermont, we did receive another inch or two of fluff last night. With light winds, and sticking to every tree branch for now and looks beautiful.  

It's not exactly super warm out there, and temperatures are still forecast to go below zero at night later this week and the weekend. If you want to go out and enjoy the snow, you'll want to dress for it