Cold Snaps Seeming To Last Longer In Vermont This Winter

We've had a lot of easy winters in Vermont and surrounding areas of the North Country over the past decade or two.

In this web cam grab from the University of Vermont
this morning, steam caused by Lake Champlain
water hitting bitter cold air has produced a bit
of lake effect snow band out in the lake.  

Cold waves would usually last only a day or two, then go away.

This winter, they're lingering. It's not a particularly cold winter so far, though it is colder than most winters we've seen in the past 10 years.

This year, the sharpest cold snaps seem to be lingering longer than usual.

In early January, the temperature dropped to under 10 below for three days in a row in Burlington, and we had the longest spell of continuously below zero weather since at least 2005.

As you've noticed, it's wicked cold this morning, dropping as low as 36 below in Rensselaer Falls, N.Y. and 32 below in East Enosburg, Vermont. Most communities in the North Country were in the teens and 20s below, according to a listing from the National Weather Service office in South Burlington, Vermont

We're used to weather patterns in which after a cold morning like this, it warms up and we don't get that cold again until days or weeks later. Not this time.

It looks like tonight, and the night after are going to be at least as cold as this morning was.  This cold snap is hanging around for awhile. The weather pattern bringing is persistent.

More persistant than you'd think.  After a very brief break Saturday, when temperatures might briefly climb to the near normal 20s above zero, it's back below zero for most of next week. I wouldn't be surprised if next week is as cold or even colder than this week.

It's depressing, I know. This time of year, it seems like it's always been winter, and always will be. The intense cold doesn't improve that negative mood.

Who knows what February will bring? There are signs that somewhere in the first week of February, the weather will change a tiny bit. Hard to say, but as it looks now, it looks like February will start out colder than normal, but not quite as cold as these teens, 20s and 30s below we're enduring now.

Let's hope for that milder trend. We'll certainly deserve it by then.