Storm Relatively Minor In Vermont, Bitter Chill Is Pretty Major

As of 7 a.m. this Thursday morning, the storm that's expected to pound parts of the Northeast was just cranking up, and will be a wild one by tonight.

Expect bitter cold through Saturday morning in
Vermont. Many places won't get above zero
until Saturday afternoon.  

Meanwhile, here in Vermont, it's terribly cold, with readings between five and 12 below zero.

Since it's cloudy and getting ready to snow, or already snowing a bit in some areas, the dampness deepens the chill.

The wind is going to pick up, too, and continue into Friday. Wind chill advisories are up as it's going to often feel like 30 below out there.

Temperatures in Burlington, Vermont went below zero last evening and aren't forecast to rise above zero until probably late morning Saturday. If this works out as forecast, Burlington will have spent the most consecutive hours below zero in years.

So called high temperatures today and Friday will be somewhere near 5 below zero.

This is quite a cold snap.

I'm harping on the cold because unlike in most areas of the Northeast, the northern reaches of Vermont, New Hampshire and New York won't be as affected by the nor'easter as other places. Sure, it will snow, the roads will get slick and road salt will be worthless since it's too cold for it to work.

But in the northern halves of these states, snowfall will only accumulate to between 1 and 6 inches, the least being in the St. Lawrence Valley and the most in central Vermont and New Hampshire.

In the southern halfs of Vermont and New Hampshire, a winter storm warning is up for six to 10 inches of snow, maybe even a little more, by Friday.

Southern New England is going to get a pounding, with heavy snow of more than a foot, strong winds, whiteouts, and coastal flooding. Some areas, particularly near Cape Cod, are under a blizzard warning.

Up here in Vermont and adjacent areas, the snow will taper off Friday, and the deep cold will continue Friday night with quite a few areas getting to near 20 below

Saturday will be "warmer" if you can call it that, with late afternoon temperatures in the teens.

Then, this winter's seesaw weather continues. Another storm is coming, this time with warmer temperatures. It looks as if snow will start Sunday, turn into mixed precipitation Sunday night, and even to plain rain for a time Monday. (This could change, but that's how it looks now)

Then it's back into the icy deep freeze next week.