Too Much Ice! So Far, Not A Great Year For Vermont Powder Enthusiasts

Pretty much in all of Vermont, the snow is crunchy, icy and gross, not the kind of powder you want to play in.

The icy mess that is my driveway, St. Albans, Vermont.
Maybe an upcoming thaw will melt it,
and we can start over with some nice powdery snow?  

And in many areas, the snow cover is thin. Up in the mountains, a lot of it has melted during rain storms that have interrupted the sometimes deep chill the state has experienced so far this winter.

Plus, here we go again.

We're coming out of another cold snap and a storm is coming. Once again, it will be rain, not snow.

We could get quite a bit of rain out of this one, too.  

Saturday and Saturday night, expect anywhere from a half inch to an inch of rain as another January thaw establishes itself.

Watch out for some lowland and street flooding out of this. The warm weather and rain could cause ice jams in rivers. Plus the snow is rock hard, and the ground is frozen  too.  So any rain that falls will run off. 

I'm not sure if this next thaw will melt a lot of the ice underfoot, but I hope it does. I like snow on the ground in the winter, but this ice has to go. 

I feel like a hostage because I can't just go out and walk around my yard and driveway without slipping on the ice, risking life and limb.

Ice injuries have really been a problem in Vermont this winter because of all the ice. According to Vermont Public Radio, emergency rooms in hospitals across the state have been dealing with a huge rush of ice-related injuries.

I have to walk on this ice in my St. Albans yard and driveway
because of all the ice storms and rain we've had so
far this winter.  

At Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, Vermont's largest hospital, Chief Medical Officer Stephen Leffler told VPR:

"We have seen an outrageous number of people with fractures. I would say way more than usual....Because basically there's been three weeks of persistent ice. 

Leffler told VPR some injuries have been worse than simple arm or leg fractures: "We have seen some concussions and some more serious head injuries."

Maybe this next thaw will allow us to start anew, with a better brand of winter. This is probably too much to ask for, but maybe the gross and dangerous ice that's out there will largely melt with this next thaw, and we an pretty much go down to bare ground

Inevitably,  next week,  it will turn colder again. Then perhaps we can reset the weather pattern, so that we get nice snowstorms and reasonable temperatures in the 20s for the rest of the winter, rather than this deep freeze/ice storm rainy cycle we've been on so far this winter.

There's no science to my wish, of course. But a man can dream for a decent, and not disgusting Vermont winter, can't he?