Snowstorm Pretty Much Over, But Winter's Not

Skies began to clear across New York State and Vermont this afternoon as the epic big snowstorm moved on off to the Northeast. Some breaks of sun were poking through in New Hampshire and Maine, too.  

Here's a map of what the National Weather Service
in South Burlington, Vermont predicted before the
storm. Red is the deepest snow. Click on
the map to make it bigger and easier to see.  

The National Weather Service in South Burlington did an awesome job forecasting this storm.

They'd said 18-24 inches would accumulate in the Adirondacks, central Vermont and on into northern New Hampshire and that's precisely what happened.

Slightly lesser amounts would fall to the north and south of that band, the National Weather Service had predicted, and they were on the money.

Although final, final totals weren't in by 4 p.m., the most snow I've seen so far in Vermont out of this is 29 inches at Jay Peak and 26 inches at Sharon.

In Burlington, Vermont, 18.6 inches fell as of late morning, which would make this the 5th largest March snowstorm and 12th biggest snowstorm overall. A bit of snow might have fallen after that report, which could move the storm up in the rankings a bit.

The storm is over, but winter is not.

With a fresh, deep snowpack, temperatures, which were already running a good 20 degrees below normal Thursday afternoon, will crash tonight. Most of northern New England will be below zero, with a few "warm" spots just above zero.

Winds were diminishing late Thursday afternoon, so the threat of blowing and drifting snow is gradually subsiding.

But we aren't done with that, yet. Friday, winds will grow strong from the south, especially in the Champlain Valley. With Friday's winds coming from the opposite direction as they did during the storm, the snow will be able to rearrange itself again, blowing out onto roads.

Here's a map of snow totals from the storm, based on
reports to the National Weather Service in South
Burlington, Vermont. This actual map
is very similar to the prediction map, above.
Click on this map, too to make it bigger
and easier to read.  

So, you'll be blasting down the road at the speed limit or more, then encounter a big snow drift in the middle of the road. And there you go. Another crash or slide off waiting to happen.

Also, since roads and driveways are essentially canyons flanked by tall snowbanks now, deep drifts could appear on wind exposed roadways on Friday.

It'lll turn warm-ish Friday night and Saturday, with temperatures remaining near 32 degrees Friday night and briefly spiking to the upper 30s Saturday morning.

But then we get another cold front. Temperatures will fall slowly Saturday afternoon, and we're in for another dusting to three inches of snow. (The three inches being in the high elevations.)

Then it's back to midwinter, January style cold Sunday through Tuesday as our never ending winter shows few signs of well, ending.