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| More than five inches of very wet, heavy snow weighs down these small pine trees in my St. Albans, Vermont yard this morning. At least my power is still on. |
And in some cases, roads were entirely blocked by fallen trees and wires. The situation continues this morning, and another slug of snow and mixed precipitation this afternoon and evening is going to add to the problems.
Yesterday, the focus was on southern New England, where up to three inches of rain, winds of up to 60 mph and coastal surges were the problem.
Overnight, Vermont seems to have been the hardest hit, as a band of heavier, very wet snow lifted north through Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and northern New York. The deepest, wettest snow seems to have hit Vermont.
Most areas of Vermont had five to ten inches of heavy, wet snow overnight. The most I've seen reported so far is 14 inches in Killington, 13 inches in Mt. Holly, just under a foot near Greensboro in the north and Wilmington in the far south, and 10 inches near Waterbury.
As of 7 a.m. this morning, at least 20,000 homes and businesses across Vermont had no electricity, according to Vermont Outage Map. That's a little better than the 25,000 that were out last night.
Vermont's largest utility, Green Mountain Power, said crews are working hard (Trust me, they are!) but it could take until at least Thursday to get everybody on the juice.
In some cases, roads in Vermont and the Adirondacks of New York are blocked by fallen trees and wires. I noticed earlier this morning in Vermont, crews can't plow part of Route 17 between Huntington and Bristol, Vermont because fallen trees were in the way. The road, naturally was closed.
There's a lull in the precipitation across the North Country this morning. Just a fair amount of wind (not good for the ice-laden power lines) some spotty freezing drizzle, sleet and grainy snow.
The bad news is another slug of precipitation is going to move southeast to northwest across northern New England today. It'll be rain in much of southern Maine and New Hampshire.
But western and northern New Hampshire, and especially Vermont and northern New York, are in for it again.
By the time it gets to the interior and especially in Vermont and the Adirondacks of New York, the slug of precipitation later today and tonight will come in the form of sleet, rain, freezing rain and especially from the Green Mountains west, wet snow.
The precipitation won't be as heavy as last night's but with the trees sagging under the weight of snow and ice and power companies struggle to make fixes, this won't help at all.
Winter storm warnings in northern and central New York, and the Adirondacks, have been extended to 11 p.m tonight. Many areas in Vermont and northern New York are in for another 2 to 7 inches of wet snow later today and tonight.
Winter storm warnings also continue for central New York State, where another 4 to 8 inches of snow could fall.
As for this morning's commute be WICKED careful. It might not be snowing or icing too hard, but it's enough to keep roads slick. Also ice and wet snow really compacts on roads, and it's next to impossible for road crews to quickly get it off the highways.
Plus, in some areas, you might still find yourself dodging fallen trees, branches and power lines during the morning commute. Just drive slowly and carefully, or stay home.
A lot of the kids are. Many, many schools are closed in Vermont, northwestern New Hampshire and northern New York.
Speaking of clearing the snow: I mentioned it sort of has the consistency of wet cement, and there's a lot of it.
Shoveling this type of snow is a GREAT way to give yourself a heart attack, so maybe you can hire one of those teenagers who aren't going to school today to shovel your driveway.
The storm will linger into the weekend, as we've noted before, but it will only produce light precipitation Thursday through Saturday.
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