Day 2 Of Messy Vermont Weather Weekend, But It's Much Worse Elsewhere In The East

Tonks and Jackson seemed a bit stunned by the growing
height of the snowbanks this morning at our house in
St. Albans, Vermont. We got another four inches yesterday
and last night near the Canaian border 

Just got back in from shoveling snow (again!) outside my house in St. Albans, Vermont. And I have to go back out later to shovel the deck where the heavy snow slid off the roof yesterday during a very brief period of above freezing temperatures.

Saturday, most of the accumulating snow was near the Canadian border. If I were channeling Tina Fey channeling Sarah Palin, I'd tell you I can see Canada from my house. I can!

As far as I can tell, my house in St. Albans was tied with Sutton, Vermont for the most snow reported yesterday and last night - 4.1 inches.

The snow tapered of rapidly as you headed south. Burlington clocked in with just 1.5 inches of new powder.

By the way, some of the mid and high elevations of northern Vermont are starting to get deep in the fluff. A few places up north have a respectable 25 to 33 inches of snow on the ground as of Sunday morning. 

There's more stuff coming today, too. It just won't be heavy at all. But it will be a mix of yuck.

In all but the southern third of Vermont, there was almost no precipitation falling. It is just murky this morning with lots of clouds, fog and haze. We're between weather systems, one to the northwest, and one to the south.

The one to the south is very, very, very wet, but the good news for us here in Vermont is that most of that wetness will stay to our south. Though far southern Vermont is getting into some of it, but not the worst.

Flood watches and warnings are up for a broad area from the Florida panhandle all the way up the Appalachians to southeastern New England. In this band, it's warm enough for rain and there's a lot of it. Most places in the flood alert zone will get one to three inches of rain out of this, locally up to five inches.

As I said, Vermont is between the two weather systems. The one to our northwest has a cold front approaching us. This will help draw up a little of that moisture down to the south. Not much of it, but some.

That's already happened in far southern Vermont, where freezing rain and snow has been reported. As of 10 a.m, it had already changed to plain rain in southeastern Vermont. As the moisture works north, you'll see scattered periods of snow, sleet, freezing rain or rain just about anywhere as the day wears on.

Here's why forecasters are thinking light mixed precipitation today:

A wavering weather front attached to all this sank south last night, explaining why it got below freezing all the way to southern Vermont, and the fact there was a modest snowfall to the north.

Along with the modest moisture being forced north today, the warm air will ride along. As it does so, different layers of the atmosphere will warm at different paces. That sets the stage for all the mix. The freezing rain and sleet will come because higher levels of the atmosphere will warm faster than the surface.

It could eventually get above freezing later today for a short while as far north as the Canadian border. I think the only place not much at risk for any kind of brief thaw is New York's St. Lawrence Valley and maybe the high elevations of Vermont, and perhaps the Northeast Kingdom.

That cold front attached to the storm to our northwest will come through tonight, shutting off the precipitation and cooling us off.

During the upcoming week, by the way, expect some pretty easy winter weather in Vermont. The temperature will of course go up and down. Seasonably chilly Monday into Tuesday, then going into afternoon thaws Wednesday and Thursday, followed by more seasonable chill at the end of the week.

And there will be no big storms. Just little stuff from time to time.