Watch Those Snow Squalls Today! And Then Bundle Up

Don't be these people. A snow squall caused this pileup in
Pennsylvania last year. One person died and
several were injured. If snow squalls threaten,
be very careful on the highways, or better
yet postpone travel until after thd squall passes.

Some of what you're reading here today is similar what you saw yesterday, but it bears repeating: Watch out for those snow squalls today!   

I get nervous when snow squalls are coming in, especially on a busy travel day like this, the day before Thanksgiving. They are a recipe for highway pileups.

As I've said before, when a snow squall arrives things instantly on the highway go from dry and clear to no visibility in blinding snow and suddenly icy roads.

All those cars and trucks screaming down the highway at top speed tend to smash into each other when then encounter snow squalls and the result is those big awful and often tragic multi-vehicle pileups you often read about in the winter.

The National Weather Service in South Burlington already has a special weather statement out alerting us to the possibilit of snow squalls today. Some lighter snow showers had already worked into northern New York and far northwestern Vermont by 7:30 a.m. this morning.

The NWS office will likely issue snow squall warnings for specific areas during the course of today. If you hear such a warning for your area, try to delay travel until the squall passes. You don't want to be caught out in those things.

If you're already on the road, do what I plan to do. If you see a squall coming at you or you get a warning, pull off the highway into a safe place. Much like summer thunderstorms, snow squalls are intense, but almost never last long. Let it blow over, then carefully get back on the roads.

Those roads will be icy, but at least visibility will have improved once the squall passes. And what I call the Salt Shakers, those state highway trucks, usually appear right after squalls to plow and put down grit to make the roads safer.

Just as in summer thunderstorms, not everyone will get a snow squall today. But they will be numerous enough to be a concern.  Since squalls don't last long, most places will only get one to three inches of snow today.

Generally speaking, the snow squalls today are most likely late this morning across northern New York and from noon to perhaps 4 p.m or a little after in Vermont. The rest of New England can expect scattered snow squalls into this evening.

As today's National Weather Service snow accumulation forecast
map shows, most of us will only get 1-3 inches of snow today,
but most of that will come down in short, very heavy
bursts during snow squalls. 

Still, that continues the trend of this year's "Snovember." While not breaking any records to speak of, it's been much snowier than average.

Burlington, Vermont, for one example, has had 10.6 inches of snow so far this month. That puts us. 8.2 inches above normal for the month and 7.9 inches higher than average for so far in this young winter season. We're off to a good start in the snow department.

We're still expecting that intense, near record cold to come in tonight and Thanksgiving Day behind those snow squalls. As a reminder, Burlington's coldest Thankgiving had a high temperature of 19 degrees.

The current forecast has temperatures in Burlington fallling to around 16 degrees by midnight tonight and staying at or under that level until at least noon on Friday, so we have an excellent shot of experiencing our most frigid Thankgiving. Oh joy!

It's going to be pretty breezy tonight and tomorrow, too, so wind chills will be painful - certainly below zero. If you're brave enough to participate in one of those "Turkey Trots" the famous five or 10K local running races we have scattered about, either bundle up or blow it off. It's a bit dangerous

It's still looking somewhat warmer, but wetter going into the weekend and into the first part of next week. It'll be warm enough so that much of the precipitation will come down as rain in Vermont's valleys. At least that's the way it looks now. Stay tuned!