Post-Storm Vermont: Getting Colder, Unfortunately As We Head Toward Winter

Looking pretty barren in my yard now where that nice willow tree
fell over and smooshed Jeff's Jeep on Friday. 

I'm sure you felt a chill in the air yesterday as you picked up the mess left by the massive Halloween storm in Vermont and surrounding areas.

It's only going to get worse.

Part of that is, of course, just the natural trend toward colder and colder weather as we make our way through November.

Another part is a change in the weather pattern that will bring chillier and chillier shots of polar air into the Northeast in the coming week.

The weather today through Wednesday actually won't be all that bad for November. With highs in the 40s to around 50 most days and lows in the 20s and 30s, that's pretty close to normal. It's just a shock to the system after a mild (albeit sopping wet) October.

Of course this moderate chill isn't great for people who still have no power, or whose houses were badly damaged in the storm. More than 8,000 homes and business in Vermont still had no electricity Sunday morning, according to Vermont Outage Map, but crews are making pretty quick progress with power restoration.

The power at my house is back on, but the furnace has to be reset before we can turn it on. So it was a little chilly in the house when I got up this morning. We will have a guy over by the middle of the week to fix it, as things look now.

That's a damn good thing, considering the weather will take a much harsher turn toward cold from Thursday onward. A strong cold front will come through, and by the weekend, high temperatures for most of us will be in the wintry low 30s with lows in the teens.

RIP willow tree in my yard. This is what it looked like
before Friday's storm 

The cold front on Thursday will likely bring the first snows of the season to Vermont's valleys, but at this point, it doesn't look like there will be much accumulation. But for those of us who can't yet get an  appointment to install snow tires, even a little snow on the road is bad news.

Social media, at least in weather geek circles, is rife with speculation about a larger snowstorm around Friday.  It's true that some computer models are envisioning a quick hitting storm with several inches of snow, others aren't.  

To be honest, it's way to soon to be guessing about the weather on Friday and Saturday. We know it will be cold then, but I would wait until at least Wednesday to take any forecasts of a Friday snowstorm seriously.

The weather pattern does seem to favor wintry cold shots into the Northeast through mid-month, however.  Like last year, it looks like winter will start before we get a chance to finish our autumn chores.

Plus the mess many of us have to clean up from last Thursday and Friday's storm doesn't help. But of course we just have to deal with it, right?