Trying To Find The Bright Side Of This Dark Arctic Blast

You're probably sick of cold weather and cold weather pics
so here's a taste of what's to come in a few months. 

Temperatures are plunging today through the Northeast as expected, and it's time to bundle up and hunker down.

A lot of people don't like this bitter weather, so I'm trying to find the bright side to all this.

Here's a few: The high temperature was warmer than expected in Vermont today. The bad news is the "warmth" hit in the early morning hours, before you got up. It'll keep getting colder and colder all day today.

But if you were up the Champlain Valley of Vermont basked in temperatures that reached the upper teens just after midnight.  Of course as of 3 p.m. this afternoon, the temperature was below zero in most of Vermont and the northern half of New York. And Quebec. And the rest of northern New England. . The temperature will keep falling the rest of the day and tonight.  But, teens early this morning! Warm, right?

Um, no, forget it.

Another bright spot: It's mid-February. This will very likely be the worst cold wave until next winter. There will be other cold snaps this winter, of course, but this will probably be the iciest one. The sun is getting stronger and stronger as we move toward spring, so that will soon be taking some of the bit out of winter chill.

I don't see any signs of new cold waves as bad as this one anytime soon.

This cold wave is brief, too. Remember last February? Back then, the cold was pretty much endless. Day after day of subzero weather in New England. Many places had their coldest February on record, or close to it.

Another taste of what's to come after we get
through winter cold snaps in Vermont.  

Not this year. This cold snap will be over by Monday afternoon. In fact, in much of the Northeast, including most of New England. Chances are it will be above freezing by Tuesday afternoon.

Of course, there will be a pretty strong storm coming through then, which means we might be in for such problems as heavy, wet snow, freezing rain, or a cold rain to ruin the ski slopes.

Stay tuned on that one. But you have to take the good with the bad, I guess.

This cold wave will improve ice fishing. Up until two days ago, from my house I could see open water on St. Albans Bay in northern Lake Champlain. I don't know the last time there was open water in mid-February in the bay, but it had to be a long time ago.

It's nice and frozen now.

Also, this isn't the worst cold wave we've ever had. Here in Vermont, low temperatures tonight will be in the teens and 20s below zero, with wind chills in the minus 30s and 40s.

That's awful. But not as bad as it can get. In Burlington, it's gotten as low as minus 30, without the wind chill, in January, 1957 and February, 1979. It won't get that cold this time. The all time record low for the state of Vermont is 50 below again not including the wind chill. It certainly won't be that cold this time.

So, bundle up and enjoy the cold ride, if you must. And one more bonus: During this cold wave, the sun will be out, at least part of the time during the day Saturday and Sunday