It's Now Time For Vermont's Western Slopes, Ski Areas To Get The Big Snow

Web cam shot taken shortly after 8 a.m. this morning shows
snow redeveloping and falling in the Nashville section of
Jericho, Vermont, along the western slopes of the Green
Mountains. The western slopes and the northern Green
Mountain peaks will get the most additional accumulation today.

As forecasted yesterday, the last phase of our North Country mid-December snowfall is shifting its focus to Vermont's Green Mountains and the western slopes of those mountains.

It took just awhile for that situation to develop. We did know there would be a late night lull in the snow regionwide, and that has happened. It actually stopped snow in the Champlain Valley.

Now, as of 8 a.m. Wednesday the west and northwest gusts have redeveloped, and the snow has reblossomed, especially along those western slopes. As expected, that snow has backed westward into the Champlain Valley, so it's snowing in places like Burlington and St. Albans again.

Expect this to continue through most of the morning, before the falling snow gradually retreats to end up just on the western slopes and the summits.

There might be a couple more inches of snow in the Champlain Valley this morning, and several more inches in the Green Mountains. I still think places like the top of Mount Mansfield and Jay Peak will end up with a storm total of 18 inches or so.

Only light snows will hit the southern Green Mountains, but they had their turn yesterday, especially on the eastern slopes and the summits down there.  There were some fairly impressive totals in the central and southern Greens. 

Some examples include 14 inches in Andover, 13 inches in Wallingford, and 12 inches in West Bridgewater and Hancock. I'm sure we'll see some updates with sizeable storm totals over northern Vermont before the day is out.

Pretty heavy snows will continue in much of the northern third of New Hampshire and northwestern Maine today, too. Heavy lake effect snow bands are also cranking in western New York and other areas near the Great Lakes, too.

It's much colder than it was yesterday region wide, and it's not going to get any warmer. Expect temperatures in the teens to around 20 today with nasty wind chills. That state of affairs will continue through Thursday, but by Thursday there will only be flurries at most in most areas.

Bottom line: In case you haven't noticed already, the roads across much of Vermont and surrounding areas are still slick. That will continue to be a problem during the late afternoon commute, especially near and just west of the Green Mountains.

Small disturbances will cause bouts of light precipitation from this weekend onward into next week, but it is still hard to tease out exactly when and how much snow or something else will come down. It will turn warmer again at the start of next week, with high temperatures in the valleys even getting above freezing during the afternoons.

At least that warming trend will make the snow great for snowball fights.