Saturday Evening Update: A Truly Winter, Not Spring Snowfall In Vermont

Traffic makes its way slowly along Riverside Avenue in Burlington,
Vermont amid a good dose of a very cold snow and sleet mix
late this Saturday afternoon. 

I am stunned by how cold it has gotten, especially in the northern half of Vermont as the next wave of wintry precipitation entered the region.

I knew the cold would be intense for this time of year, but it's even worse than I imagined, and worse than many forecasts indicated.

During the mid-afternoon, temperatures across northern Vermont were in the mid to upper 20s, pretty typical for that time of day in January. This time of year, it should be in the low 50s.

Temperatures dropped further this evening. At 6 p.m. it was just 24 degrees in Burlington. It was down to 19 degrees at Newport, Vermont and Saranac Lake, New York. Highgate, Vermont was just 22 degrees.

These are near record lows. Record lows should happen around dawn, not late afternoon. Just incredible!

By the way, the temperature contrast across the Northeast is almost unprecedented, too. At 6 p.m., while the temperature hovered around 20 degrees in far northern Vermont, it was in the low 80s in central New Jersey.

The result of the intense cold over northern Vermont has been a storm that feels like the first major Green Mountain State winter storm of the season in early to mid-December, not some oddball   snowfall in April.

Driving home on icy roads from Burlington, this evening, the relatively dry snow and some sleet, covered the landscape with about an inch of snow as of 6 p.m. Dead grass poked up through the snow, since it's been too cold for springtime stuff to grow. Bare trees and lousy visibility completed the look.

A photo of this looks exactly like that opening salvo of winter. Almost all other times, if we do get an April snowstorm, it's wet and heavy, and looks pretty temporary. This evening's snow and sleet has the feel that it will last on the ground for months, though I assure you it will melt soon.

Roads were terrible across northern Vermont late this afternoon. They got that way a few hours before anybody expected, since temperatures had been forecast to be a few degrees warmer.

A midwinter scene on Interstate 89 in Georgia, Vermonty late
Saturday afternoon. Too bad the photo was taken on April 14,
not the middle of winter. 

The snow and sleet will focus itself mainly along and north of Route 2, especially during the first part of the night.

Precipitation will sink south, as will the cold air overnight, so southern Vermont is in for freezing rain, sleet and maybe some snow.

This should continue into early Sunday morning. Northern Vermont is still expected to get three to five inches of snow and sleet, with the most being up near St. Albans, and up by Jay Peak, and far northern New York.

There will be little ice accumulation across the far north, but up to a quarter inch of in central and southern Vermont.

The snow and sleet is a major bummer for April across northern Vermont, far northern New York and New Hampshire, of course. But much heavier freezing rain is and will fall further west toward Buffalo, New York and Toronto, Canada.

There, we'll see lots of damage to trees and power lines. The northern Vermont precipitation isn't really sticking to trees and wires much, so at least through tonight, don't expect a ton of trouble with electric power. DO expect lots of trouble with icy roads.

The precipitation will become spottier for a time on Sunday, and transition away from snow and be more of a freezing rain, freezing drizzle, light sleet scenario.

There will be more trouble with freezing rain in some areas Sunday night, followed by steadier, heavier rain into Monday, possible flooding and likely wind damage along the western slopes of the Green Mountains.

Much more on that tomorrow morning.