Monday Morning Storm Update: Forecast Accurate So Far!

Additional snow forecast for today from the National Weather
Service. No big deal, except in far southern Vermont, where
another six inches or more could come down. 

Kudos to the National Weather Service and other meteorologists for so far very accurately predicting this huge winter storm affecting the Northeast.

If you're in far northern Vermont like me, you're asking, "What huge winter storm?"

Exactly.

As expected, the initial period of snow with a warm front from the parent low pressure system to the west faded as it moved northward through Vermont last night.  You could see the radar returns petering out last evening as the front ran of of gas and dissipated.

Burlington managed to get an inch of snow. Further north at my house in St. Albans, I got a whopping 0.2 inches of snow.  Further south, this warm front had a bit more oomph, with two to four inches of new snow generally falling in central Vermont, roughly between Route 4 and Route 2.

Meanwhile, as a new storm began to take over south of Long Island, the snow really picked up in central New England and the Hudson Valley of New York. In the southern tip of Vermont, Readsboro has already picked up 18 inches of snow. Parts of Saratoga County, New York are also closing in on a foot and a half of snow.

All this played out overnight as the NWS and most other meteorologists said they would.'

I have no reason to doubt the forecasts of how the rest of this will play out.  A dry slot has moved into the areas that had heavy snow, so it was just cloudy there early this morning with patches of light snow and freezing drizzle.

This state of affairs will continue for much of this morning before more moisture from the storm works in. That will make the snow pick up again.  The areas that got a foot or more of snow in far southern Vermont, eastern New York and some parts of central New England can expect another six inches of snow today, locally even more than that.

So yes, this is a blockbuster storm for many.

In central Vermont, around Rutland and White River Junction for instance, some of that new burst of moisture will come in, and that means there's a good potential for another two to four inches of snow.

That moisture will be working against some very dry air from Canada, and the battleground is in Vermont, at least partly.  Right now, it looks like the Canadian dryness will win out in areas north of Route 2, so little if any snow will fall during the day today there.  Meanwhile, in places like Montpelier, Middlebury and Warren, there will probably be some occasional light snow, no biggie.

The only potential surprise I see is if the surge of wet air from the main storm is more vigorous than forecast. If that happens, parts of central Vermont could see additional snow. I wouldn't hold my breath on that, though.

After this storm goes by, it looks like a series of cold fronts will zip on through between now and Friday, with each tossing down a handful of snowflakes to keep things at least vaguely wintry through the end of the week.  Some mountains, especially in the northern half of the state, could gradually accumulate several inches of snow by the end of the week from these little weather fronts.