Vermont Snow Behaved. Wild Newfoundland Blizzard REALLY Did Not

A post-blizzard doorway in St. John's Newfoundland
Not enough snow in Vermont for anytbing like
that at the moment. 

The snowfall late yesterday and overnight in and around Vermont pretty much behaved as expected, with the usual spotty exceptions.

It was interesting to note that a fast south to southwesterly flow aloft during the height of the snow would use the Adirondacks to "shadow" parts of the Champlain Valley and yield less snow there.

That shadow seemed centered around Burlington, where at last check, the National Weather Service office reported 2.9 inches of new snow.  

As you travel north up the Champlain Valley, the shadowing effect of the Adirondacks lessened. Milton, several miles north of Burlington had 4.3 inches.  Here at my place in St. Albans, north of Milton, I measured 5.4 inches.  And Swanton, even further north than me, reported 6.3 inches.

The big winners were in northern Vermont, as opposed to southern Vermont as first surmised a couple days ago. Montgomery reported 11 inches of fresh powder and Hyde Park reported 10 inches.  There are many reports of five to eight inches of new snow across much of central and northern Vermont, away from the Champlain Valley.

Meanwhile, as of late last night, high elevation Readsboro in far southern Vermont only got a so-so 4.3 inches of new snow.

In the valleys, this storm is pretty much over. As temperatures slowly fall during the rest of the day, there will be snow showers and flurries and blowing snow in gusty winds to harass valley dwellers. There could be spots with new snow of around one inch during the day today.

In the central and northern Green Mountains, and parts of New York's Adirondacks and New Hampshire's White Mountains, winds rising up the slopes of these mountains will wring out more moisture, and provide a few more inches of snow today.

NEWFOUNDLAND BLIZZARD

A neighborhood in St. John's Newfoundland this weekend.
Photo by Ryan Crocker. 

An earlier midsized snow, similar to the one we got last night, went through Vermont Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

That Thursday storm blew up once it got off the coast of Maine and started heading up through the Atlantic Provinces of Canada.

By the time the storm got up to Newfoundland, it was a beast to say the least.

To begin with, the area around St. John's Newfoundland isn't exactly known for its lovely winter weather.

Way up there north on the frigid Atlantic Coast, it's stormy, dark and cold all winter. The relatively warm waters of the Atlantic keep St. John's relatively warm in the winter, for a location so far north.  Normal highs up there this time of year are near 30 and lows are usually in the teens.

But St. John's, a picturesque city with a population of about 114,000, in the winter is a terribly stormy place. People there are used to it. But this week's blizzard was beyond the pale.

The blizzard dumped around 30 inches of snow on St. John's, which is a record deep snowfall or that city. Winds gusted to 80 mph or so, and 100 mph right along the coast, causing enormous drifts. Some of those drifts reached second story windows. Countless cars in the city were completely buried.

Canadian armed forces were ordered to enter the St. John's area to begin digging them out.

In one neighborhood that clings to a steep hill in St. John's an avalanche slammed into a house, filling the kitchen and living room with snow, Luckily, nobody was hurt.

Unfortunately, one person is missing in the blizzard.

The storm that came through Vermont last night will also affect St. John's, but it won't be as bad as the last one. Environment Canada predicts about four inches of new snow coming up in St. John's, and also a a little blowing snow, then a little rain and drizzle, with winds gusting as high as 45 to 50 mph.

Some Newfoundland/St John's videos:

The first half of this news cast is something:



Here's the progress of the blizzard in one neighborhood:



Here's quite a time lapse: