Real Winter Has Finally Descended On Vermont, Even With Rain Chances

The sun rises behind snow and ice covered trees in St. Albans, Vermont
Sunday, the coldest morning of the winter so far. 

Over the past few days, winter has finally truly established itself in Vermont and will stick around for a least a week.

Even with that flat statement, you know the kind of "winter" we've had.

Even with this new weather regime, there are still rain chances in parts of Vermont Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Still, there are snow chances during the same period as well, and we're also not done with Arctic outbreaks like this weekend's just yet.  

First of all, can I say what a gorgeous day we had Saturday. Yes, it was cold, with temperatures never rising above the upper single numbers to mid-teens. But that brilliant blue sky with sun shining on sparkling snow and whitened trees was something to behold.

In the mountains, the setting sun created a beautiful salmon pink alpenglow on the snow covered mountains with a full moon rising behind them. I wish I was able to go out and take photos yesterday, but at least I saw some of it.

Last night was something, too.  The full moon shining on that fresh snow meant it never really got dark last night.  People took photos at midnight last night and the landscape was clearly visible.

Of course, a clear, calm night with light winds over a deep snow cover meant temperatures really bottomed  out.  It was the the first truly Arctic night of the winter  (though we had a rather chilly spell in mid-December, too).

A white pine on my St. Albans, Vermont property greets a cold
Sunday February morning under the weight of snow and ice.

This morning, though, was the first 30 below night in Vermont. Island Pond reached 31 below and it was 30 below on Lake Seymour, according to Jennifer Hannux, a Vermont outdoor photographer and weather enthusiast.

In the Banana Belt of the Champlain Valley, it only got down to 9 below in Burlington. Still quite cold, but nothing extreme. To put this all in perspective, we missed record lows last night by ten to 20 degrees.  So this wasn't unusual at all.

Today will warm up under skies that will cloud up.  That means more precipitation is coming.  It won't be a big storm. But this is the mild winter of 2019-20, so it won't be all snow.

Broader, warmer valleys should get a dusting to two inches of snow before the precipitation mixes with rain before ending Monday.  Higher elevations should stay all snow, with an expected accumulation of one to four inches.

The Monday morning commute might be a little slow, so keep that in consideration. It won't be impossible like it was Friday, but you'll still want to allow some extra time.

A weak system Tuesday will probably throw a few snowflakes or rain drops at us.  A larger potential storm Thursday will probably give us more snow and/or rain or mixed precipitation. It's too soon to tell.  I'm calling this a larger potential storm, but it won't be enormous.  At this point it looks like it will be light to moderate, and quick.

After that storm, it looks like another Arctic shot of air will come in.  There's indications that one will be even colder than the one we got yesterday and last night.  It won't last for a long time, however. Maybe we'll get two of three days of really cold weather before it warms up again.