That Lake Effect Snow Band Was Wild, Even In Vermont

In this photo taken a little after sunset near Georgia, Vermont looking
to the Northwest. That dark line of clouds off in the distance is
that lake effect snow band. It was snowing hard under
those clouds. 

I was absolutely fascinated by that incredible lake effect snow band that stretched from Lake Superior, over to get more energy from Lake Huron, before crossing Lake Ontario to blast the New York shore near and just south of Watertown.

At least 48 inches of snow fell in Carthage, New York and 33 inches buried Watertown, and these aren't final figures.

Lake effect snows are very common, and those snow totals didn't break all time records.

But the huge length of the lake effect snow band, the persistence of it, its unusual influence here in Vermont and the timing of it are all pretty fascinating.

Equally impressive was how well forecast it was.  Weather computer models and meteorologists accurately anticipated this entire scenario at least two days in advance.

First, I'll get into the timing of this thing.  You can get lake effect snow off the Great Lakes this time of year, but it's unusual. And something this impressive is quite rare for the end of February.

To get a decent lake effect storm, you need open, unfrozen water on the lakes. Cold air coming in from Canada picks up moisture from the lakes and then dumps it as snow on the shore. Usually, the Great Lakes are largely frozen this time of year, which means there's not much open water to gather moisture. Which means any lake effect snows in late winter are usually pretty paltry.

Radar image of the lake effect snow band Friday coming ashore
on the left by Lake Ontario and extending toward the northeast
to near St. Albans.  Click on the image to make it bigger and
easier to see. The apparent gap in the snow band near
Lake Placid is just mountains blocking the radar beam from
picking up the fallling snow in that region. 

Ice extent on the lakes right now is close to the lowest on record for this time of year, so there was plenty of open water for this thing to feed on

It was rare and fascinating to see how long this narrow snow band stretched.

In most places, it was not more than 15 miles wide, but at one point Friday, it stretched more than 1,200 miles from Lake Superior to northern New England and southern Quebec.

That the snow band affected Vermont so much was also a wild moment for me.

Strong lake effect snow bands often extend into Vermont, but in weakened form. A lot of the moisture from these things gets dumped out in the Adirondacks.

By the time a snow band gets to the mountains of Vermont, there's not much left. So you get accumulation of perhaps several inches to, sometimes as much as 10 inches or so in the northern Green Mountains.

In this case, the band stayed pretty much intact all the way to northern Vermont and southern Quebec on Friday.  True, it wasn't nearly as strong as it was near the shore of Lake Ontario, but it still had some oomph left.

The exception is the Champlain Valley, because the Adirondacks formed a "shadow" which kept the moisture from reaching the ground there. The snow largely skipped over the valley and hit the western slopes of the Green Mountains instead. That's how it usually works with Great Lakes snow bands.

Like most snow bands, this one wavered back and forth. It lifted north to just along the Quebec and New York and northwestern tip of Vermont by late Friday afternoon, then settled south again Friday evening.

It was fascinating to see that band of clouds to the northwest of my place in St. Albans, Vermont early Friday evening, wih the moon and Venus shining overhead.  The snow band settled slowly south later, and it snowed heavily for a time in St. Albans around 9 a.m. We picked up just 1.5 inches of new snow last night, but I'm sure it was much heavier to my east, out toward the Green Mountains near Bakersfield.

It is hard to tease out exactly how much snow was from the snow band itself and just wrap around moisture behind the storm that had passed well to our Northeast by Friday.

But preliminary totals are pretty amazing nonetheless. The summit of Mount Mansfield received 10 inches of snow from the actual storm system on Thursday, then 16 inches in lake effect and wrap around moisture on Friday.

Storm totals since Thursday, including the main storm, wrap around moisture and the lake effect band, amounted to a very impressive 17 inches in Greensboro by 7 a.m. Friday, 14 inches by 10 a.m. Friday in Eden, an 13.1 inches in Glover.

Since the snow kept coming Friday afternoon and night, I can't wait until snow total updates come in later today.

By this Saturday morning, the lake effect band had broken up, but lingering lake moisture and more damp, cold air coming down from Canada will keep light snow showers going for much of today.  Valleys will get two inches or less of new snow today, but the mountains could pull off a few more inches.

Enjoy the deep powder on the mountains Sunday, because it's going to warm up for much of next week, which will settle the snow, make it wet and/or a bit crusty. Sunday will certainly be the best powder day in northern Vermont in the winter of 2019-20.

Here's a video of people driving through the lake effect snow near Watertown, New York. As you can see, some motorists weren't all that smart: