A Remarkably Early Winter Coming To Vermont. Starting Thursday

My yard in St. Albans, Vermont buried in very early season snows
last November. For the second year in a row, winter will strike early
and hard in Vermont in November. Starting Thursday. 

Today, I'm going to whine about the Vermont weather, even though I fully understand that whining won't change a damn thing about the forecast.

November isn't really known for its beautiful weather in the North Country. Everybody realizes that, certainly including me.

Still, despite brief bouts of snow and cold,  I am almost always count on being able to finish buttoning up the yard for winter until about Thanksgiving or so.  Some years, it's a little earlier than that, but I can deal.

This year, winter is starting ridiculously early.   Like Thursday.

This won't be one of those brief bouts of wintry weather we get between periods of warmish weather this time of year. It's going to stick around.  Possibly until April, worst case scenario. Which means outdoor stuff and storm cleanup that needs to be done won't get done.

I don't think I remember an earlier onset to winter than this.  I thought last November, with big early snows was bad. This year is ridiculous.

It's possible there might still be a break in late November or December, you never know.  I'll get to that in a moment, but let's get into the specifics for the next few days.

A cold front is coming through today and this evening with a few rain showers and snowflakes on the highest mountain peaks. No biggie. Tomorrow will be chilly, with temperatures near 40. Again, not a crisis for this time of year.

Then, a powerhouse of a cold front will come through Thursday. A storrm will form along the front and move northeastward somewhere along the New England coast. This is a perfect setup for a snowstorm.

True, as Vermont snowstorms go, this won't be a blockbuster, but it will be a shock to the system. Thursday afternoon and  night, as it gets colder and colder, snow levels will drop lower and lower down the mountain slopes until it reaches the valleys.

With every storm, it's still not clear how much snow will fall in any given place.  If enough warm air remains in place, it's possible there won't be any accumulation in the warmest spots, like the lower Connecticut River Valley and perhaps the southern Champlain Valley, so says the National Weather Service in South Burlington.

For now, the NWS is going with one to four inches of snow in the valleys, three to six inches in the mid and high elevations and six to nine inches on the mountain peaks.

Expect a snowy, icy, yucky trip to work Friday morning.

Early November snowstorms tend to melt away quickly, but not this time.  It'll stay cold, so there will only be a little thawing during the days in the valleys Friday through Sunday. I suppose if you're a skier, this is terrific news. The Vermont ski industry is certainly going to start their season with a bang.

The "warmest" day for the next week to ten days will be Sunday. Valley highs ahead of the next Arctic front will get into the mid 30s to low 40s. That's still chillier than normal for this time of year.

That next Arctic front coming through Sunday night will be a beast. Much of the eastern half of the nation will see near record cold with this early next week. That includes us here in Vermont. Record lows Monday and Tuesday in Burlington are in the mid-teens, and there's an excellent chance it will get that cold.

It's still unclear how much additional snow we'll get with that Arctic blast that starts Sunday, but I'm sure we'll get at least a little.

Cold, wintry air will linger until the end of next week at least. There are signs of more Arctic outbreaks following after that, but of course, that's very uncertain. Long range forecasts are always iffy.

TV Meterologist Gloriously Goes After Whiners Complaining About "Bachelorette" Interruption

Fox 45 meteorologist Jamie Simpson goes off on viewers
who complained his tornado warnings interrupted "The
Bachelorette." I'm so glad he did this. 

Large, dangerous tornadoes were descending on the Dayton, Ohio metro area two nights ago. The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings.

Television stations interrupted regular programming to put their meteorologists on the air to tell everybody where the tornadoes were, what to do, and generally keep the public well informed.

The effort worked. Despite the tornadoes destroying dozens of occupied houses, only one death in the region was reported. That's because the National Weather Service and those television meteorologists saved lives by providing excellent warnings.

Was everybody happy with this effort? Of course not! Fox45 in Dayton interrupted an episode of "The Bachelorette" so that meteorologist Jamie Simpson could go on air with live tornado coverage.

This enraged fans of "The Bachelorette" who are convinced that the goings on in this "reality" drama is much more important than knowing whether a large tornado was heading toward their houses.

This outrage ended up outraging Simpson, who went on a glorious tirade against these put upon fans of "The Bachelorette."  The great video is at the bottom of this post.

"No, we're not going back to the show, folks. This is a dangerous situation, OK? Think about if this was your neighborhood. I'm sick and tired of people complaining about this. Our job here is to keep people safe and that is what we're going to do," an exasperated Simpson said on air.

He was just getting started. He went on: "Some of you complained that this is all about my ego......Stop. It's not. I'm done with you people. I really am, this is pathetic."

Complaints about television stations interrupting regular programming for severe weather alerts happen all the time and they're showing no sign of diminishing.

Remember, these are broadcast stations. They can't just air a tornado warning in one county, and continue on with airing "The Bachelorette" in some other county that doesn't happen to be under a weather warning.

People really do need to chill. I get it that it's frustrating that I might be sitting in northwestern Vermont watching TV with clear skies outdoors and Tom Messner from WPTZ is squawking about severe thunderstorms in New Hampshire.

Really, though, screw my frustration and anybody else's. What Messner and all the rest of the television meteorologists are doing is likely saving lives. As Simpson in Dayton said, think about the people under the dangerous weather threat.

I'd much rather not know who won this season's "The Voice" if it means some television meteorologist somewhere warned a family to get into their basement just in time to save their lives before the tornado hit.

Meteorologists and their weather warnings are really, truly must-watch TV. Your life might depend upon it.

Here's the video from Dayton:

New Englanders: Sick Of Winter? Watch This

Watch and see in the video, below, if this
woman has HAD IT with winter. Add caption

New England seems to be the Big Winter Winner this year.  

Lots of cold. Lots of snow, at least lately, and it ain't going to end soon.

It snowed today. It'll be brutally cold this weekend, there's the risk of another big snowstorm in southern New England Monday, and then even more brutally cold weather, worse than we've gotten so far this winter, is on its way for Tuesday and Wednesday.

I'm freezing my butt off. I've slipped on the ice more times than I care to count, I'm coming down with a cold, and the house is chilly because I don't feel like paying a zillion dollars to keep it warm enough.

I know, I know, whine, moan, complain, why don't you move to someplace warm?

You're right, but there comes a point, right about now in the winter, when some of us have Just. About. Had. It.  The winter breaking point.

Even seasonably cold weather in the 20s would be beautiful. Spring greenery would be nicer.  I spent half of this afternoon simultaneously watching temperatures plummet outside my window and drooling longingly over spring gardening catalogs.

For now, I, and a lot of you, can relate to this video. She should have lashed out harder, though. Watch and see what you think:

A Blogger Whines About Normal January Weather In Vermont

An Arctic cold front is going to sweep through the northeastern United States Sunday, and it will turn icy cold for at least a week.

A subzero morning two years ago creates this
steamy scene on Lake Champlain near
Burlington, Vermont two winters ago.  

Here in Vermont, we can expect high temperatures in the single numbers most days next week, and most places will be below zero each night. Some nights might get into the teens below zero.

This kind of weather pretty much happens every winter, and this won't even be the strongest cold snap of the winter so far. This is what Vermonters expect every January.

Still, I'm whining, which doesn't do my Vermonter credentials proud, let me tell ya. But I do get whiny when it's near or below zero, I have to say. Sure, I bundle up a bit when I go outside and it's not so bad.

But for some reason I get cold fast when I'm outside, and I don't enjoy the outdoors nearly as much when it's this cold. I feel like I'm being held hostage in the house, even though I'm well aware there's kind of no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes.

Plus the furnace runs incessantly and I can just see the dollar bills floating away out the chimney.

I even get to the point during these cold spells where I ask myself why the hell do I live in this Arctic wasteland called Vermont.

Then, sooner than you think, spring comes and everything explodes in green, colorful flowers, warm sunshine and soothing rain, and I say, "Oh, that's why I live here."

What's your opinion about these subzero winter cold waves we always get?