I'm not usually like this, but I'm actually desiring snow! I used to loathe it as a child, mostly because I had to shovel it. However now that I'm a meteorologist, forecast such events, and appreciate the beauty of it a little more, I want it to fall! Stop by in two months and ask me again if I want it to snow, I may be tired of it by then :)
Well the snow is out there, but just not here. It's actually very interesting to look at where it is. On the left hand side of this blog you'll see four pictures. The first one is the snow depth as of Monday morning. Short description = not much if anything at all. Mount Mansfield is reporting three inches at the summit, that's it!
Now take your eyes a little lower to the next image. (By the way, all of these are courtesy NOAA). This one shows the current snow depth across the lower 48 and southern Canada. It's all north! Canada has quite a bit of snow in fact, anywhere from 25-75 inches on that image. The contiguous United States...not so much.
I forewarn you not to worry too much yet. The last two images below are 2011 and 2010 snow depth as of December 10 of each respective year. Sure our area had more during those years, but there isn't a huge difference from map to map (looking at the overall picture). The season is still very early, and we're coming off a very dry November locally and nationally.
Even with the slow start in 2010-2011, we ended up with the third-most amount of snow on record in the Burlington area. So while it is still early in the game, I'm sticking with my winter outlook that I published earlier. It calls for lower-than-average snowfall, 67 inches in the Burlington area (average is around 80 inches) and a slightly at or warmer than average winter. I called for a late start which is true so far, but the weather pattern looks like it will get a little more active in the next 5-10 days. This includes multiple chances for accumulating snow in our area, better than what we've seen lately too. *Fingers crossed*
-Meteorologist Steve Glazier
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