Submitted by magic_spaghetti t3_z89q8l in vermont
I just began going to college in Burlington and I would like to ask so other parts of the state have snow yet? The only snow we’ve gotten was very light. Not too cold out either. Is this normal or is climate change to blame?
Global warming. January to feb these days
I've only been here 7 years and have noticed a difference. In the first few years I saw snow in October. It was seemingly normal to be basically winter here starting no later than mid-Nov. Like knee deep snow. Last year I almost didn't have a white Christmas (something I really like because I have always lived in hot places and thus mild christmases). It finally snowed like 2 days before though. Looks like it might be the same this year. It's a bummer. Hopefully you'll experience some real VT snow soon!
A Vermont winter generally follows this pattern. It gets cold, it snows a little to let you know it’s winter, the mountains get enough to make Christmas skiing look nice, January thaw, it snows again, it rains, the temperature drops to below freezing until March.
It is coming don’t worry ….
My first winter in Vermont 2020 it snowed 46 inches in 24 hours .
It really didn’t start snowing until mid December but the ski resorts open season middle November .
After it started snowing though you just assumed it was going to snow some every day .
My kid wasn’t allowed to come to school unless he brought snow boots and a snow bib from December to April I think .
I am from the south also so it was very different then what I was used to and it was what I was looking for.
I remember snowboarding at a major resort on Halloween, oh how things have changed.
Well snowmaking is a different beast. All you need is some cold nights and you can open a run at a resort with downloading from the higher summits.
VERMONT CLIMATE CHANGE ASSESSMENT - presents data about how things have changed.
https://site.uvm.edu/vtclimateassessment/files/2021/11/VCA-Chapter-1-11-4-21-1.pdf
Growing up I wore a winter coat over my Halloween costumes more often than not and usually had snow on my birthday in early December. We had to shovel the roof a few times a year and would tap our small sugar bush on town meeting day.
Now Halloween is usually t-shirt weather, haven't shovelled a roof in almost twenty years, snow on Christmas is 50-50, and if you wait to tap on town meeting day the sugaring season is half over.
I plant my garden two weeks earlier now than I did growing up.
But those cold nights are fewer and far between. sigh
It is likely altered a bit bc of climate change, but it isn't entirely due to climate change. There is an unfavorable Pna in the west causing us to have warm weather.
It’s usually around to stay in mid December
Halloween is usually t-shirt weather? Maybe this last one but it’s usually cold and rainy every single Halloween.
I grew up in CT. Went to school in Vermont like yourself and have lived here since for 30ish years. Even back in my college days it was often year to year and can be very different from area to area. Burlington is warmer than almost the whole rest of the state for several reasons so generally will have less snow. I went to college in a valley and I remember many times pretty much no snow at school and go up to Mad River Glen and there would be 2+ feet. But generally good winters are not defined by 1 big storm. Its the years that have consistent clippers come through, 6-10 each week. As warm as its been when it gets cold the lake may crank out some serious moisture for the greens. Last year was a pretty mild winter snow wise and the year before the opposite. I am guessing the trend will continue and this one will be better once we get going.
It’s still Fall buddy, give it some time.
Be careful what you wish for! I bet we are going to have a hellish Feb - ie like the Valentine’s Day storm from years ago.
I agree with most other comments blaming climate change. Been here 34 years and the lake use to freeze over fairly regularly but I haven't seen that for several years.
drove south this morning from Montpelier area, there was still smatterings of snow along 89 until just above Bethel exit. Will absolutely be gone by this time tomorrow.
I'm in Westfield, we had some snow about 2 weeks ago that's just about fully gone now.
So maybe a long-sleeved t-shirt or a raincoat, but I don't remember the last time the weather on Halloween required a winter jacket.
Not really anymore. Not in burlington area
We're heading into our third year of an El nino system. It's super rare but it has happened before.
This is why your seeing a wetter and warmer fall/winter. Odds are it will revert next year and it will be whiplash the other way.
Hate to be the pessimist but this winters also going to likely look like the last two. Big dumps followed by rain and flash freezes. The skiing will likely suck again if you don't have the opportunity to grab the fresh snow while you can. Use your "sick days" wisely if you want to get out and ride the best snow.
Climate change is the better term rather than global warming. Global warming is a factor in driving climate change but just because it hasnt snowed much and it's more temperate than normal doesn't mean that's just what it's going to be from now on.
Most models for the next 20 years show more erratic weather patterns on the east coast. That means anything from blizzards, to ice storms, hurricanes, costal flooding, droughts, and who knows what else.
This is one outlier of a climate pattern with many more to come. But it doesn't mean this is going to be the status quo for the next few years.
Yeah way more mild winter these days than 30 years ago when I was a kid. Now there is no snow til after new year usually. The ski resorts have snowmaking so you can still go ski but as far as natural, we don’t get too many white Christmases anymore.
1999-2000 winter, I remember opening day at smuggs was thanksgiving week or the week before and they were 100% open with a 10’ base already. That winter was epic. Now it’s just scraps every year.
Thanks, Exxon/Mobil and BP.
itll come and wont go away for a long time and youll be sick of it.
Be careful of what you wish for!
Do you remember the winter of’89-90? First snow was the week after Presidents Weekend. Winter of ‘77? Bankruptcy for Dutch Hill. Based on US weather service data southern Vt has less than a 5% chance of having enough natural snow to ski on thanksgiving. Weather is cyclical and the sun controls 98% of it. You can sit like Canute on the shore and command the tide to reverse but it doesn’t matter. Sun’s gonna do what it does
Yeah i been here 8 years and it has never snowed not this much.
Climate change. I grew up here and the last several winters have been very different from the winters of my upbringing. Even when we do get snow, it hasn’t been staying, it warms up and gets rained out. Gross.
How quickly they forget that one of the largest explosions in human history happened in Tonga less than a year ago and we were told it could impact weather for months or years…
Glad I didn’t buy a season ski pass this year. Good grief.
But the carbon we've been pumping into the atmosphere for a century has nothing to do with it?
Also I'm in my 30s so when I say the winters are warmer and shorter than they were, I'm talking about a longer time period than the past year.
I remember halloweens being frigid and snow covered on the regular. Alas, won’t be seeing that again
Damn I hope so!
Well, if you’re older than 5 that’s literally not true. I have photos of snowfall as early as Columbus Day and it often lasts as long as the end of April-start of May. I don’t know what Vermont you live in, but here in reality it doesn’t happen that way.
And DAMN if my lawn doesn't need mowing! Snow blowing or lawn mowing. Pick your poison!
Born in Randolph in 1962. We used to have a Halloween parade! And I don't remember ever missing Trick or Treating because of the weather.
Right?!
Hell, I remember it snowing on Halloween a few years when I was a kid
There hasn't been snow on Thanksgiving since like 2013 what are you talking about 🤣🤣🤣
We used to design costumes to fit over snow suits as kids ❄️
Ugh that’s smart. Some of my friends did that. My mom would just make us wear those bulky snow suits over my costume. I remember being so frustrated about it. 😆
If you want to see the effects of warming in a tangible sheet check out the freeze close dates of Lake Champlain. https://www.weather.gov/btv/lakeclose
How are things going at Killington? I assume there was no way they could host the woman’s World Cup.
Of course there’s been no snow in your living room. You need to go outside.
Thank you for actual data. We had a UVM climate researcher come to my work to give a presentation on how climate change will impact the growing season, pest presence and deterrent options as well as crop potential. One of the bigger takeaways for a lot of us was the extreme weather events. Not really more or less rain, but more precipitation in short violent bursts and how to mitigate drainage as well as ensure cover crops are planted quickly to avoid topsoil erosion.
Anyway, that you again for some actual facts. Far to much or Reddit is conjecture or “when I was a kid”. I always appreciate hard data.
Yeah, quite a bit has changed in the past couple of decades.
We still get a couple of good snowstorms but other than that, winters have been pretty mild for a while
They did host it. Most of the ski areas are open. Elevation helps a lot.
The trend I’ve noticed the most over the past few years is less snow, more ice. That cold snow, at -10 or so, is just so pretty but now it thaws and refreezes slick as anything.
As a parent it frustrated me too - all that work getting a nice costume together for the kids and then you had to cover it!
Climate Change is absolutely a factor but we are entering our third la nina Winter in a row as another commenter mentioned so its going to be very erratic, I moved here fall of 2017 we had decent snow in December and was brutal cold that Winter, 2018 and 2019 both years I was on the mountain by Dec 1st with good natural snow, I specifically remember that big fall dumpage in 2018 mid-Nov and we also had solid snow by Thanksgiving in 2019 as well cos I remember driving through VT in it to get to the fall Phish shows I went to that year. 2021 Winter was pretty solid despite la nina, I think I did more skiing that Winter than any so far, that February was an absolute snow dump fest. Last year was very erratic, and apparently this one if its similar, you are good for 2 seperate 2-3 week stretches of reliable cold and snow, but a lot of mixed variables otherwise. Personally, if I had to pick one outcome of the several el nina ones, it would be one big stretch like we had Feb '21 where it felt like everyday was fresh refills at the mountain.
I'm a ski patroller homie
Twombls t1_iyaimyk wrote
It was normal to have snow by this time when I was a kid. Climate change is really fucking us over.
There was snow pretty much everywhere outside the champlain valley until Sunday though. The mountains still have a bit.