FOX44 - Burlington / Plattsburgh News, Weather & Sports01.09.12 Snow Now & Then

01.09.12 Snow Now & Then

Good Monday morning!  The northern mountains of New York and Vermont have an average of 4-8 inches of snow on the ground.  That's it!  The rest of the lower elevations have either nothing or up to a few inches.  The average snow depth across this whole northeastern view is a mere 2.9"!

Compared to last year it is a drastic difference:

What a difference!  2011 on the right on January 9.  2012 is on the left. 

By the numbers (last year to this year) this is how it stacks up:

  YEAR       SNOW COVER                 AVERAGE SNOW DEPTH              MAXIMUM SNOW DEPTH

  2012           53.1%                                    2.9"                                             35.3"

  2011           97.6%                                    7.0"                                             36.9"

Going back in time, here's a look at the last few years on this date in regards to snow cover and depth.

All of these images are courtesy:  NOAA

In 2008 there was a lack of snow at this moment.  Going even further back in time, January 9, 2007 and 2006 were very dry at this time too.  The images show a lack of snow depth similar to this year.

By the numbers here's how the last few years break down:

NORTHEASTERN UNITED STATES: NY, PA, CT, RI, MA, VT, NH, & ME.

Again here is last year compared to this year.  Notice into Quebec and Ontario there looks to be a little more snow this year than last year.  What is happening is this:  The cold, Canadian air that usually swings south into New England is not doing it as much this year.  The cold air is being locked north of the border, providing all snow to our northern friends but rather mixed or all rain events for us.  We have had a couple instances where cold air filtered south and temperatures plummeted into negative territory.  But it wasn't long-lasting.  It was here for a couple of days and then was replaced by warmer air.  The jet stream needs to take more of a dip across the eastern U.S. in order for us to get more snow, that way we can get rid of these mixed precip events (for example this upcoming Thursday). 

Similar weather is being seen across the nation.  As of Monday, January 9 the continental United States had 16% of its area snow covered.  Compare that to 49% last year!

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