Tag: First Snow accumulations

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First Vermont Snows for the 2025-2026 Winter Season!

A Photo of October snow on Mt. Mansfield taken by Scott Braaten
An image of the first official snow at the Mt. Mansfield Stake in Vermont for the 2025-2026 winter season
The first touches of snow recorded at the Mt. Mansfield stake for the 2025-2026 season

It’s been a reasonably warm fall season with many beautifully dry days featuring blue skies to enjoy the foliage, but the change in seasons is becoming evident now as we approach the end of October and move into a much wetter pattern. It’s interesting to note that over in New Hampshire, Mt. Washington had multiple episodes of snow in August, but they didn’t record any snow in September. This new influx of systems into the area has seen a return of their snow however, with multiple accumulations over the past few days.

I haven’t seen any reports of snow here in Vermont prior to yesterday, but now they’re coming in, so this stretch likely marks the kickoff to the 2025-2026 Vermont snow season. Yesterday morning at 9:40 A.M. Powderfreak reported that the precipitation was snow above 3,500’ on Mt. Mansfield, and later in the evening there was some video posted of the snow falling up at Jay Peak. There was also a post showing what was probably the first snowman of the season on Whiteface. As of this morning, Powderfreak posted images of snow falling on Mt. Mansfield and then the initial accumulations up at the Cliff House. The first accumulation of the season was recorded at the Mt. Mansfield stake, and by the afternoon, accumulations had made it down to the middle elevations of Mt. Mansfield, so there we go – the Vermont snow season is on!

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Fourth round of early season Vermont snows brings accumulations to the Green Mountain valleys

An image showing a CoCoRaHS weather observations map with snow accumulations in Northern Vermont from an October snowstorm
An image showing residual accumulations of snow on Mount Mansfield on one of the webcams at Stowe Mountain Ski Resort in Northern Vermont after an October snowstorm
Residual accumulations visible on the Stowe Mountain Resort webcam thanks to our most recent round of early season snows

The first flakes of the season at our site in Waterbury were back on the 16th of the month with that last big snow event, but thanks to the system moving through yesterday into today, we accrued the first accumulations I’ve seen here. Temperatures were certainly above freezing here in the valley, but the intensity of the precipitation is what brought on the accumulation when one of the more active cells on the radar came through our area.

A radar animation image showing a cell of precipitation bringing the first accumulating snows to the Waterbury area of Vermont
Accumulations finally started to take hold down at our elevation of 500 feet in the Winooski Valley in Waterbury when one of the more potent cells of precipitation crossed the spine of the Green Mountains in our area.

Based on posts that were showing up in the Northern New England thread at the American Weather Forum yesterday, it was clear that many valley locations were starting to see accumulations as the temperatures came down. Temperatures dropped well into the 20s F overnight, so by morning, CoCoRaHS reports revealed valley accumulations of anything from a trace to as much as a few inches in a stripe across Northern Vermont.

An image showing a CoCoRaHS weather observations map with snow accumulations in Northern Vermont from an October snowstorm
As our latest fall snowstorm moved through the area yesterday and into the night, many sites in a stripe across Northern Vermont reported accumulations to CoCoRaHS this morning.
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Another round of Vermont snows: accumulations have begun

An image of early October snow from the North Ridge Webcam at Killington Resort in Vermont

We had our first reported snow of the season here in Vermont over a month ago when flakes were spotted atop Jay Peak, but this latest round of winter weather has now brought us the first actual accumulations of the season. Our initial images of the accumulations came out yesterday morning when Powderfreak sent out some shots from the higher elevations of Mt. Mansfield during his usual Stowe Mountain Resort duties. Later in the day he sent along a nice image of the cloud ceiling and flakes falling on Spruce Peak while he was out on an afternoon hike. The snow was down to at least the 3,100’ elevation as of the afternoon, and with more moisture pushing into the spine of the Greens according to the radar, the potential for some additional overnight accumulations was looking good. The moisture seemed to be drifting a bit south though, and I saw a comment from Powderfreak that he felt the Central and Southern Greens would have the better chances for accumulations during the overnight period.

His thoughts were right on track, and by morning we were alerted with pictures from the Killington North Ridge Webcam of some more substantial accumulations. Up here in the Northern Greens, where the mid-level lifting mechanisms for precipitation weren’t as strong, the higher elevations of Mt. Mansfield picked up some ice accumulations and another coating of snow.

An image of early October snow from the North Ridge Webcam at Killington Resort in Vermont
A shot from Killington’s North Ridge Webcam of today’s new snow during our period of first snow accumulations for the 2024-2025 winter season. Accumulations began in the area yesterday and the Central Green Mountain s picked up some of the best snows overnight.

Looking at the data for the average date of first accumulations on Mt. Mansfield, October 9th is right on track for first accumulating snow on Mt. Mansfield – the mean date is October 11th ± 14 days, and the median date is October 10th. Last year was a bit on the later side on October 22nd, but the year before was very similar to this one with snow coming on October 8th.

So, the 2024-2025 snowfall season has begun here in Vermont, and we may see more snow in the coming days. The snowfall maps from the weather models are starting to suggest accumulations next week, and the National Weather Service office in Burlington mentions that there is possibility for accumulations above 2,000’ in their most recent area forecast discussion.