Snow Creates Slippery Roads & Closes Schools

Tuesday's snowfall was just enough to cause many school systems to close throughout southwestern Connecticut and made travel difficult and slippery during the height of the afternoon rush hour. An Alberta Clipper moved through the region yesterday and intensified offshore, delivering several inches of snow. In case you're wondering, this is the second snowiest December on record.

Officially, 3.6" of snow fell at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, which is a record for the date. That pushed the monthly total to nearly a foot (10.7"), which is well above the 2.1" normal through December 17. Just a trace of snow fell during the first 17 days of the month last year. Here's a look high above Bridgeport this morning.

In addition to the snow, it was quite cold yesterday. The high temperature of 23 degrees was nearly 20 degrees below the normal high of 42 for the date. There was also a gusty wind out of the North causing wind chills to hold in the single digits for much of the afternoon. Temperatures held in the 20s last night, and roads were slippery this morning. However, temperatures will rebound into the 50s this weekend, just in time for the start of Winter.

As for liquid precipitation, a quarter-inch fell yesterday, pushing the monthly total to 2.34" which is above the two-inch normal. In fact, three of the last four days have featured well over an inch (1.24") of measured precipitation. However, the yearly precipitation total (34.67") is better than a half-foot below the normal (41.41").

Paul