The Old Field Tree

From January 23 to January 26, 2026, a massive winter storm named Fern, which spanned nearly two thirds of the United States, dumped a massive amount of snow and ice, masking the large land mass in an innumerable amount of feathery crystals.

Here in Vermont, many places saw over 10 inches of snow. The roads are still snow covered, and the air temperatures are well below freezing. Meteorologists called the snow that fell dendritic snow, and stated it would be very crystalline. They were right. It is a super light and dry, fluffy snow, like powdered sugar.

SNOWFLAKES

A massive region of the country is now completely snow covered, with some places like Indianapolis, IN and Portland, ME breaking historic snow records. The community of Oxford, MS was particularly hit hard by the ice storm, which brought down a significant amount of trees, which likely aren’t well equipped to handle ice (although most trees aren’t equipped for that, and ice is particularly damaging even in northern climates).

It just goes to show even one storm could impact an entire forest. Several power outages were reported during the onset of the storm, particularly in the south. Vermont sees this kind of snowfall in a typical winter, so while it was quite a treat to experience, it wasn’t anything record breaking here.