The winter of 2011 is one for the record books throughout the Northeast, but on the Vineyard it has been a different story altogether. Snow on the mainland has been measured in feet, while on the Vineyard it has been measured in inches. Ice has been the Vineyard’s most steady winter companion so far.

As of this week, the Island had received close to 10 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service Cooperative Weather station in Edgartown. There might have been more if you counted the snow that fell at night and then washed away before the next morning in snow changing to rain. As of Wednesday night Boston had recorded nearly six feet, or 70 inches of snow for the winter.

Despite our dramatically different weather story, Island towns report they are still plowing through their snow removal budgets.

Richard Combra Jr., highway superintendent for Oak Bluffs, said he has already depleted his winter snow removal budget of $35,000. It isn’t the amount of fallen snow that gets the plows and sanders out; Mr. Combra explained, it is the frequency. And this has been a winter of frequent snow, sleet and mixed precipitation. “We are sending out the sanders two and three times a week,” Mr. Combra said.

Tisbury is just shy of crossing its winter snow and sand budget of $15,000, a budget item that hasn’t changed for years. As of yesterday town spending stood at $14,704.81. Tisbury selectmen will meet with highway superintendent Fred LaPiana next Tuesday at their weekly meeting to discus an additional spending allowance.

Edgartown appropriated $35,200 for snow removal and has spent $20,231.08.

West Tisbury is over budget, having spent $23,107.10 of their $40,000 budget with another $20,400 in invoices for snow removal and sanding through Jan. 21.

No report on spending was available for Chilmark.

In Aquinnah Jay Smalley plows for the town as part of his highway superintendent salary, according to town administrator Adam Wilson. The town has paid $2,000 for sanding to private contractors so far.

On the Vineyard the snow depth has never gotten above two inches this year unless you measure drifts. Snowfall amounts for this winter are average, but the frequency of storms in January and the first week of February is way above last year. In January of 2010 there were only two storms for the month. This year there was nearly one storm a week.

Precipitation — melted snow and rain — for January is close to average. Temperatures are also average. In December the average temperature was 33.2 degrees; in January the average was 30.3 degrees, about the same as last year.

The ocean has moderated the Vineyard’s weather, as it frequently does in the winter. Of the many storms that have passed over New England in the past month, nearly all of them have dropped rain on the Island.