We Hope You Like Change: Vermont/New England Weather All Over The Place

Beneath my deck in St. Albans, Vermont.  Changeable
weather and frequent swings between thaw and freeze
has created an upside forest of icicles through the floor slats

Vermont is a small enough state so that more often than not, the weather is similar from north to south. 

Not this morning. Example: A 6 a.m. today, it was 6 below and clear and calm up in Island Pond. In Burlington, it was cloudy and breezy and 34 degrees. It was snowing in Bennington. 

If you want the variety to continue, you're in luck. Over the next few days, we'll probably get close to everything, except perhaps locusts. No locusts.  

Though there will surely be some adjustments to the forecast, here's how our all over the place weather will work out:

Today: Light snow was spreading in pretty quickly after dawn. It will change to light rain, especially in the warmer valleys. For variety - remember the theme here - maybe there will be a few pockets of sleet or freezing rain in spots. At least it's not a huge storm. Just nuisance stuff, really. e 

Tonight: Instead of temperatures falling after sunset, readings will stay pretty steady and mild - above freezing for a lot of us -  until midnight-ish, then they'll gradually fall off 

Sunday: Some sun, then turning cloudy, maybe some rain late? Mild, low 40s.

Sunday night: Another rule breaker: It stays mild overnight, barely falling into the mid and upper 30s.

Monday: The variety pack maxes out. A few raindrops or wet snowflakes early, then some sun. Instead of temperatures rising during the day, they'll stay steady or even start to drop. By evening, snow showers and snow squalls arrive. At night, strong north winds develop and temperatures crash. 

Tuesday: Back to deep winter. We start the day with temperatures near 0 and wind chills way below that figure as winds continue to gust past 30 mph.  Calmer and sunnier in the afternoon, though, still cold in the teens. 

Tuesday night: Wrong-way temperatures again: Instead of readings falling until about dawn, the temperature will start to go up again after midnight. 

Wednesday: What cold snap? Upper 30s. 

This forecasted manic weather is pretty much a sign of spring, believe it or not. The Arctic is still fully capable of providing frigid blasts.  But the sun angle in the northern hemisphere is rising and the temperature in many areas is now doing the same. 

Battle lines are drawn between those still potent forces of winter to the north and spring warmth blooming to the south. 

This time of year, and going forward through March and into April, we in Vermont find ourselves caught in the crossfire of these two opposing forces. Which means we should plan on anything.

Anything to keep us on our toes, right?