In Like A Lion: Plunging Temperatures, Snow Squalls High Winds, Wind Chills

This massive snow pile builds up in front of my house
in the winter from the shoveled driveway and the snow that
cascades off my roof. Photo from Feb. 23.......

 It was nice out early this morning in Vermont, relatively speaking.  

Temperatures were above freezing, the south winds carried the whiff of spring with them, that is until the skunk sprayed somewhere outside my St. Albans, Vermont house.

That skunk was itself a sign of spring. They become more active during early spring thaws. 

Please don't get used to spring, though.  We're for a rather rough winter ride on this first day of meteorological spring. March in Vermont is coming in like a very chilly lion. 

Expect plunging temperatures, the potential for some dangerous snow squalls, a flash freeze for your afternoon commute, winds strong enough to cause a few power outages, and by later tonight and tomorrow, some frigid wind chills.

Let's unpack it for you:

A first cold front was coming through pretty early this morning with some scattered, light rain showers. That'll put a cap on the temperatures today. Today's high temperatures will come this morning, and then start to fall behind this first cold front. 

The atmosphere a few thousand feet above us will be cooling faster than the air down where we live. Breaks of sunshine will - for while - temper the rate readings fall down here. That will help make the atmosphere more unstable this afternoon.  The greater the difference between the temperature on the ground and the air a few thousand feet up, the greater the chances of snow squalls.

So on warm days, like Sunday,  I start to shovel that massive
pile back onto the driveway to quickly melt on the blacktop
If I get rid of a lot of this pile, water doesn't back up into the
basement in the spring. I have to declare a halt to this snow pile
destruction this week because it will be too cold for any
snow to melt on the driveway.

These snow squalls will tend to hit this afternoon and evening, as the second Arctic cold front comes in 

This is very bad timing, as people who are not working from home will have to drive home in it.   

It'll be tricky, too. Some places will only get flurries, while just a couple of miles up the road, a blinding snow squall will be hitting and the water on the road will be turning to glare us. 

Surprises are bad. You're cruising along in your car at top speed and suddenly you're on a skating rink in a blizzard. 

So let's be careful out there.

The next problem is high winds.

The Arctic air will roar in this evening and overnight on strong northwest winds. Most of us will gust past 40 mph.  Some of us will have it worse, with gusts as high as 55 mph.  

That's especially true on the east slopes of the Green Mountains. The wind will gain momentum howling down the eastern slopes of those mountains, accelerating the wind. Though I doubt power outages will be widespread, they'll be happening. 

Along and after that comes the wind chill. By morning, actual temperatures will be near 0 with wind chills in the minus 20s. 

It'll be slightly better Tuesday afternoon with some sunshine and winds diminishing, but it will still be very cold for this time of year with highs in the teens.

This Arctic blast will go away really fast and we'll get a brief break Wednesday with highs in the mid and upper 30s.

But another regime of winter weather is hot on its heels.  The next one won't be as frigid as the one tonight and tomorrow, but it will last a lot longer.  Expect below normal temperatures and readings continuously below freezing Thursday through Sunday.  Highs on the coldest days will barely make it to 20, and nights will be in the single digits. 

During that cold spell during the late week and weekend, weak disturbances will zip through, creating frequent chances for snow showers, but fortunately nothing heavy.