Lots Of Dangerous U.S. Weather This Weekend; Sharp Winter Blast Here In Vermont

The beginning of the end of "false spring" in Vermont 
Friday evening. After another sunny, warm day, convective
clouds bearing gusty northwest winds, falling temperatures,
and eventually snow showers brought us back to winter. 

Big parts of the nation are experiencing some dangerous weather, ranging from tornadoes to blizzards to fires this weekend, so it's a big, busy, coffee-drinking day or two for lots of meteorologists across the nation. 

Here in Vermont, we're getting a few hard slaps across the face by a resurgent winter, but at least this is no disaster. More on that in a bit, but lets get into that difficult national weather.

TORNADOES/SEVERE

I guess storm chasers were happy Friday evening, but some Texas Panhandle residents were not as enthused as some of the first tornadoes of the season in the region touched down. 

Large hail and damaging winds also made for some excitement in that part of the world. '

Luckily, the tornadoes caused relatively little damage. That's the good news. The bad news is that same region is under the gun for even more tornadoes today. 

The risk today is that some of those tornadoes could become quite strong and long lasting.  Not the little tear a corner of the barn roof off type of thing Texas had yesterday, but more like the bulldoze entire houses type of affair.  

This part of the Texas is fairly lightly populated, aside from the cities of Amarillo and Wichita Falls, Texas.  As long as the possible strong tornadoes stay in the open countryside, we might get the striking storm videos without the sadness of people losing their homes and possibly their lives. 

These storms also could produce huge hail stones and damaging winds. 

The severe weather chances will move into areas around Arkansas tomorrow.  More chances of severe weather and possible tornadoes are expected to come along Tuesday and Wednesday in parts of the South as another storm comes along

FLOODING

If you want to look at the bright side, all these storms in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska  are squelching the wildfires that have been plaguing that region.

Now the trouble is too much rain. Heavy rain has been going on since yesterday in the southern half of Missouri, so that whole area is under flood warnings today.  

Flooding might spread into Kansas and maybe Nebraska today as heavy rain continues. 

These rains are the product of a slow moving storm that is helping to also create those severe storms in Texas, and and epic snowstorm in Colorado and Wyoming. Let's get into that!

FEET OF SNOW

This storm is causing wet east winds to blow into Colorado and Wyoming.  The landscape increases in elevation from east to west, which means this flowing air has to rise. Rising, wet air means precipitation. In this case lots of it. 

Huge amounts of snow are expected in some areas, especially in the foothills a little west of Denver and on into Wyoming.  Up to two feet of snow is forecast in Denver through Sunday night, and two to four feet in places like Boulder and Fort Collins. 

A good chunk of Wyoming will have a lovely weekend with two feet of new snow and winds gusting to 60 mph or so.  Hmm. Wonder why they're under a blizzard warning. 

Travel, needless to say, will be impossible during this storm. 

FIRES:

In southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic states, the snow has melted and it's too soon for things to green up. There's lots of dry fuels from last year left over.  It hasn't rained much, and strong northwest winds and low humidity will bring the risk of brush fires to this area over the weekend. There have already been several fires, and this weekend will bring more f it 

VERMONT IMPACTS

The hint at spring in Vermont party is over, at least for now.  Friday gave us one more lovely spring day, but a cold front last evening gave us some gusty north winds, quick snow squalls, and even quicker temperature drops.  It was in the 50s yesterday, and many of us won't get above freezing today. 

And then it will get even colder. A second Arctic front will come through tonight with more snow showers.  Valleys will only get perhaps an inch of snow, but the mountains could pick up a few inches tonight through Sunday. 

The real story is the cold. Strong winds will pick up again Sunday, driving temperatures downward during the day through the 20s and into the single digits Sunday night.  Highs on Monday will only be around 15 to 20 degrees, as opposed to the near 40 degree readings we should expect this time of year. 

Sunday and especially Sunday night and Monday will very likely be the coldest weather will see until late November or December, which I guess is a good thing.  It wasn't a rough winter. Still, we're looking forward to warmer days, teased by the embrace of spring weather this past week. 

Temperatures will pop back up to normal midweek.  That storminess from the Plains, South and Rockies might make it to our neck of the woods in the second half of the week in much weakened fashion.

Still, we could easily get some snow and rain out of this, but it's too soon to say how much. As I mentioned yesterday, we need more than the piddling little snow showers we have been getting, so let's hope for a soaking rain. Looks unlikely, but we'll see.