Don't Worry: Spring Returns To Vermont Today. It's Already Started

Hyacinth in my St. Albans, Vermont garden buried under
snow this morning. It should be freed from its icy prison
by this afternoon as temperatures warm into the 50s. 

Well, that was something.  

The past two days in Vermont were more wintry than a fair number of days were this past January. 

Trust me, though. It's ending. Now, actually. 

The worst of the cold air actually started to lose its grip on Vermont last evening.  

Places east of the Green Mountains finally rose a bit above freezing at sunset, at at time of day when temperatures would normally start to drop for the night. 

Last night was not nearly as cold as the night before. Many places in the Green Mountain State actually stayed a bit above freezing. That means there was no additional damage to garden plants, but that fact is a bit too little, too late. 

 It's too soon as of this morning to assess garden damage, at least where I am, as everything is still buried in snow.  Snow depth at my house in St Albans, was still three inches this morning. 

Plus, there hasn't been an opportunity for things to fully thaw out yet. but by afternoon, I'll be able to look and assess. The snow will be largely gone for me, and most of us by evening. At least those of us who live at relatively low elevations. 

Unlike the frigid February stuff we had to deal with Thursday, it'll get up into the 50s today. That's not super warm, but it's still well within the realm of what we should expect this time of year. Winds will still be gusty, but it definitely won't snow. 

Given the ongoing shift in the weather pattern toward a warmer one, finger crossed, I'm pretty sure snow for the season in Vermont is done, except maybe in the high elevations.

Final snowfall for 2020-21 will thus come in at 63.1 inches in Burlington,  which is 17.5 inches below normal.  It was a mild winter. And spring for that matter, with notable exceptions like the past two days. 

Tomorrow - Saturday - looks even better.  Most of us should get into the 60s by afternoon. Any lingering snow in shadows will disappear.  

A daffodil, defeated by two days of snow and subfreezing
cold, slumps and dies in my St. Albans, Vermont
garden this morning. Warmer days are ahead, though.

One frustrating thing I've noticed this spring is the only time we get any badly needed precipitation, it comes in the form of a cold storm that involves a bunch of snow.  This has happened three times this month, with snow on April 1, 15-16 and 21-22.

When it turns warmer, it dries out.  We can't seem to muster any warm rains. 

We still need a boatload of rain. The recent storms helped a little, but we need several inches of rain to erase lingering dryness.  As of yesterday's weekly report, the U.S. Drought Monitor still showed virtually all of Vermont still experiencing moderate drought. 

Lo and behold, now that it's warming up, the precipitation for us is shutting down again.  

Forecasts for rainfall with Sunday's expected storm system keep going lower and lower.  Early estimates were for nearly an inch.  It's beginning to look as if we'll be lucky to get a quarter inch. At least it will be rain, not snow, right?

Sunday and especially Monday will be chilly and raw, but again, not anything unusual for this time of year.  At least it will get up into the 50s by day.  

It'll warm up dramatically during the upcoming week.  We even have a shot of touching 80 degrees next Thursday.  

However, I don't see many chances of substantial rain coming up next week. And longer range forecasts look "meh" in the precipitation department. At least we won't have to deal with more snow, though.