Thursday Evening Storm Update: MAYBE Not As Bad As First Forcasted, But Don't Count On It

National Weather Service in South Burlington, Vermont has
backed down a bit on expected snow accumulation 
Saturday, but they still anticipate 8-2 inches in most
of Vermont, except the southeast. 

 After such a beautiful, springlike Thursday in Vermont, it's hard to believe we're under a winter storm watch.  

But that kind of thing is typical in Vermont. Especially this time of year.

It was nice to get some early season work done in my yard in St. Albans, Vermont today. There's pretty much no snow on the ground. 

Temperatures were up there in the mid-40s, and there was plenty of sunshine. All this would normally give me optimism I can get my gardening enterprise off to an early start this year. 

But then there's that winter storm watch for Saturday. 

That'll delay things.  It's March. I'm used to this time of year disappointing me. 

However, I suppose the good news, for me at least, is the National Weather Service this afternoon back off a little on expected snow accumulations.  And, there are a few signs that parts of next week, will be pretty darn warm, which would get rid of the snow a little faster.

I know, I know. Not everybody shares my enthusiasm for an early spring. Many people want more big snows And the one coming looks big enough.

This morning's forecasts for the storm depicted more than a foot of snow for most places in central and northern Vermont. New forecasts issued late this afternoon depict eight to 12 inches.

The difference in forecasts are that some of the computer guidance shifts the heaviest precipitation a little east of where earlier predictions had it. 

That new guidance is not set in stone however. I always caution about "windshield wipering" in advance of most storms.

There's pretty much no snow left in my yard as of today in 
St. Albans, Vermont. That whiff of smoke you see in the 
background means I finally got my burn pile taken care of
today. The lack of snow would make me think I could get
an early start on my spring chores, but the anticipated
Saturday snowstorm will put the kibosh on that. 

I call it that because computer models will sometimes change the expected path of a storms, say, to the east, then later push it back west, then east, then west, etc. Back and forth, like your car's windshield wipers in a heavy rainstorm.

So everything is fair game.  

For now, we'll go with the slightly lower snow totals, as the computer models have, at least for now, pushed things a little to the east.

That doesn't mean we're off the hook. A fair share of this storm will still feature heavy, wet snow. And gusty winds. That still puts us at risk for quite a few power outages Saturday and Saturday night. 

Things still look like they'll taper off late Saturday night, but gusty winds will continue well into Sunday.

If you're like me and are rooting for that new snow to melt, next week's forecast is encouraging. If the forecast holds, we'll have temperatures in the low 40s early next week, and perhaps low 50s later in the week. 

That'll get rid of a good share of that new snow fairly quickly.