A More Interesting Vermont Weather Day Today Than I Originally Thought

Last April 16, a period of heavier precipitation turned rain
to snow for a couple hours in St. Albans, Vermont. Parts
of the state face a similar situation today with a dynamic
little storm passing through. 

It's the little compact storms that will getcha. 

Such is the case today as a small but dynamic little bugger will give us a rather dramatic day of weather in Vermont. 

Don't worry, it won't be the end of the world, but things will get a bit interesting this afternoon in at least parts of the state.

Here's the set up:  There's still this large upper level low a bit to our west, and disturbances are rotating through this thing looping southeastward through the Great Lakes down into the southern Appalachians and then northeast towards us.

One of these disturbances has a lot of oomph to it and formed into its own storm system. It has already spread springtime sleet through parts of Kentucky and piled up inches of snow in the North Carolina mountains. 

This storm is making a beeline for Vermont and will go over us today, especially this afternoon. This system will create a lot of lift in the atmosphere. Rising air means precipitation, and it will surely break out. 

The system is also acting sort of like a nor'easter, and nor'easters tend to have a band of heavy rain or snow just to the west and north of their path.  It seems like this will create a period of heavy precipitation in a large swath of Vermont today.  Early indications is everybody will get in the action, but the band could be most focused west of the Green Mountains. 

Notice I said "precipitation" and not just "rain." 

The National Weather Service in South Burlington 
put out a simulated radar loop of how things will
likely look this afternoon. You can see in this image
a patch of rather heavy rain and snow in Vermont.
Those patches of yellow are possible thunderstorms. 

Sure, it's warmish this morning, so you'd expect another round of rain, right? It was already in the 30s out there at dawn, you'd expect it to get at least into the 40s by afternoon.

Well, yes. It probably will get that warm for a bit. But energetic little storms like this will sometimes create their own little packet of cold air. And when precipitation comes down heavily, a portion of it evaporates in the air, cooling it. 

So this afternoon, when things really wind up, rain will probably mix with snow, even on valley floors. It could easily go over to all snow for a time in mid and high elevations. 

Meteorologists at the National Weather Service in South Burlington don't think the snow will accumulate much in the valleys.  Maybe a slushy coating, especially on the grass. There might be a few inches way up high.  

Still, this afternoon will be a bit tricky, with rather heavy rain and snow cutting visibility.  Roads should mostly stay just wet in the valleys, though there will be puddles and ponding that will make you hydroplane if you're not careful. 

Roads will probably get slushy at least for a time in mid and high elevations. 

On top of all this, thunderstorms could mix in, especially in the southeastern half of the state. A few storms might also contain some small hail. Nothing severe, but still a nice punctuation to this little devil of a storm.

As the storm departs, it'll take its little packet of cold air with it. Precipitation will lighten up by this evening. Places that get snow will switch back over to light rain showers. 

The storm will be a quick mover, so the heavy precipitation will only last a few hours. Rain and melted snow will amount to maybe a quarter to a half inch, with the most over western Vermont. 

This will come on top of more than an inch of rain that fell Thursday and Friday over most of Vermont. A little less than that fell in the Northeast Kingdom. 

National Weather Service in South Burlington released this
map Friday, showing rainfalls Thursday through Friday
morning. Everybody in yellow got at least an inch
of rain Orange areas had at least 1.5 inches.

With that storm, precipitation for the year in Burlington now is marginally above average. That's the first time this year we've been ahead of normal. 

We ran below normal all of last year, too, in northern Vermont, so these storms are probably helping to recharge the ground water some. A good thing! 

Sunday will be mostly cloudy, breezy, kind of raw with a few light, cold showers around, with more light snow in the mountains. Not a nice day, but any precipitation we do get won't amount to much. 

The week ahead looks warmer, but unsettled. We won't get much rain during the week, but there will be times when we'll have a few showers around. No washout by any means. Temperatures will reach the low 50s Monday, and flirt with 60 degrees Tuesday through Friday, so not bad.