Strange Quick Storm Last Evening, Bit Of A Mess Coming Thursday

 That band of wintry weather that zipped through much of Vermont last evening didn't last long, and didn't leave much behind, but it made for quite a noisy half hour. 

As expected, the weather disturbance contained a bout of mixed precipitation. It didn't amount to much and just slickened up the roads a bit. But boy, was it noisy, at least in the Champlain Valley.

Winds really ramped up during the brief interluded of storminess around 6 p.m. Winds in Burlington momentarily gusted to 50 mph.  Combined with a blast of sleet, most of us certainly heard it. 

Between a brief storm last evening, and a somewhat messy 
one tomorrow, Wednesday was lovely for February.
Temperatures reached the low 40s, a little snow melted.
and the sun made a welcome appearance. 

A little video at the bottom of this post illustrates a bit how loud it was in St. Albans, Vermont. 

The whole thing blew through within a half hour, leaving behind little except patches of drizzle, with a few patches of freezing drizzle in the cold spots.
 

Today has been quiet, and actually quite nice by afternoon. The sun came out, and many of us made it up into the low 40s. Some of the snow melted. It was a lovely March day. But in February.

Surprisingly, at least for me, the high of 44 degrees in Burlington was the warmest temperature since January 6. Seems strange given the balmy winter we've had. 

However, we're gearing up for a new storm. This one on Thursday and Thursday night will have more precipitation with it, and will definitely last longer than Tuesday evening's little outburst. 

A winter weather advisory has been posted for the entire spine of the Green Mountains of Vermont and  the eastern slopes of those mountains, and in the Northeast Kingdom 

It'll be tricky tomorrow afternoon as to who gets freezing rain and who just gets a cold rain. The Champlain Valley will be open for business to a south wind, so temperatures there should be above freezing all day. I wouldn't worry too much about freezing rain there.  

Along and east of the Green Mountains, it will depend on whether those south winds can scour down to the surface. Where those south winds hit, you should be OK. In protected valleys, the freezing rain might continue all afternoon.

That's tricky for motorists. You might be in a spot with just plain rain. Then you drive downhill and all of a sudden you're skating on ice. 

Ice accumulation forecast for Thursday. Most of the problems
in Vermont will be along and east of the Green Mountains. 

By the time Thursday night rolls around, though, most if not all places in Vermont should have warmed up enough to see plain rain. 

It could get noisy again, especially in the northern Champlain Valley, where winds could gust to 40 mph again Thursday night. 

As a cold front comes through, gusty winds will come in from the west. 

In one respect, Friday might end up being similar to last Friday, in that temperatures will probably fall all day. 

 Unlike last Friday, cold is a relative term.  We'll start off in the 40s, go through the 30s and into the 20s later in the day. That's above zero, not below. No Arctic outbreak this time! 

We might see some snow showers and light accumulation Friday and Friday night, so watch out for that if you're driving. 

From this vantage point, it looks like it'll be a quiet weekend.  Saturday will be seasonably cold  with temperatures in the 20s during the day. Another warmup will start Sunday, with highs in the mid and upper 30s, much like last Sunday. 

Video: It's night but hard to see, but volume up.  A half-hour long interlude of high winds and sleet last evening in St. Albans made for a noisy dinner hour. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that: