Spring Is Over For Now In Vermont. Enjoy The Chill, Showers, Clouds Into May

An emerging spring sugar maple leaf amid today's
rain in St. Albans, Vermont. 

Did you love the warm, sunny weather Friday afternoon?  Was Saturday OK for you, with its relatively mild temperatures and lack of rain?  

Hope you didn't miss out on it! It'll be awhile before such weather is back.

GLOOMY WEEK?

As forecast, a drenching rain is falling across Vermont today.  It's gotten to be on the dry side for this time of year. So the gloomy day long raindrops are a good thing, despite the fact it's interfering with outdoor fun and work. 

Most of us can expect total rainfall through tomorrow morning to run over an inch.  Not enough to cause any flooding, but you will see rivers go up and run fast without quite spilling over their banks.  It'll be pretty soggy underfoot, too. 

The problem is, the wet weather isn't just a today thing. Clouds, showers and cool weather are now here for an extended stay. 

As often happens in the spring, the weather pattern gets stuck.  More often than  not, when the weather gets stuck, we in Vermont get the cloudy end of the stick. 

High pressure way up in northeastern Quebec will prevent the storm causing today's rain from really moving away. 

So, the risk of showers - and mountain snow showers - will continue pretty much all week. 

That's not to say you won't see the sun at all. It'll peek through from time to time, especially as we get later in the week. 

But with the storm lingering, at least in the upper atmosphere, cold air will sit over us. Especially in the higher levels of the atmosphere. If the sun breaks through the clouds, it will heat the ground  a bit, cause updrafts, interact with the chilly air above and create showers. 

Spring foliage begins to emerge on a rainy Sunday in
St. Albans, Vermont while daffodils look on in the background.

At least we'll see gradual improvement as the week goes on. Monday will be almost a washout. You'll probably dodge a lot of mostly light showers Tuesday.  Breaks between showers will last longer Wednesday through Friday.  

It's hard to say when this weather pattern will fully break.  This kind of thing can last one week, two weeks, even three weeks in some cases. The computer models that meteorologists at least partly rely upon aren't good at predicting when these blocky weather patterns will loosen up. 

For now, the iffy long range forecasts have us in a cool, showery pattern through the first week of May.  This prediction is subject to change, of course. 

BRIGHT SIDES

There are bright sides to all this. 

So far at least, forecasts indicate the core of the coldest air seems like it wants to go by to our south and west. Those long range forecasts seem like they want to keep the coldest air, relative to average, off to our south and west. Mostly in the mid-Mississippi and Ohio river valleys.  

A broad area in the Midwest from Nebraska to Ohio are under freeze warnings tonight. Some areas in th Midwest and Plains could see record low temperatures. 

Chances are we in Vermont will be on the chilly side most days into early May, but it might not be so extreme or consistent.  At this point, we see chances of the usual light freezes we get this time of year, but nothing record breaking. Chances are also greater than average that we will be somewhat wetter than average into early May. 

That doesn't sound like we will have enjoyable weather, but it has its benefits. For one, spring is way ahead of average, which puts at risk for damage from late frosts. Cool, cloudy weather will stall the progress of spring, which will prevent even more frost and freeze vulnerability. 

Second, the clouds will likely prevent temperatures from getting too cold at night, which would prevent the risk of frost damage. 

Also, for the past couple of years, Vermont has been battling the horrible spongy caterpillars (formerly known by a name that included an eastern European slur). These disgusting insects deforested much of Vermont's landscape in the early summers of 2021 and 2022.

Damp, drizzly, foggy weather in the spring encourages a type of fungus that has absolutely no effect on us humans. But it  can decimate spongy caterpillar populations. We can only hope. 

The weather pattern also has a bright side for the whole nation, too.  It will suppress (though not entirely eliminate) the chances of severe weather and tornadoes for at least the next week or so. 

Which makes cloudy, chilly, wet spring skies easier to take.