Vermont Snow Flurries Today, But How Soon We Forget How Wintry It Can Get

Vermont Agency of Transportation webcam this morning
shows a dusting of new snow along high elevation Route
17 in Buels Gore this morning.......

 A few snowflakes drifted past my windows this morning in St. Albans, Vermont. Snow and rain showers are in today's forecast. Web cams already show some dustings of new snow on the ground in higher elevations. 

This kind of thing in mid-April is absolutely normal in Vermont for this time of year.

 However, after that unprecedented April heat wave we just had, and some trees in the valleys coming into leaf earlier than I've ever seen before, we can be forgiven for feeling shocked by the snow flakes. 

If you think this is bad, we should travel back exactly one year ago today to see how wintry it can really get. 

On April 19, 2022 a late season snowstorm really over-performed, dumping a general four or five inches of snow in just a few hours across much of northern and western Vermont. Hyde Park received 8.5 inches, and spots in the Adirondacks had more than a foot of new snow.  The wet snow snapped quite a few trees and power lines, cutting power to over 20,000 Vermont customers. Thundersnow rumbled overhead that day, too.

By the way, we also had a snowstorm and  cold snap around this time of year in 2021, when three to six inches of snow fell on much of Vermont on April 20-21, 2021

So cheer up! We're breaking that two year trend by only getting annoying little flurries and dustings of snow. No big dumps of snow for us this time.  And it's going to warm up again. At least briefly. 

First, we'll endure a raw day today as we won't get out of the 40s.  At any time, you could see a cold rain shower, possibly mixed with snow or graupel. 

Graupel is that weird, kind of pellet-like icy snowflake caused by supercooled water freezing onto snowflakes. 

....but the flurries in Buels Gore are nothing compared
to this scene in St. Albans, Vermont
exactly one year ago today. 

Tonight will be cold, with most of us going down into the 20s. I'm slightly worried about some of the new leaves on the trees.  I think most will be OK, but I wonder if a few will shrivel up, turn black and need to start over.  If it gets colder than forecast, that could be an issue, well see. 

Tomorrow will be gorgeous. Still just slightly cool for the season, but with temperatures by afternoon in the 50s with just light breezes, you will feel like spring has returned. 

Do you miss last week's summer weather?  It now looks like we have a brief redux coming Friday. A surge of warm air will pop us into the 70s, possibly low 80s on Friday once again.  This, after forecasts five days ago said we'd be in an extended period of chilly weather. 

The forecast gets really iffy for the weekend, but Saturday looks like it might be on the warm side, too.  We'll see some rain in there Saturday, Sunday and/or Monday, but exactly how much is an open question. 

It will turn somewhat chilly again by early next week. After all, it's still only April