Sunday Evening Vermont Forecast Update Will Disappoint Snow Lovers

Updated National Weather Service snow prediction map. 
Predictions have been really scaled back in southern
Vermont, and this storm is increasingly looking 
underwhelming for snow loversl 

 It looks like the expected snow tonight in southern Vermont might go pfffft. 

At least to an extent.  

Meteorologists have scaled back expected snow accumulations for a reason you're going to mock: Dry air.

We've been socked in with low clouds and fog for days. So when we finally have an opportunity to squeeze some snow from all this wet air, all of a sudden we're talking about dry air?

Yep.

And said dry air is not going to solve our problems with this interminable overcast we're dealing with. 

The dry air is punching in several thousand feet overhead, up where snowflakes can form, not down here where most of us live. So the low overcast we've been oppressed by will continue. But the spot in the atmosphere than can manufacture snow flakes looks like it will falter.

As the National Weather Service office in South Burlington describes it, the mid-level dry air will probably limit snowfall. Plus, the lift in the atmosphere is not great. You want rising air to create precipitation and we have it in this situation. But it's not impressive.

The result, at least according to Sunday evening forecasts, will be an underwhelming 1.5 to 3.5 inches of snow for Vermont from Route 2 southward. I suppose a few high elevations down south could see four inches or a little more.

By winter storm standard in Vermont, that's a big yawn. 

I suppose we could still be surprised by more snow than that, given how so many storms have over-performed this winter. But I'm not holding my breath. 

Areas of Vermont north of Route 2 were never expected to get much snow and that's still true.  OK, those northern areas might get a dusting to as much as a little less than an inch of snow. But who cares? That's not exactly Blizzard of the Century. 

On the bright side, parts of far northern Vermont got a brief interval of dim sun earlier today. The sun was sort of,  kind of out in a wimpy way for a half hour late this morning in St. Albans before the dark, low clouds dominated again. 

I'll take anything I can get. 

Looking ahead, I suppose we might get some sun Tuesday and Wednesday, which would be nice. But those breathtaking clear  blue skies with white snow coating the mountains we often get this time of year is not in the cards. 

At least we're still not seeing any signs of extreme cold for the next week or so. Through next weekend temperatures will vary from about average to moderately warmer than you'd expect for this time of year