Quick Vermont Monday Evening Storm Update: Winter Storm, High Wind Watches

The latest snow forecast map from the National 
Weather Service office in South Burlington, issued
this afternoon. It only goes through 8 p.m. Thursday.
so a little more might fall in the mountains after that.
This map is also very much subject to change. 

 Doing a very quick update this Monday evening on the expected storm coming later this week. Mostly because the National Weather Service has hoisted some weather watches for different  parts of the Vermont.  

A winter storm watch is now in effect for the Green Mountain chain, and sizable chunks of southern and central Vermont. 

The watch goes from sometime Wednesday morning through the late night on Thursday. The areas under the watch can expect six to 14 inches of snow, with locally higher amounts in the mountains. 

So far, the only parts of Vermont not under any kind of winter weather watch is the Champlain Valley and parts of the Northeast Kingdom. These areas will still see snow,  but not as much. The White Mountains of New Hampshire will probably block some of the deep moisture necessary for snow from reaching the Northeast Kingdom.

The Green Mountains will probably block a little moisture from reaching the Champlain Valley, too. And it'll be a little warmer there, so rain will mix in during parts of the storm

That relatively brief window later Wednesday during which strong winds could occur in Rutland County, especially along the western slopes of the Greens, has gotten a little more certain. However, the strong damaging winds could extend all the way to the New York border, 

Which is why all of Rutland County is under a high wind watch later Wednesday afternoon and evening. Winds could gust to over 60 mph. 

Strong winds, perhaps not as powerful as in Rutland County, could extend northward along the western slopes, too, all the way to near Jay Peak.  Combined with wet snow, the winds are a recipe for power failures. 

Speaking of which, this still looks like it will be a wet, heavy snow, so power outages could occur anywhere in the state during this storm. 

Other changes to the forecast have rain and snow starting a little later in the day Wednesday.  It'll also be slightly warmer than first thought on Wednesday, so rain will predominate at first before a changeover to snow in most spots.

I'll have much more on this storm in tomorrow morning's post.