Vermont Storm Update: Still Looking Like TONS Of Snow, For Some

The National Weather Service in South Burlington took
 a first crack at a snowfall prediction map this morning.
This only goes through 8 a.m. Thursday, and more 
snow will probably fall after that. Also, this map
is HUGELY subject to change. 

 If you're in Vermont, enjoy the weather today and tomorrow, as you won't like Wednesday through Friday. 

Unless you're a big winter fan.

The big storm I told you about yesterday is still on track to hit New England with lots of snow, rain and wind.

 Vermont is still in the path of this storm. But we're still not close enough to its start time to get into too many specifics.

But we have more than yesterday, so that's progress. 

The main storm is still organizing in the middle of the nation today. It promises to bring a widespread outbreak of severe weather and probably some tornadoes later today. This covers a huge area from central Texas to Ohio.  

This wide threat area is one indication of how dynamic this storm will be.  We'll have to pay the most attention to parts of Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas this evening and tonight, where strong tornadoes are possible. 

This developing storm looks like it's moving a bit slower than earlier forecasts. So here in Vermont, we'll eke out two decent weather days, both today and tomorrow. Light rain is now very likely off the table for Tuesday. Highs in the low 50s today and near 50 Tuesday should keep early spring going for now

THE MAIN SHOW

As the storm moves up into the eastern Great Lakes, at least light rain and mountain snow will develop Wednesday.  It's a preliminary forecast, but it looks like Wednesday won't be the worst of it. Rain, possibly mixed with snow will begin in the valleys, and a few inches of snow might pile up in the mountains.  But that's not the main event.

If the forecast holds, Wednesday night through Thursday night will bring us the peak of the storm. That's when the coastal low will turn into a powerful, slow moving nor'easter near the coast. 

Some things to watch out for, pending changes in the forecast:

1. Some damaging downslope winds along the western slopes of the Green Mountains might develop for a time Wednesday night.  Preliminary forecasts have intense winds developing for a few hours just a few thousand feet overhead, especially above Rutland County, says the National Weather Service office in South Burlington. 

If this happens, and it's still a big if, we could have a few hours of damaging wind gusts in that area, and possibly elsewhere along the western slopes of the Greens. The NWS is keeping an eye on that possibility and we'll have more info on that tomorrow and/or Tuesday.

2. Heavy snow looks like a good bet, somewhere in Vermont. It's still too soon to figure out where the heaviest band of snow will set up. Also, we don't exactly know the temperatures in the valleys. Some valleys might be mixed with or change to rain, which would limit accumulations. Which low elevations would see a better mix with rain is TBA.

Mountain summits could see a good two feet of snow out of this.

3. During the last epic spring snowstorm on March 22, we were pleasantly surprised by the fact the snow wasn't as wet and heavy as forecast. It was more powdery. That limited power outages.

It doesn't look like we will be so lucky this time. It's a "warmer" storm, so most of the snow that falls will probably be wet and heavy, which puts a lot of power outages in play again.  Because we don't yet know where the heaviest snow will come down, we don't yet know the ground zero for potential power outages.

4. Snowy, cold weather looks to linger into Friday, possibly even Saturday in spots as this big monster of a storm will only leave New England begrudgingly.  

5. I'm still cautiously optimistic for at least partial clearing for eclipse day next Monday, but a LOT can change. I'm definitely not ready to sound the all clear. A lot of factors can still bring us an overcast that day.