"Upside Down" Weird Storm In Northeast Now Straightening Itself Out; Vermont Gets Just Light Stuff

Satellite photo from Friday afternoon. Click on image
to make it bigger and easier to see. Center of
upper level low pressure seen as swirl in central
New York. Thick clouds there and to its south and
west were dropping snow. to the north in
Vermont and New Hampshire, breaks in the 
clouds and warm east breezes made for
pleasant weather for late November, Odd day.

 Friday was certainly a weird weather day here in the Northeast.  

A winter storm that proved even snowier and then expected hit places like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, southwest New York, Maryland and West Virginia with widespread snow. Some of it amounting to a foot or so in the high spots.

Even low elevations in that region shared in Friday's snowy experience. A dusting to three inches coated many places from western Connecticut to Maryland

One area of mountainous West Virginia went under the state's first blizzard warning since 2012. Video of the West Virginia blizzard showed drifts, near zero visibility and powerful winds. 

If that region had such a bout of wintry weather, you'd think we in Vermont would really be embracing winter, right?

As you probably know, that didn't happen. Friday was quite a nice day for late November, especially in northern and central Vermont. 

It got partly sunny, with really strikingly pretty clouds gracing the skies as temperatures in some areas in northern Vermont reached the low 50s. 

So yeah, things really were upside down. 

The culprit for this upside down weather was that strong upper level storm that pulled in surface low pressure into the Mid-Atlantic. The very cold pool of air aloft associated with that upper level low created lift in the atmosphere to create precipitation. The cold pool provided more than enough chill for snow.

So, points well south of Vermont had their first real bout of winter weather oddly before Vermont could do the same.

East winds north of that upper low pulled mild air from the Atlantic Ocean inland to northern New England. A wedge of dry air caught up in that flow was able to partly clear the skies, even if there were a few showers mixed in with the sunshine. 

So not only was it relatively mild and pleasant, some very nice rainbows got into the mix across northern Vermont too. 

THE NICE ENDS

Now, welcome back to reality. 

While the Mid-Atlantic States warm up slightly - enough to start melting that snow - Vermont finally gets a chance to cool down toward a belated start of winter. 

It will be an uneven path to winter over the next several days, but we'll get there. 

Today

As expected, more moisture from a new storm has been pulled westward all the way into Vermont and eastern New York, so there was some rain and snow out there this morning. 

While points well south of Vermont dealt with snow
Friday, we hear in St. Albans had patches of blue
sky, pretty clouds and mild temperatures.

Precipitation isn't turning out to be as consistent as initially forecast, so many of us won't get all much rain today. Perhaps a quarter inch or less. Mostly less. 

Light rain will be pretty widespread in the valleys the first half of today, with the steadiest precipitation in northeastern Vermont. Which is good, since that region got cheated out of Thursday's rain.

The atmosphere is cooling, so snow levels were declining in elevation this morning. As of 7 a.m, traffic cams at high elevation roads like Route 17 in Buels Gore, Route 302 in Topsham and Route 242 in Westfield were showing snow on the ground.

I think a lot of places at elevations of 1,000 feet or more will see snowflakes, but don't expect much accumulation. Possibly a few inches near the summits of the central and northern Green Mountains.

Sunday

Sunday is still looking like a classic, blustery late November day.  Daytime temperatures will only be in the 30s, maybe low 40s in southern Vermont valleys. Northwest winds gusting past 30 mph in many areas will add to the chill.

There won't be much sun, if any, and scattered cold rain and snow showers will still be around. The central and northern Green Mountains look like they might see a few more inches of snow. 

Upcoming week

A modest storm is still due to come through Monday night and Tuesday. After a generally fair, cool Monday, enough warm air will come in to make most of this little storm come in the form of rain. 

A little snow might enter the picture again, especially in high elevations and when the precipitation winds down Tuesday night. There might even be a dusting in the valleys by Wednesday morning if things work out the way forecaster think it might. 

After a quiet, cold Thanksgiving, there's big question marks for the end of the week, for Black Friday fun. 

Some computer models bring a mid-size snowstorm through Vermont, other models depict a swing and a miss, with the storm going too far south to give us much of anything. I guess we'll find out eventually. 

Whatever happens, it looks like the cold wintry air that should arrive by the middle of the upcoming week should last a long time, at least through the first week of December and quite possibly beyond.

Looks like winter is finally on Vermont's doorsteps, folks!