Vermont Week Ahead: Thawing For Awhile With Frequent Rain/Snow Chances

A few snowflakes seen drifting down yesterday -
a gloomy but somewhat milder day than we've
had recently. A thaw starts today. 

OK, technically, our anticipated thaw sorta, kinda started Sunday, but it was essentially another winter day. 

In Burlington and here in St. Albans, the temperature got up to 34 degrees for a little while, which didn't exactly set off a rush of melting snow.  A few places in southeastern Vermont managed to reach the mid-30s. 

Snowflakes occasionally wafted down out of the sky, and a few places picked up an inch or so of snow. 

Except of course near the usual snowy Jay Peak, where nearby towns such as Westfield and Montgomery got about four inches of new snow Saturday night and early Sunday. 

After more snow flurries and snow showers last evening, we're starting this Monday morning pretty mild.  That should set the stage for our long awaited thaw.  

It won't be a dramatic thaw.  It won't suddenly get wildly warm, then immediately crash to near 0 temperatures within hours. Instead, temperature trends will be gradual. 

There won't be any big storms, either. Just a near constant risk of drizzle, cold rain drops here and some potential slight snowy interruptions. Especially in higher elevations where the thawing won't amount to too much to begin with.   

And like the skies we saw on Sunday, it will mostly a gloomy thaw.   

We might see a little sun this morning. But don't count on it. The sun might also come out a little bit on Wednesday.  You might not want to hold your breath on that one, either .

And spoiler: We're not done with winter. It's going to come roaring back before you know it. 

Let's break down the week.

TODAY

A storm passing far to our north means we'll pretty much miss out on any real precipitation today. There probably will be a few snowflake and raindrops around, especially close to the Canadian border, but they won't amount to anything.  The Champlain Valley looks like it will turn a bit gusty, as south winds could get as high as 35 mph.

The breezes will keep tonight mild, as lows in the Champlain Valley and a few other warmer valleys probably won't even get below freezing.  That sets us up for Tuesday.

TUESDAY

The best guess is this will be a cloudy gloomy, possibly foggy, drizzly damp day. Highs in the valleys should make it to about 40 degrees. There's some questions as to whether the mountain summits might see a little snow, rime ice or freezing drizzle. 

There's a weak little system coming through which will provided us with some light sprinkles or wet snowflakes. One computer forecasting model is a little stronger with this system, which if it pans out could end up giving us a slight accumulation of wet snow Tuesday afternoon and evening. Forecasters are dubious about this, however, so don't count on any replacement snow, unless perhaps you're on a mountain peak. 

A thaw day, but not a nice day, if it works out as planned.

WEDNESDAY

Perhaps the "nicest" day of the week? At least there very little if any precipitation. And it will be mild, with highs in the 36 to 42 degree range. 

THURSDAY

Last day of the thaw. At this point it looks like a modest storm might start us out with a little snow in the morning, but most of us should change to a light, cold rain during the day. We'll keep an eye on this because if the colder air gets here faster, we could have a little more snow.  

Earlier forecasts had called or a somewhat larger storm on Thursday, but now it's looking pretty tame. More gloom and dampness, but that's about it. 

FRIDAY

Colder and windy as the thaw ends. Morning snow showers should taper off. Of course, the timing could change this far out.   Road conditions from light snow showers will be a question once again. We shall see.

SATURDAY

Another round of snow showers, but again, so far it's not looking like a big storm. There's some questions on temperatures. If the storm goes a little to our north, we could briefly pop back up above freezing again. If it goes to our south, we stay cold. The forecasting models are split on this one so far. 

Beyond that we get another winter cold shot, but we'll address that when we get closer to the event. 

For those of you who aren't ready for spring, there will be plenty of snow left in the mountains and many areas of northern and central Vermont after this week's little thaw to carry on with your winter fun