Not A Springlike Week In Vermont, But Much Better Than Winter! Month Will Still Average Out Warm

Daffodil shoots re-emerging from the snow in St. Albans
Vermont last Friday after the sun came out following morning 
snow.  This week in Vermont won't be particularly
springlike, either, but we've gotten to the point in the
season that we probably won't have to deal with
intense winter cold again until late November or December.

 It's going to be a seasonably chilly week in Vermont, but nothing unusual for the final eight days of the month. 

It will just feel cold because of the oddly warm March we've had so far. 

Sunday was the first notably colder than normal day we've had this month since March 3  Even so, it wasn't that far below normal and pretty routine for this time of year. 

Although we'll have to deal with some wintry-ish weather, particularly this morning, again, we should count our blessings. 

THIS MORNING'S SNOW

A warm front of sorts is coming from the southwest. We're still on the cold side of that front, of course, so snow is breaking out.

It won't be much, but as usual it seems, the timing is atrocious, right in time for the morning commute. Since it was chilly yesterday and last night, the snow won't melt right off the roads, either. 

So for a few of us, it is slow, slick drive to work or school this morning, unfortunately.  Only a little snow can make a mess.  The weather radar this morning looked worse than it really is, as dry air is evaporating some of the snow as it falls.

Some traffic cameras in central Vermont are showing a little snow on the roads. But many places were looking really good. So it looks like spotty trouble this morning for the rest of the commute but not a full-blown disaster on the roads. 

We're only expecting less than an inch in the Champlain Valley and one to two inches in a lot of other places. And that is probably too generous a forecast.as precipitation early this morning is much lighter and spottier than originally forecast

This little blip of snow will all taper off to scattered rain light rain showers this afternoon as we get up near 40 degrees.

REST OF THE WEEK

Tuesday through Friday look uneventful, so that's good. Temperatures will run slightly cooler than normal, but nothing out of the ordinary. (Mostly highs 35-45, lows in the 20s).  

It'll be unsettled with frequent chances of light rain or snow showers, but it won't amount to much at all

The next chance of a  larger storm comes next weekend, but the details are iffy at this point. So far, that weekend storm appears as it will be mostly rain. We'll keep an eye on it. 

IN PERSPECTIVE

With this week's seasonable weather, we won't come close to having our warmest March on record, despite readings in Burlington reaching the 70s three times before March 20.

The warmest March by far was in 2012 with an average temperature of 43.2.  That was the weird month in which Burlington hit the low 80s on three days in a row and was 76 degrees or above for five days in a row 

To be honest, I'm not even sure this March will make the list of top 10 warmest, but it might. We'll see.

This won't be a springlike week, but think about how far we've come from winter.  At least in the Champlain Valley and warmer spots around Vermont, it's now too late in the season for it to get below zero. (All bets are off in the Northeast Kingdom, though).

There's a chance that we might not have any more subfreezing high temperatures in the Champlain Valley until next winter.  Although we have been known to see a few high temperatures at or below 32 degrees as late as the third week in April.

We could always get a big snowstorm well into April, so we're not necessarily done with that type of thing. Just last year, many of us had a foot or so of wet snow on April 4.   But, if it does snow like that, it always melts away within a few days at most.

After catching up to near normal after some snowstorms in February, the season's snowfall, at least as measured in Burlington is well below average again.  It has barely snowed this month, with just 3.3 inches so far in March, plus whatever we get today. 

Snowfall for the season so far in Burlington is 67.7 inches, or about a foot below what we should have had by now. 

I still don't see any more 70 degree afternoons in the forecast for awhile.  But don't worry, that will return soon enough as we inevitably get warmer and warmer as we head through the spring and toward summer. 

Before you know it, you'll be whining that it's too hot and humid.