Snow (Temporarily) Rebuilding In Vermont Mountains; Flurried To Death Elsewhere

After a sunny day, traffic cams show a snow squall
hitting Interstate 89 in Williston shortly before 6 p.m.
It was brief, but left areas of black ice behind. 
Same situation could well happen in parts of
Vermont today. 

Vermont weather on Friday was certainly windy, with a wait a minute it will change character.  

So stereotypical of March, so there you go. Winds gusted as high as 63 mph at a  fairly  high elevation in Jay. Elsewhere, we had reports of 53 mph in Lowell, 51 mph on Colchester Reef and in Springfield and 49 mph in Alburgh and West Rutland. 

Almost everybody saw top winds in the 40 mph range. The gusts were enough to produce some power outages. The number of homes and businesses without power Friday peaked at around 2,400 shortly before 2 p.m. Friday. 

Also true to March character was the weather. It was bright and sunny in much of Vermont for a good chunk of midday. Then, as expected, those briefly sorta heavy, gusty hit and miss snow showers rolled in. 

I noticed Burlington got a quick. 0.7 inches of accumulation in a brief burst of snow late Friday afternoon. Traffic web cams showed highways in parts of Chittenden County getting iffy. There were quite a few reports of black ice, and a few slide offs and car  mishaps.   

NEXT UP

More of the same this weekend as a spray of small disturbances blow through from the west and northwest.

Snow prediction map from the National Weather Service
office in South Burlington through Monday morning.
Most of us won't get much, but some areas of the
northern Green Mountains, New York's Adirondacks
and New Hampshire's White Mountains could get
 a  decent six inches of snow out of this. 

None of these disturbances will be capable of bringing much snow. But it will add up in the central and northern Green Mountains, where a fresh four to seven inches should be on the ground in those high elevations by Monday morning. 

One of these little weather disturbances was putting down some snow showers mostly across  central Vermont early this morning. 

As of 6 a.m., it was snowing again a little in Burlington, though skies were clear overhead here in St. Albans. The hit and miss character of these snow showers continues. 

Judging from the traffic cameras, you might well encounter areas of snow covered roads and black ice this morning.  I'd take a little extra time getting to where  you are going early today because of this. 

Looks like new snow overnight ranges from less than an inch in the valleys to at least a couple inches in some of the mountains. 

Another hiccup in the wind flow overhead will bring central and northern Vermont another smattering of gusty snow showers this afternoon and evening. 

Much like Friday's snow showers, these will be hit and miss, and a few of them might contain very briefly heavy snow and gusty winds. Just enough to make it a little dicey on the road if you drive into one.

Today will stay windy, though not as bad as Friday. But it will be colder, with most places staying at or below freezing all day. 

After maybe a little sun Sunday morning, the next little weather thingy comes in from the west and northwest.  This will have a slightly better, more organized packet of snow showers with it.  Still, it will be light stuff. Most of us will see yet another dusting to two inches, with a little more in the mountains. 

SPRING, WITH INTERRUPTIONS

It'll start to warm up on Monday, and Tuesday should give us a brief treat of springtime temperatures. Many of us will see some sun and highs up in the low 50s.  Very nice!

Yesterday, I thought there'd be a little cold air oozing into northern Vermont Wednesday and maybe missing the south. 

Now it looks like that cold front from Quebec will blast on southward through the state, giving us a brief return to chilly conditions Wednesday. 

Then, it looks like a large storm will blossom somewhere in the central Plains next weekend. As it stands now, it looks like that storm will pump the warmest air of the spring so far into our region.  Early hint suggest it's even possible the warmer towns could reach 60 degrees in a little over a week.

Will be interesting to see if that comes to pass. As usual, spring will be coming to Vermont in reluctant fits and starts.