Spring Officially Arrives In Vermont In VERY Springlike Fashion, But It Won't Last

Last week, I burned my brush pile while there was still
snow on the ground to minimize the threat of it spreading.
DO NOT burn your brush pile today. Dry grass and last
year's dead leaves can easily ignite into an out of
control brush fire with today's gusty winds. 

 Astronomical spring arrived in Vermont and of course the rest of the eastern U.S. at precisely 5:01 a.m. this morning. 

The arrival of spring and the arrival of spring weather in Vermont are often two very different things, but this time, the two gelled. 

At 5 a.m. today, at a time of day temperatures are usually in the 20s this time of year, it was 53 degrees in Burlington. On Wednesday, it got up to 72 degrees in Burlington, the warmest so far this year. 

It actually doesn't get to 70 degrees all that often in March up in Vermont. In the past 125 years in Burlington, it has only gotten to 70 degrees in Burlington in 19 Marches. 

It's even more rare to have two days in the 70s in the same March as we will this year.  And it's possible today might be day Number 3 this month to make it into the 70s. 

That amount of warm March air isn't a record, though. In the bonkers, insanely warm March of 2012 it goes into the 70s on five days, with three of those reaching the low 80s.

With climate change, this isn't your grandfather's Vermont spring, is it?

I also noticed overnight from my perch on St. Albans hill that the ice has flushed out of St. Albans Bay, and it's blue water down there now. That lack of ice is a little earlier than usual. 

This being Vermont, you can't count on winter departing once it is spring, even if this warmer world we're living in today. 

TODAY: WARM, WINDY AND FIERY?

Today will be the final day for quite awhile in which you can enjoy shorts and t-shirt weather in Vermont. 

It'll be breezy, especially in the northern Champlain Valley as clouds begin to increase this afternoon.

We're actually joining so much of the nation today with a fire danger.  Nothing extreme, like we've seen in California, Texas, Oklahoma, the Carolinas and other states this year. But with last year's dead grasses, weeds, plants and stuff not having greened up yet, it's easy to set things alight while being careless with fire. 

The Vermont Department of Forests, Park and Recreation today has  listed a very high risk of brush fires today,   in places where the snow has melted away. The Champlain Valley is especially susceptible to brush fires as that's where today's winds will be strongest, and the snow is long gone.

I'm so glad I did my annual brush pile burn last week, while there was still snow on the ground.  

COLD FRONT/SNOW

We're still watching that cold front that will put an end to the warm weather tonight. 

It's BACK! Our familiar National Weather Service snow
forecast map. Luckily, most of us shouldn't get much
snow Friday morning, but it could be enough to
make some the roads iffy for Friday's morning commute. 

Rain will move in tonight as temperatures drop.  There's not that much snow left to melt, and the rain won't be especially heavy, so I'm not too worried about any new flooding in Vermont.

 Rivers will run kinda high tonight and tomorrow, but shouldn't cause any real high water problems. 

We still have a storm that will ride north along the front as a sort of nor'easter, which will help pull down colder air and change the rain to snow by morning in many areas. 

For those of you who are tired of winter, sone good-ish news. Less snow will fall that we thought while looking at forecasts a few days ago. 

 Most places away from the mountains should only get a dusting to a couple of inches. However, the snow will hit right during the Friday morning commute, and it wouldn't take much snow to make the roads a bit scary.

So build that possibility into your plans if you're headed off to work or school tomorrow morning. 

THEN WHAT?

That snow will head out quickly Friday morning and it will actually clear up west to east during the day. It will be blustery and much colder, with highs only in the low to mid 40s west and 30s east.

From there on out for the foreseeable future, we should revert back to the usual late March chilly variability. Some days won't be too bad, others will feature at least a little rain or wet snow. Temperatures look like they will pretty much stay near to below normal pretty much every day tomorrow through the beginning of April.

Saturday will actually be sort of mild ahead of a the next cold front. Sunday looks largely sunny and cold, while more rain and snow make a run at us Monday. It's too early to say how much of that schmutz we'll get, but at this point it doesn't look like a huge storm. 

After that, it's nearly impossible to tease out what will come through and when, but next week and the week after that should put a late season chill in your bones. 

On the bright side, it's no longer winter, so most afternoons through the next couple weeks will at least get above freezing.   You take what you can get, right?