Friday Evening Vermont Snow Update: Yes, An Update, As Forecast More Wintry Than This Morning

Snowfall mostly in southern and central Vermont looks
like it will be more widespread and a little heavier
than forecasts had indicated this morning. 

 Vermont - at least a sizable chunk of it, looks like it's going to be snowier than originally thought on Saturday. 

Winter weather advisories have been posted for basically the southern half of Vermont excluding the western parts of Addison and Rutland counties. 

Essentially a band of precipitation that I mentioned in this morning's post that we know will move south to north over Vermont will have more oomph that first thought. 

That means the snow and rain will be heavier that expected in southern Vermont and will have more staying power than originally thought as it works its way north. 

Heavier precipitation tends to cool the air, so the marginal temperatures we're expecting means some parts of southern Vermont are in for quite a bit of late season snow.

Who gets how much will depend on elevation. Valley towns in southern Vermont like Bennington, Brattleboro and Springfield will probably see about two inches of wet snow. It'll be hard for snow to accumulate in the valleys. 

It'll be snowing hard enough, but the sun angle this time of year is the same as it is in late August. Some of the heat will penetrate the clouds and melt some of the snow as it melts.

It might be a different story though in the slightly colder southern Green Mountains. Those areas could see six inches of snow in spots, or even a little more than that. Some roads will be slick across southern Vermont, especially in the morning before the sun can really come up.

Since this will be a wet and heavy snow, I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few power outages as well. 

The snow will tend to lighten up and mix with rain in southern Vermont during the afternoon. 

Meanwhile, the snow will continue to make its way further north than this morning's forecasts suggested. High elevations as far north as Stowe could see two to four inches of wet snow, while valleys away from the Champlain Valley could see a slushy coating to as much as an inch. 

There's a big caveat here. If the trends in forecasting meteorologists saw this afternoon continue on that path, central and northern Vermont could actually see a little more snow than what I'm outlining here.

This morning, I said that the northern Champlain Valley might get no rain at all. Since this push of precipitation has more oomph than expected, now it looks like it will probably rain at least a little, so Saturday won't be a nice day 

The bulk of the precipitation will hit northwest areas in the afternoon, when it's warmest. Plus, rainfall rates won't be that impressive, so folks in Burlington and St. Albans very likely won't see any kind of changeover to snow.

Unless this little stormy episode continues to surprise. 

Sunday is looking much better, as skies will start to clear, at least in western Vermont. Eastern Vermont might stay cloudy with a risk of a few light showers. At least it will be warmer, with highs near 50 east and in the 50s west.

That should start to melt Saturday's snow in a hurry.