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| The last leaves of autumn clinging to the trees in St. Albans on Monday under overcast, gusty skies. The leaves won't last much longer on those trees. |
The next week or so will feature more of the same: Lots of wind, quick hits of rain, which won't be particularly heavy, and, with each passing cold front, increasing chances of snow with temperatures stepping down with each front.
Since temperatures will stay cool, especially in the mountains, this might portend an early ski and riding season.
Each storm will deposit a little snow in the mountains. More importantly, for resorts that want to get an early start, like Killington the chilly air has the snow guns blasting.
WPTZ reports Killington had 175 snow guns firing away on their slopes this past weekend. I'm sure they will have plenty of opportunities to make snow in the coming week to 10 days. It'll trend colder than normal, especially as we head into next weekend.
There's no word yet on when Killington will open, the resort says they hope to open soon.
The series of modest, but gusty storms could gradually increase snow depths on the northern Vermont summits over the next week. I wouldn't be surprised if the top of Mount Mansfield and Jay Peak have close to a foot of snow on the ground by this time next week.
Unlike recent oddly mild Novembers, this one is shaping up to be more traditional in Vermont: Windy, overcast, unsettled, with occasional cold rain and wet snow. Lovely.
THE DETAILS
The first gusty storm, as we know, went through with light showers yesterday and last night.
This storm got weird in Massachusetts. A brief tornado might have touched down around Somerset, near Fall River late last night in southeast Massachusetts. Other nearby towns had strong, straight line winds.
It looks like the National Weather Service will investigate those reports.
Nothing like that in Vermont, but you'll still feel those blustery winds today.
Places on and near the east slopes of the Adirondacks and Green Mountains could see gusts as high as 45 mph. That would be enough for some isolated power outages.
Most of us should stay dry, though the Northeast Kingdom should stay with the showers into the early afternoon. High spots like Jay Peak will probably see some snowflakes.
The next storm comes at us fast, zipping in from the west, strengthening as it does so. It won't have a huge amount of moisture to work with, so we'll just have periods of light rain and Wednesday afternoon and some gusty showers tomorrow night. There could even be a rumble of thunder.
Rainfall with the Wednesday night storm will probably run from about a tenth of an inch south and maybe a third of an inch north. Not enough to help with the lingering drought, but it won't hurt, either!
The back side of the storm late Wednesday night and Thursday will feature winds even stronger than today. We might see a wind advisory as gusts could reach 50 mph in a few favored spots and 40 mph in quite a few other locations. That could cause a few scattered power outages once again.
The gales of November indeed.
On Thursday morning, those of you living at or above 1,500 feet in elevation could wake up to a slushy coating of snow. Mountain summits could see a few inches of snow, we'll see!
Another quick system comes in Saturday, but shouldn't be a biggy.
Things could get interesting with the next zippy storm Sunday. A blast of really cold air should come behind that one, which could give valley floors, even in the warmer Champlain Valley, some snow. It's too soon to say how much, but we do know it won't exactly be a tremendous blizzard.
It'll probably be closer to a dusting in the valleys, with several inches up in the mountains.
You know how the first snow of the season is in Vermont. A dusting of snow, and the fact that people have somehow forgotten how to drive in the winter can turn a simple drive to work into a real, frustrating and sometimes scary mess.
I'm already dreading next Monday.
But, forecasts can change, so we'll keep an eye on it.
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