A Damp, Dreary Saturday Morning Leads To A Showery Vermont Afternoon. Wet Week Ahead?

Screen grab from the WCAX web cam high up on
Mount Mansfield showed new snow on the trees
this morning. Yes, it's a chilly Vermont May morning. 

We're starting the day with light rain across much of Vermont. Especially northwest Vermont judging from the radar at 8 a.m. today. 

It's not amounting to much, with almost everyone receiving a tenth of an inch of rain or less. Some places so far might have gotten nothing. 

It's chilly out there, too.  As of 8 a.m., temperatures in most valleys were hovering near 40 degrees. 

That means snow was falling in the high elevations, so when or if it clears up a little later today,  you'll maybe see a snow capped Mount Mansfield, Camels Hump or Jay Peak. The WCAX web cam from high up on Mount Mansfield revealed new snow on the trees this morning. 

At slightly lower elevations, if you looked very closely this morning at the traffic camera on Route 242 in Westfield near Jay Peak, you could see snowflakes in the air, though it wasn't sticking.

But that traffic camera on Route 242 shows patches of snow in the woods from this past winter. Spring definitely doesn't arrive at the same time in different areas of Vermont.

For virtually everyone in Vermont, though, this Saturday morning is definitely not springlike. It'll slowly get better, though, as we go through the next few days. But you'll still be dodging raindrops for much of the next week or so. 

REST OF TODAY

The National Weather Service in South Burlington tells us that those of us who are getting a somewhat steadier, light rain should see that disappear by late morning. But we're not done. It's never that easy. 

The air high overhead is frigid.  Which means, counterintuitively, that the sun this afternoon will help manufacture more clouds and showers. The sun will heat the ground, leading to updrafts. Since the air is so cold way up above us, the clouds will tower up enough to produce showers. 

They'll be hit and miss. Some of us will get wet this afternoon, some of us won't. It will be the luck of the draw. In a few cases the NWS says a few showers could be very briefly on the heavy side. And I wouldn't be surprised if the strongest of the showers contain harmless hailstorms sized smaller than peas   or graupel. 

Graupel is like frozen bits of snow that look like soft, white, tiny hailstones or bits of packing material. 

You've probably guessed by now that today won't be particularly warm. You guessed correctly. Highs today should get maybe into the low 50s, which is about 10 degrees cooler than average. Some areas north and in the high elevations might not get out of the 40s today. 

Temperatures won't have far to fall to get near the freezing point tonight, so there will be patchy frost. If you've put out sensitive plants, you're too early. Bring 'em in today. 

SUNDAY

This looks like the better of the two days. We still have a risk of a shower, but any showers will be very light and much less common than what we'll see today.  Most of us will stay dry. Sometimes the sun will be out, sometimes not. So it will be a difficult day to dress for. 

When the sun is out and you're between wind gusts, it'll feel nice. When the clouds are overhead and the wind blows a little, you'll shiver. High temperatures will only be in the 50s, though, so definitely bring the fleece if you're headed outdoors.  

NEXT WEEK

It looks like it might turn out to be quite a wet stretch, if a weather front stalls nearby as many of the computer models expect.

The nicer days of the week should be Monday and Tuesday. Both days will feature warmer air, and showers should be relatively few and far between. Highs should be in the low 60s Monday, so pretty close to average. 

On Tuesday, a cold front will be approaching. If the clouds and showers hold off until the end of the day, we could see highs well into the 70s. If it clouds up earlier, it would mean 60s to around 70.

What happens Wednesday into Friday depends on which computer model you believe. Some of the models have the front stalling somewhere over the region, and pulling in lots of moisture from the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. 

If that happens, we could potentially see as much as one to three inches of rain  over those three days. 

Other models move things along a little faster, which would mean less rain for us. 

Almost all the weather models have us cooling down later in the week.  Certainly cooler than normal for May. That fits with the May predictions we saw even a couple weeks ago. Those forecasts said we'd have a cool first half of May, with maybe one or two warm days thrown in. 

Looks like that's coming true.