Roller Coaster: Rainy, Cold Vermont Day In Progress, More Rain Tomorrow Morning, Then Warm, Then Eventually Chilly.

A huge lilac tree in front my house brightens a gloomy
May Sunday in St Albans, Vermont. 

 I'm getting a very late start this Sunday morning, as I decided to really sleep in on a chilly, rainy morning. 

That state of affairs will continue the rest of the day, though it will be a light, occasional rain, and it should turn more showery later in the day. 

Earlier last week, I'd hoped high pressure to our northeast would steer the rain away from us. So much for that idea. But we could still use the rain, despite the drought being over for now. 

But a miserable day for late May is still in progress. Damp and chilly is the word. If you like gloomy late March weather, today is your lucky day. Temperatures in the 40s to around 50 will only go up a couple of degrees by this afternoon. The winds will turn fairly gusty in most areas, adding to the chill.

Most places should have gusts in the 25 to 35 mph range, but spots along the western slopes of the Green Mountains could see it go up to 45 mph.  This would be the first good windy day since the trees leafed out. Leaves are heavy, at least when you're weighting the thousands of them on a single tree.

The new leaves combined with the wind and rain could knock over a few trees. I expect there might be some widely scattered power outages. Nothing widespread or wild, but don't be surprises if your lights flicker if you're on those western slopes. 

Despite the nearly day-long dreariness, we won't actually get much more rain today. Through 9 a.m. most of Vermont had received a tenth to a quarter inch of rain. We'll get another tenth to a quarter inch by the time it gets dark this evening. 

MEMORIAL DAY

Unfortunately, the day will get off to a rough start. The way it looks now, rain will restart before dawn and continue through most of the morning. The rain will be heavier than today's,  amounting to at least a quarter to half inch. Statewide, we now expect storm totals to be somewhere near three quarters of an inch, give or take. So a decent soaking. 

It still looks like the rain will shut off nicely tomorrow afternoon, with some sun breaking out by late in the day. High temperatures will be much better than today, probably reaching a seasonal 70 degrees or so.

THE WEEK AHEAD

After a summer-like Tuesday, in which we'll flirt with 80 degrees, we'll have a slow cooling trend through the week, as an unusual weather pattern sets up. By next weekend, it could well be quite chilly for the season once again. 

It's a little unclear how cool it will get, but I'll more on that in tomorrow morning's post.