Gliding Downhill From Summer To (Briefly) Early Spring. How Rare Is Mountain Snow In Late May?

It can snow this late in the season on New England's 
mountaintops. Photo is of eight inches of snow atop
Mount Washington, New Hampshire, June 11, 2023

 Tuesday was a classic summer day. Yes, it's still May but work with me here. Highs in the 80s, sunshine and a slight haze really made me think of July. 

Soon enough, we'll think it's March again.

The forecast hasn't changed much since yesterday. Today will be another sunny one, but slightly cooler with highs in the 70s to low 80s. 

We start to really feel the cool air tomorrow as highs only reach the 60s.  The cold air aloft will bring us a slight chance of light showers.  Friday will be cooler yet as the showers arrive in earnest in the afternoon. 

The core of the cold air - a bowling ball of frigidity from near the North Pole - will arrive in New England Friday night and early Saturday. Yes, it will be cold enough for snow in the mountains. Pretty high up, actually.  Probably at elevations of 4,000 feet and higher.

That means the tippy tops of Vermont's highest peaks could easily turn white. So too, the summits of New York's Adirondacks and New Hampshire's White Mountains. 

The rest of us will endure cold rain showers and temperatures hover in the low to mid 40s Saturday morning. 

HOW UNUSUAL?

Snow so late in the season is pretty unusual for this time of year. Except at places like the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. I believe it has snowed every month of the year up there. 

Late May and June snows are in New England's history quite liberally. According to the Vermont Weather Book:

There is, of course, the famous Year Without a Summer in 1816. On June 7, snow covered the ground all day in Montpelier and drifts reached 20 inches deep in Danville. 

Even more remarkably, a bigger snowstorm hit Vermont on June 11, 1842. Irasburg reported 10 inches of sow and Bennington had four inches. 

In 1884, a large snowfall hit Vermont's mountains, with accumulating even in the valleys. Lunenburg had two inches of snow. 

There hasn't been anything as dramatic as those examples in modern times, but it does snow this time of year. The latest in the season snow flurry in Burlington on record hit on May 31, 1945. Don't worry, Burlington is safe from snow with this go around Friday night and Saturday. 

On May 24-25, 2013, snow fell at elevations as low as 750 above sea level in Vermont. Mount Mansfield received 13.2 inches of snow, its greatest snow fall for so late in the season. Whiteface Mountain, New York came in with a whopping 34 inches. 

I wish I could find information on the following but I can't. I seem to remember snow falling at elevations as low as 600 feet in the early 1990s. The Bolton 'Valley ski area got a couple inches, I believe. 

On June 10, 2023, Mount Washington, New Hampshire had over eight inches of snow, making it their snowiest June on record. It didn't get quite cold enough on Vermont peaks to snow that day.   The cold and snow hit on what was otherwise a very hot summer.

CAN'T STAY COLD

Even when the forces of nature say otherwise, it really can't stay cold, or at least not that cold, this time of year. 

Saturday should stay in the nippy 50s. But despite that cold air coming from Canada, highs should be in the 60s daily Sunday through Tuesday. That's cool for this time of year but still comfortable. It should warm up more later next week. Summer is definitely not canceled. 

Not All That Much Rain Fell In Vermont Yesterday, More Coming, Eventually

It's the peak of daffodil season around my St. Albans,
Vermont property right now. These daffodils were
soaking up this morning's sun. 

The rain we really needed yesterday was kind of a disappointment. It hadn't rained in eight days, so we really needed a soaker. 

It did rain, and the fire danger we dealt with for a week is pretty much gone for now. But it wasn't the deep drenching we'd hoped for, and had forecasted days earlier. A few days ago, it looked like we'd get 0.75 to an inch of rain. 

Instead, it was much less. Most of northern Vermont got about a quarter inch, with Burlington coming in with a measly 0.16 inches. Southern Vermont got a little less than a half inch.  Places to our west in northern New York and to our east in places like Maine got a good inch of rain. 

More rain is coming. Not much at first. But some signs point to some more soaking rains later in the week.  Maybe. 

Let's get into the details:

TODAY

A nice one, really. Skies should at least be partly sunny, and highs should reach the 50s in most places across Vermont. That's a little cooler than average for this time of year, but that's still not bad, right? There could be some upper 40s in higher elevations and some spots way up in the Northeast Kingdom.  It could touch 60 in warmer southern valleys.  

SATURDAY

Unfortunately, Saturday probably won't be as pleasant as we thought yesterday. We hoped for at least partly sunny skies with almost no showers. 

But a disturbance coming through should make us mostly cloudy and showers are pretty likely. Those showers should all be light, with most places getting less than a tenth of an inch of rain.  A few places might even manage to stay pretty dry. Hard to say what part of the day will have the most showers, so just be prepared. 

You'll get some stuff done outdoors between the raindrops, I imagine. There will be breaks of sun, especially in the broader valleys and in southern Vermont away from the Green Mountains. It'll also stay chilly for the season, with afternoon temperatures generally in the low to mid 50s.

The verdict: A mediocre spring day.

SUNDAY

Pretty similar to Saturday, except there's hope most of the showers will come in the morning. No guarantees, but fingers crossed!

NEXT WEEK

It looks like it'll warm up early next week. That ever-present chance of showers will keep on going, but temperatures should bounce back into the 60s. It could flirt with 70 on Tuesday in the warmer valleys. 

It looks like a cold front might stall somewhere in the Northeast during the middle and end of next week If it stalls near Vermont, we'll get some heavy, soaking rain. If it stalls to our west or our east, not so much. We'll just have to wait and see how that works out. 

Forest Fire Burning East Of Middlebury, Vermont Amid Dry Conditions. Rain Finally Comes Tonight, Tomorrow

In this image from Adirondack Drone via Facebook, smoke
 can be seen coming from the forest near Ripton. 

The dry weather and high fire danger yesterday in Vermont yielded at least one large wildfire. At least large by Vermont standards.  

A fire broke out in the around Ripton and East Middlebury. At last report it has burned through 56 acres, mostly in state and national forests. The fire forced the closure during the day and evening along North Branch Road near Route 125.

Firefighting efforts stopped as darkness fell, even though the fire wasn't officially contained. It was dangerous to battle the fire in the dark, especially since it wasn't threatening any homes and winds had become lighter. The firefighters are back on the job this morning. 

It's no surprise that the fire spread so readily. Winds gusted to 30 mph and it hasn't rained in over a week. 

The dry conditions have really accumulated through a lack of rain recently. Through yesterday, we've gone eight consecutive days with no precipitation. That's the longest such streak since 10 days on October 8-17 last year. 

This past weekend was rain-free, the first such weekend since October 25-26.  Last Saturday and Sunday's weather ended a tie for the third  longest stretch of consecutive weekends with at least at trace of precipitation. As measured in Burlington, anyway. It was 26 weekends, by the way. 

You might remember that early last summer, before the big drought started, we ended a record long 32 consecutive weekends with at least a trace of rain. That record streak ended on July 27, 2025.

The dry, high fire danger weather will continue one more day. The details: 

TODAY

The day has started rather cloudy in Vermont over all but the far northeast corner of the state. There have even been some sprinkles in far northwestern Vermont. 

But the sky will at least partly clear, the humidity will remain low and breezes will continue.  The high fire danger will continue.  The firefighters in the forests and hills east of Middlebury will have a challenging day.  

Aside from the fire danger, we'll enjoy one more warm day.  It'll become partly sunny. Highs will once again reach 70 degrees for most of us, just as they have over the past two days. 

The spate of balmy afternoons has started to green up some of the trees. Most of the trees are still bare, but the hillsides are starting to show spotty, hazy areas of green,  Eventually, the forest leaf out will make Vermont's spring fire season subside. 

Once those leaves are fully out, the strong late spring and summer sun won't be able to penetrate to the forest floor and dry things out.  Leaves release moisture, raising the humidity to cut the potential of fires. 

But we have a much quicker way to get rid of the fire danger, at least for now.

THURSDAY

Overnight tonight, clouds will thicken up.  Some showers might come in late tonight. But the bulk of the rain will come in during the early morning hours Thursday.  The rain will continue through most of the morning, then turn lighter and showery during the afternoon. 

It'll be a much cooler day. Haul out the jackets and fleece again as highs will only make it into the 50s. 

This won't be a blockbuster rainstorm. In fact, forecasters have cut back on how much rain will fall. But the expected half inch or so of rain will get rid of the fire dangers, unless or until it stops raining again. 

Spoiler: It's going to rain again 

FRIDAY AND BEYOND

The new, chillier, long lasting weather pattern is now set in stone. All the computer models keep us mostly cool, and mostly at risk for showers almost every day through mid-May.

Friday and Saturday don't look particularly wet. There should be some showers both days  mostly over the north and mountains, and mostly in the afternoons and evenings. 

We'll have some sun both days, especially in broader valleys. But high temperatures will barely make it to 50 in most of the state. It'll be in the 40s for highs in the Northeast Kingdom, mid 50s warmer southern valleys. 

It'll warm up somewhat early next week. At least temporarily. It'll probably get up to 60 degrees on a couple days, maybe Tuesday and Wednesday. Now that we'll be getting into May, that's actually still a couple degrees cooler than average. But we'll still  have that chance of showers on those days.  

Two More Dry, Pleasant Vermont Spring Days Due, And We Might Get A Bonus Day Before Chilly Rain Sets In

Daffodils seen here enjoying a sunny Sunday 
afternoon in St. Albans, Vermont. They'll continue
to soak up the sun today and tomorrow before 
rainy, chilly weather arrives late in the wee. 

Sunday was another luscious spring day in Vermont, and the forecast has held. It was nice watching the daffodils soak up the warm sunshine while dancing in the breeze. Makes you almost forget about the long winter we just emerged from, huh? 

We've got two more such days for you today and tomorrow. And it turns out Wednesday might unexpectedly turn out OK, too!

The best day will be today. We''ll see lots of sunshine and temperatures way up in the 60s. Some of the warmer valleys will touch 70 degrees or so.  It will be cooler along the immediate shore of Lake Champlain as cool breezes come off the still pretty frigid lake.

The nights during this spell have been chilly. Morning lows for most of us across Vermont were in the 30s today. The nights will still be cool, but slightly milder than recent days. So, in the 40s for many of us overnight today. And Tuesday night..

I'm saying Tuesday won't be quite as nice as today, but I'll still grade it an A+.  The sunshine and warm temperatures will continue, but the winds will pick up. Especially in the Champlain Valley, where gusts from the south could reach 30 mph  in spots.

The progress of spring has been moving along nicely the past couple of days. The mild afternoons and the somewhat less cold mornings over the next couple of days will accelerate it even more. 

But not enough to stop this week's fire danger.  The dry grasses and weeds from last fall still predominate. The strong sun has quickly dried out the leaf litter on the floors of the forests. 

Even without that much wind, brush and woodland fires are breaking out. Between the morning of April 22 and 26 three new fires in Vermont burned an additional eleven acres or so in Vermont.  I don't think that figure includes anything that happened Sunday. The total acreage burned so far this year in Vermont is 154.8.

The fire danger remains high today, according to the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation.  The danger from woodland and field blazes will go up much more tomorrow amid those gusty winds. So let's be careful out there, folks. 

TURNING WETTER. COLDER

 We've thought for days that rain would move in Wednesday. It turns out some showers coming at us on that day will fall apart before they get here because of the dry air.  At this point, it looks like Wednesday will turn our partly sunny and in the 60s, so pretty good! We might see a few sprinkles on Wednesday, but that's about it. 

The real turn comes Wednesday night and Thursday, when a strong disturbance creates some rain. The disturbance will turn our weather much colder, with highs Thursday only in the low 50s or so. 

After that, Friday and Saturday continue to look nippy, with highs only in the 40s with some low 50s i the warmer valleys south. Ugh.  There will be chances of mostly light showers during that time. And yes, some snow on the mountains. Mostly above 2,000 or 2,500 feet. That happens a lot this time of year, actually, but it's still annoying to know it's snowing somewhere in Vermont as we flip the calendar to May. 

The weather continues to look mostly cool and unsettled into the middle of May.  There might be a warmer day or two thrown in there, and some days will feature sone sun. But this gorgeous stretch of weather we're having now won't repeat itself for quite a long time to come. Enjoy it now. 

Enjoy Vermont Spring Now, Because It Will Come To A Temporary Halt Late This Week

Some hyanicith and daffodils enjoying spring this
week in a St. Albans, Vermont garden 

Saturday was another gorgeous spring day in Vermont, though it did, as expected, cloud up quite a bit in southwestern parts of the state. 

We have basically three and a half days more wonderful spring weather coming up before the season comes to a grinding, though obviously temporary halt at the end of the week. Weather systems often stall in the spring. 

We're lucky enough now to be stuck under sunny high pressure. By the second half of the week, we'll be mired beneath a cold pool of cold air aloft, which means clouds, very chilly air, some rain showers, and yes, mountain snow. 

 I'll do the spoiler now: The halt to spring won't wreck your garden plants and trees, but it will stop the buds from popping and more flowers from bursting for a least a couple days. 

Let's get into the details

TODAY

The disturbance that dove southeast through New York State Saturday, giving much of that state a damp, rainy Saturday is heading off into the Atlantic Ocean. That Canadian high pressure that's been giving us the cool, generally sunny weather the past couple of days is taking over again. 

It's a big one, extending from Nunavut, up in the Arctic of northeastern Canada a little west of Greenland, all the way down to New England. 

Canadian high pressure is usually chilly. And the northern part is. The forecast high in Iqaluit, Nunavut today is 9 degrees, compared to a normal high of 20.  Yep, it's cold up there in the Arctic, Captain Obvious  tells us.

However, way down here in tropical New England (practice your southern accents, y'all), the strong late April sun is cooking the air mass and making it warmer and warmer. That's why Saturday was a little warmer than Friday. And why today will be a little toastier than yesterday. 

So we'll have quite a lot of sunshine with highs generally in the low 60s today. The Northeast Kingdom will be a little cooler in the upper 50s while southern valley floors probably reach the mid 60s. 

MONDAY AND TUESDAY

The spring sunshine train will continue as that high pressure holds firm.  It'll turn even warmer both days as we get well into the 60s. A few places will flirt with 70 degrees. That's 'actually only somewhat warmer than normal for this time of year. (Normal highs are near 60 degrees) We'll take it! 

The only problem with all this is the fire danger. It's very dry and very sunny, with very low humidity. Too many verys there but you get the point. Winds should be pretty light today and tomorrow, which will help. Even so, light winds don't prevent fires. They just don't spread as fast, but they do spread. 

A brush and woodland fire in Milton looks like it spread pretty quickly yesterday afternoon, and firefighters were on the scene for about four hours putting it out. 

It'll get windier on Tuesday, so that will be the day to really watch out for woodland and field blazes. 

WEDNESDAY

A transition day as we begin to flip toward the new, definitely less pleasant stuck weather pattern. Sunshine should fade behind clouds and there might be some rain drops toward the end of the day. Highs will still reach the 60s.

THURSDAY

This will be the rainiest of the days as low pressure becomes established overhead or at least nearby. Hard to say how much rain we'll get, but early projections suggest a half inch. So not all that much, but at least it will wet the ground down and end the fire danger. 

FRIDAY/ NEXT WEEKEND

The cold pool of air will sit overhead during this time, keeping us mostly cloudy and definitely cold for this time of year. Highs Friday and Saturday might not get out of the 40s for many of us, which is why I'm saying spring will come to a stop. Plants don't like to grow when it's in the 40s. At least we won't have any real freezes to hurt anything as nighttime temperatures should stay mostly in the 30s during this nippy spell.

Much of the time should be rain free, but there will always be a risk of light rain showers at any time. But especially in the afternoons and evenings as the April sun makes the cold air less stable. 

And yes, it will be cold enough for snow in the highest elevations. Not much, but some. And even in the valleys, a particularly robust shower might bring down some extra cold air, and you'll end up with something called graupel. 

Graupel is basically teeny tiny snowballs.  They are snowflakes that had super cooled water attach to them. So they're these little white sleety things that remind me of bits of packing material or styrofoam. 

So. Yay. 

BEYOND NEXT WEEKEND

It'll warm up a little after next weekend, but we're stuck in a chilly, unsettled weather pattern at least into the middle of May, and possibly beyond. There's a good chance you'll see an occasional sunny, warmish day thrown in from time to time, but generally speaking, it will be cool and showery much of the time. 

It's way too soon to figure out if we'll get some soaking rains out of this pattern, or just some annoying sprinkles. As far as I'm concerned, if it's going to rain, we might as well get some good drenching here and there to get the gardens and farm fields in shape for the start of summer. 

Time will tell, as it always does..

Gorgeous Spring Weekend In Vermont, Stays Beautiful Beginning of Week

Yesterday afternoon's satellite view tells the story. Narrow high
pressure nosing down from Quebec is keeping Vermont
sunny for the most part. Low pressure in eastern
Canada kept the Northeast Kingdom cloudy yesterday.
Today, that eastern Canada is gone so the Northeast Kingdom
will be sunny today. Those clouds you see in the upper
left corner are diving to the southeast. That might
turn far southwest Vermont cloudy later today but
it'll be sunnier the further northeast you go. 

Our spell of dry, more or less sunny weather in Vermont continues today through Tuesday. With a warming trend to boot.  

It was almost too cool on Friday, especially in the Northeast Kingdom  

Low pressure spinning near the Maritime Provinces of Canada and high pressure way the hell up there around Hudson Bay provided Vermont with two dramatically different types of weather.

North and east of Interstate 89, it was a cloudy, breezy and notably chilly day.  Shades of March, actually. Highs never got out of the 40s and wind chills at times were in the 30s. Not a nice day. 

South and west of Interstate 89, it was entirely a different story. Sure, it was cool and breezy, but temperatures were in the low to mid 50s, so pretty reasonable. And quite sunny and bright. The southwestern third of the state had not one single cloud in the sky.

It cleared up everywhere overnight. The dry air, the clear skies and the lighter winds got us pretty chilly by dawn today. I noticed Morrisville was down to 24 at 6 a.m. and Montpelier was at 25. Most of us were in the 27 to 33 degree range as the sun began to rise.

Other than those chilly temperatures this morning, that high pressure is gradually nosing down from northern Quebec. But it's not really bringing any really cool air with it. At least this far south. So a slow warm up will start today and continue

TODAY

We'll pick up a few extra degrees this afternoon compared to  yesterday as temperatures make it into the mid and upper 50s.  It'll be places south and west of Interstate 89 that eventually get the clouds today as a rainy disturbance treks from around Toronto and western New York this morning, making it down to New York City tonight. 

It won't be an overcast sky for the most part, but when you get down toward Bennington, it'll probably be pretty gray by the end of the day.  A sprinkle might even make it as far as Bennington tonight, but otherwise the rain will stay in New York. 

Meanwhile, the Northeast Kingdom, which was so cloudy yesterday, might see some high clouds, but the day will be sunny. 

SUNDAY

The National Weather Service is going with partly sunny skies tomorrow, which makes sense as there might be some lingering clouds from that thing that went through New York State. But it's going to be a gorgeous day no matter. Highs should top out near 60 degrees. Get out there and enjoy it. 

MONDAY/TUESDAY

The start of the week will be call in sick to work days. Not because you are sick, I hope, but because you're "sick" enough to just adore spring.  Highs both days will get well into the 60s, maybe even flirt with 70 degrees.  You'll want to enjoy these days because....

WEDNESDAY AND BEYOND

........ no good weather in Vermont goes unpunished.

The punishment starts next Wednesday or Thursday, as we'll get into a much cloudier, more showery pattern that looks like it could last well into May. I'm waffling on which day because some computer models hold off the showers until Wednesday night or Thursday. 

It looks like an annoying weather pattern more than anything else. It won't rain all the time, but almost every day starting Wednesday and continuing on more than a week after should have at least a chance of showers. 

Unless a very wet weather system to poke its nose into this weather pattern - an iffy proposition - we also might not have the kind of soaking rain we occasionally need to keep everything moist enough. Especially now that everything is getting set to bloom and the forests are getting ready to leaf out. 

Instead, it would be mostly those pesky, light showers. Or very, very brief downpours that also don't really soak everything down. It will also be a cool weather pattern. Monday and Tuesday might be the warmest days you'll see in quite awhile. 

I think May might turn out to be one of those months that are cool, and damp, a reluctant spring. Then, sometime later in the month, we might flip right over to hot summer weather. I have no forecasts that says that's going to happen.  Because it's impossible to forecast the weather a month in advance.

But I just have that feeling. I've seen it before, and I think we might see it again. As always, stay tuned.  

 

April Wildfires Rage In U.S. There's Even A FIre Threat Here In Vermont

Screen grab of a report from WPTZ of a brush fire that
got out of control in Shelburne Wednesday. Much
of the state has a high fire danger today. Elsewhere
in the U.S. much, much worse wildfires have been raging

It's been a terrible wildfire year already in the U.S. and it continued to get worse on Wednesday. 

Fires raged in Georgia, Florida and other states. It's a continuation of a fiery spring in the United States. 

So far this year, through April 17, the nation has seen 20,915 wildfires, the most in recent history and far above the average of 13,597 through that date, the National Interagency Fire Center reported. 

As of April 17, 1,748,490 acres have burned, far above the average of  875,957 through mid-April.  With drought raging in much of the nation, the fires will only get worse as we head into the summer. 

The last few days have made things even worse.

In drought-stricken southern Georgia, at least 50 homes were destroyed by wildfires.  Hundreds of people have been evacuated. Much of Georgia is under mandatory burn bans for the first time in the state's history. The fires are mostly in southern Georgia and northern Florida, where an intense drought is worsening. 

In northern Floria, firefighters battled more than 130 wildfires that burned 39 square miles, NBC News reported. 

Further north, a smoky haze engulfed Atlanta.

In Colorado, a fast moving fire southeast of Colorado Springs prompted evacuation. 

Today, fire alerts run from New Mexico and northwest Texas all the way to eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota.

VERMONT FIRES

Here in Vermont, things are not nearly as dire as they are in Florida, Georgia, Colorado and other places beset with big wildfires.

But April and early May represent peak wildfires season here in the Green Mountain State. Mostly because said Green Mountain State is not that green yet. Last year's dead brush and leaves, exposed to the sun through leafless trees, dry out in a flash. Even a day or two after rain or snow. 

We've already a few dry episodes with fires this spring. This year through yesterday, 28 Vermont fires have burned 143.6 acres, according to data from the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. 

 Just yesterday in Shelburne, WPTZ reports that somebody called the town's fire department for a burn permit after already setting the field alight. The fire department turned down the request. 

Meanwhile the fire got out of control as winds gusted to as high as 25 to 30 mph. Firefighters from three departments got the fire contained after it burned about a half acre. No word from the report as to whether the property owner was cited. 

Officials are warning of potential fires today, especially in lower valleys. The National Weather Service office in South Burlington has issued a special weather statement warning of fire danger in the Champlain and lower Connecticut River valleys and the valleys of southwest Vermont. 

Very dry air and gusty winds could really spread fires today. Now is not the time to burn your brush pile, or flick a cigarette out your truck window. 

Dry weather will continue through the weekend, which keeps the fire danger going. But winds starting tomorrow will be lighter than the 25 to 30 mph gusts we'll see today. 

GREAT WEATHER!

A daffodil enjoying some early morning sunshine
today in St. Albans, Vermont. We have great
spring weather coming for the next few days
but there is a high fire danger, especially today.

Aside from the fire danger, we have just launched into a spell of great spring weather. Skies should have at least a fair amount of sun daily through Sunday or Monday. April showers bring May flowers, but so does April sunshine. 

Cool weather, especially today and tomorrow will be invigorating for those of you who want to go out and get yard work done. 

Highs today and tomorrow should mostly be in the low and mid 50s

We will have freezes tonight and tomorrow night as readings  fall to between 25 and 30 degrees both nights. This won't be cold enough to endanger spring plants like the sharper, colder spell we had Monday and Tuesday morning. 

At least around my area in northwest Vermont, most of my spring plants survived Tuesday morning's frigid temperatures. They'll do fine this time, too. 

But if you are hardening off more tender plants on your deck or whatever, bring them in tonight, tomorrow night and maybe the night after that, too. 

The weekend will turn a little warmer, with highs near 60, which is about normal for this time of year. It looks like skies will be partly to mostly sunny, so we have a fantastic weekend coming up, fingers crossed. 

The Vermont Maple Festival is this weekend in St. Albans, so it'll be a perfect weekend for that, too! 

Frigid April Vermont Morning Came As Predicted; Mostly Dry, Cool-ish Weather Is Up Next

A daffodil tries to recover in the morning sun today after
early morning lows here in St. Albans reached 24 degrees. 

 The worst of our April cold wave will be ending this morning as sunshine boosts temperatures out of the midwinter doldrums. It won't exactly get warm again right away, but at least it will be reasonable.  

After all, Monday was anything but toasty.  The remaining patches of snow in my yard didn't entirely disappear until mid-afternoon. 

Early in the day, Burlington picked up another 0.6 inches of snow.  The average date for the last trace of snow for the season in Burlington is April 15. 

But it could we worse. It could always be worse. Burlington has had as much as three inches of snow on May 9, in 1966 and a trace on May 31, 1945

The National Weather Service had another interesting statistic out of this sudden, brief return to cold. Burlington's records go into the 1880s. There have only been 17 occasions in which a particular day had both temperatures in the 60s and measurable snow.  Two of those days happened in the past couple of months.

On Sunday it was 61 degrees just after midnight early in the morning. By mid-afternoon, 0.2 inches of snow had fallen. A similar situation happened back on March 17.  We started the day before dawn at 65 degrees, but 0.2 inches of snow fell

The most extreme example of warmth on a "snowy" day was on February 25, 2017. A little before 3 p.m. that day, it reached 72 degrees, shattering the record for the warmest February day on record. A cold front arrived later that afternoon, and before midnight, 0.2 inches of snow fell. 

Just one more example of how weather changes quickly here in Vermont

THIS MORNING'S LOWS

Many of us will be picking through the wreckage of our early season gardens. But depending on the plant, we might not know for days what was damaged and what was not. In the case of  plants that are just budding, like lilacs, we might not know for a few weeks if the blooms are OK.

The most intense cold early this morning was brief, so I think there's a good chance that many blooming daffodils and other early flowers survived. I imagine many if not most of the lilac buds did, too. Time will tell. 

Generally the threshold for the start of damage to tough early season blooms is about 25 degrees. Burlington had a low temperature of 25 degrees this morning.

Here in St. Albans, it was 24 degrees just after dawn. Montpelier got to 18 degrees, breaking the record low for the date by one degree.   Lyndonville got down to 18 degrees. Morrisville was 19 degrees. Newport and Bennington was 20 degrees.   The majority of weather stations in Vermont were in the low 20s as of 6 a.m. 

Perennial cold spot Saranac Lake, New York got to at least 12 above.

At least this now-ending chill will be the coldest weather we'll see until October or November 

FORECAST

The next several days will be a little cool and almost entirely dry. Today will only make it into the upper 40s for the most part which is still pretty chilly for late April

A very weak disturbance tonight might produce some sprinkles. And maybe some snowflakes in the higher elevations. We just can't let go of winter, can we?

After that, the weather becomes rather boring for us.  Boring is a good thing. That means no tornadoes, no snowstorms, no extreme killing freezes. At least here in Vermont. I can't say the same for other parts of the state.

We will see almost no precipitation for the next week or so.  A block up weather pattern means storms trying to come at us from the west will either fall apart or get pushed well south of us. It still looks like the next chance of rain won't come along until April 29 or so. Even then, early indications are that April 29 rain won't exactly be impressive. 

The rest of this week will be on the cool side. High temperatures this time of year should be in the mid 50s cooler locations and close to 60 elsewhere.  Wednesday through Friday, highs will be in the upper 40s in the chilliest areas of the north to low to mid 50 for most of us. So, not that bad.

It looks like temperatures will warm ever so slightly to near normal levels this weekend. At least for a couple days. The overall weather pattern heading into early May is for slightly cooler than average weather. But this time of year, "slightly cool" is still spring weather.  The season will advance, and we'll forget about our little struggle with this morning's wintry chill. 

Vermont Monday Morning; Winter In April Continues

A burst of snow shortly after 7 a.m. this morning in
the Burlington area. This is a Vermont Transportation
Agency camera on Williston Road. Note the snow
sticking to the pavement on the bridge but
not on solid ground. I'm sure frozen bridges
surprised many motorists this morning. 

I awoke to another fresh dusting of snow in St. Albans, Vermont yesterday after it snowed most of the day Sunday. There was a dark overcast and it was still snowing a little.  

The National Weather Service issued a special weather statement for early this morning, warning of subfreezing temperatures and snow showers creating slick spots on the roads. A traffic camera shortly after 7 a.m. showed a moderate snow shower in Burlington with ice and snow sticking to the pavement of a bridge on Williston Road.

This morning looks and feels like the typical start of the day in late November, as we gird for a long winter. We obviously don't have a long winter coming, thank gawd, but unfortunately, winter weather is going to seriously subvert spring over the next 24 hours. 

After a cold day today, it'll be frigid tonight, as we've been forecasting for day.s 

It's not just us. Freeze warnings extend from Iowa through the southern Great Lakes and in pretty much all the Mid-Atlantic states. There's going to be a lot of garden damage with this cold wave.

Despite the expected deep chill tonight, there are no freeze warnings in Vermont. The growing season hasn't technically started yet, so the National Weather Service does not do such warnings this time of year. 

Let's get into the details 

TODAY

The snow showers should move out later this morning and some sun should break out, especially in the broader valleys. But frigid air is rocketing in to counteract the  strong April sun, it's going to be a typical mid-March day. That means highs generally in the upper 30s. A little warmer than that in southern valleys. A  little colder than that in northern higher elevations. 

Some places in the Northeast Kingdom and Adirondacks won't even get above freezing today. Pretty impressive for the third week in April. Impressive, but not in a good way. The ever-present gusty northwest winds will add to the chill 

Today's March wind and chilly temperatures set the stage for winter like morning lows tomorrow morning. 

TONIGHT

It still looks like skies will clear and winds will go nearly calm. Those are perfect conditions for super cold morning lows. 

As we've been harping on, garden plants and such have sprouted prematurely due to the recent warm weather, so that's why we're in trouble with the potential for frozen, ruined early season flowers and buds by morning.

There's the slightest bit of encouraging news. Maybe. Some  but not all of the  forecasts I saw this morning are a couple degrees warmer than yesterday's forecast. Those predicted lows are still well within the damage zone for garden plants. But every degree warmer than forecast lessens the damage. 

Also, a minority of forecasts indicate a few clouds might intrude overnight. We want to hope the minority wins, as clouds would help keep temperatures up. 

The current National Weather Service forecast has a low tonight in Burlington at 25 degrees, Rutland at 24, Brattleboro near 23, Montpelier at 21 and St. Johnshury at 19 degrees.

The plant damage will be worse in southern Vermont because they had much warmer weather for a longer period of time last week than in northern parts of the state. So things are really far along down there, and primed to get nipped by the freeze.

The traditional cold hollows are looking ridiculous tonight. Some towns in the Northeast Kingdom could end up in the low teens. Saranac Lake, New York is expected a Tuesday morning low of 11 degrees. 

I guess I'm focusing too much on tonight's cold weather on this because I'm an avid gardener. To most of the Vermont world, this cold spell will be forgotten very soon. Especially since the weather will turn to something very close to normal by the middle and end of the week

REST OF THE WEEK

And after the volatile weather of the past several days, the weather starting tomorrow will be well, boring. Which will honestly be a nice change of pace. . 

Tuesday will still be rather cold for this time of year, with highs in the 40s. They should be in the 50s to around 60 

The weather pattern setting up includes a stalled upper level low in the Canadian Maritimes and high pressure near Hudson Bay.  This is normally a recipe for much colder, unsettled, almost wintry conditions for this time of year. 

But the Canadian storm and the cold high pressure in Canada will be so far away from us that temperatures will be near or just a couple degrees cooler than average for late April.  The weather set up will mean storms coming from the west will get broken apart before they get here or get shunted to our south. 

That means if we get any rainfall over the next week it will be quite light, but timing out those light showers at this point is hard to do. 

Long range forecasts are notoriously dicey .But for now, the next chance of substantial rain doesn't come along until around April 29. And yes, if that April 29 storm materializes, it will be rain, not snow.

Quiet weather is expected for the end of the work week
along with slightly cooler than normal temperatures and periods of
cloud cover as a closed upper level low gyres over the Canadian
Maritimes. As an upper level ridge over the Great Lakes breaks down
and the maritime low shifts east, chances for precipitation increase
heading into next weekend, but with low predictability given the
evolving pattern and model spread. Highs for the end of the week
will be in the 50s, reaching into the 60s on the weekend, with lows
30s rising into the 40s.

Yes, It Will Snow In Vermont Later Today. How Much Is Still A Question

Yup! Another NWS snow prediction map. Valleys
should get very littl e snow this afternoon, but 
the mountains and Northeast Kingdom could get
a few inches of new snow.

UPDATE:  Rain was already starting to change to snow in St. Albans, Vernont as of 9:50 a.m. The earlier changeover might mean more snow than forecast. I'm not sure on that, stay tuned!!

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

If you got up early this Sunday morning, you enjoyed the last vestiges of the warm weather we just experienced. The high temperature today in Burlington looks like it was 61 degrees not long after midnight. 

It was still 57 degrees at 5 a.m. just before the cold front arrived. By 8 a.m. it was 48 degrees and rain was falling. 

Before we go on with the very bad weather news, let's reminisce briefly about Saturday. 

Southeast winds flowing down the slopes of the western Green Mountains often warm up a lot as they do so. Yesterday was no exception, allowing Burlington to get up to 76 degrees with the rest of the Champlain Valley experiencing similar temperatures. 

The rest of Vermont was in the 60s. The warmth and sunshine made for a gorgeous spring Saturday. 

Now for the depressing part. The snow, and the intense cold might do a number on some garden plants, depending exactly how cold it gets.  Here are the details

TODAY: 

The cold front is slowing down as it moves through Vermont and New Hampshire. That's allowing moisture to flow northward behind the front, ensuring a fair amount of precipitation all day. Notice I didn't just say rain.

Sure, a lot of this will be rain. But as temperatures fall into the 30s by afternoon, the rain will mix with and change to snow in many areas.   We're still struggling with how much snow we'll get.

Officially the National Weather Service forecast calls for a trace to an inch in most valleys, ranging up to four to seven inches on mountain summits. 

Most of us have removed our snow tires, so just a note that traveling could get tricky during the heaviest snow, especially in higher elevations. The ground is warm, so most of the snow will stick to grassy surfaces and  not roads. But the snow could be heavy enough in spots to make the roads slushy.

I'm also going to throw out a very slight chance of an unpleasant surprise. The kind of April surprise I'll describe has happened in the past, so it's possible.  Again, not likely, but it's a slight chance worst case scenario

The National Weather Service has a 10 percent chance that the snow could get really aggressive. Under this scenario, Burlington gets three inches of snow. St. Albans four inches, Montpelier 5 and Island Pond 9. 

The weather front now passing through is set up in a similar fashion to the big April snowstorms of 1983 and 2000. But there seems to be less cold air available than in those two occasions, which makes a big dump of snow today much less likely. 

Any snow might go back to a light rain for a time in the valleys as precipitation tapers off later today. 

TONIGHT

The only thing coming out of the sky tonight will be scattered light snow showers. The mountains could pick up another inch but everybody else will see no more than a dusting.  Especially for those of you with summer tires, some of the water out there on pavement could freeze, making for some icy patches. Yes, I know that's obnoxious for the third week in April.

Even worse, a reinforcing shot of cold air might rejuvenate the snow showers a bit toward morning.

MONDAY

Enjoy your spring blooms while you can. There's a good
chance that lows from 15-25 degrees Monday night
could destroy them. 

Monday will bring a throwback to mid-March. Stiff northwest winds will hold temperatures all day in the 30s to near 40. A few of the warmer valleys south could make it to the mid-40s.

Scattered  morning snow showers in northern and central valleys will tend to fade by midday but could continue in the afternoon across the Green Mountains. In other words, it will be a typical mid-March day. 

It'll be a good day to cut any flowers you have blooming and bring them inside to enjoy because.....

MONDAY NIGHT

Skies will clear and winds will go calm.  "High" temperatures are going to be so low on Monday it won't be much of a journey to get below freezing. And it will get far below freezing by dawn Tuesday. 

As of this morning, the National Weather Service is going for a low early Tuesday morning of 23 degrees in Burlington, 20 in Montpelier, 21 in Rutland and 17 in St. Johnsbury. Parts of the Northeast Kingdom and Adirondacks of New York could each 14 or 15 degrees. 

These aren't quite record lows, but are quite frigid for the third week in April.

As I've mentioned before, climate change has created earlier springs. Also more volatile ones. So, spring trees, plants and flowers bloom prematurely, only to get zapped by a freeze. 

Decades ago, a freeze of this magnitude during the third week of April would have been no big deal because plants would not have progressed far enough along to be damaged.   It's not every year in the recent past we've had damaging late freezes, but it's been frequent. I'm thinking late April, 2021 and especially May, 2023 as examples. We're going to add April, 2026 to this list 

Early spring blooms are tough and there will be survivors this time. But we won't know for weeks whether lilacs and other plants that are still budding but not quite blooming received damage or not. I know that daffodil blooms get wrecked at temperatures under 25 degrees. And depending on how far along lilac buds are, they have a good chance of turning brown and ugly too.

So this whole thing is just a depressing mess. The only hope is if we unexpectedly get increasing clouds or wind Monday night to hold temperatures a little higher.

BEYOND THE COLD WAVE

As we likely survey the wreckage of our gardens later this week, the weather, almost cruelly, will turn very, very normal.  Tuesday will still be quite cool, but the rest of the week will be pretty average, with highs i the 50s to around 60 and lows in the 30s to around 40.  It looks like there will be very little rain during this period. And more importantly, no snow!

Out Warm, Showery Vermont Week Has Begun, Springtime Thunderstorms In The Mix Too??

More patches of green and flower buds keep showing
up in my St. Albans, Vermont gardens amid mild air
and April showers. A lot more greenery will 
appear this week as the mild, showers weather continues. 

Well, Sunday worked out about as planned, as morning sun quickly yielded to a gray day, with rain arriving central and north toward evening. 

As expected, not much rain fell, except in a few places. Most of northern Vermont got a quarter inch of rain, give or take.  Some places close to the Canadian border got quite a bit more. 

My unofficial rain gauge in St. Albans recorded 0.8 inches of rain overnight. In southern Vermont, there were only sprinkles overnight. 

The wind also picked up in the Champlain Valley, and it was a bit gusty with winds to 40  or 45 mph at times. 

Elsewhere, there were some breezes, and cloudy skies and damp air to start the day. The wind will tend to diminish some this afternoon.

This sets us up for a rather warm, pretty unsettled week. If you wanted your April showers, the next several days will result in a flood of May flowers. The good news is it doesn't look like the showers will be enough to bring much of any other kind of more unpleasant floods. 

Except maybe in far northern Vermont. There's no flood alerts anywhere up in that neck of the woods. But that part of the state can expect some local downpours over the next few days.  And maybe even some thunderstorms to jazz things up a little. Plus,  there's still snow melting off of high elevations like Jay Peak. 

I'm not particularly worried about any flooding at this point, but, as always, we'll keep an eye on it.

THE PATTERN

Everything is kind of stuck for a few days. A strong ridge of high pressure - basically a heat dome - is set up along or near the Southeast coast.  That means the East Coast from about New York City south will have a week of hot, dry weather. 

We'll see a bunch of record highs through much of the East. (Washington DC should have daily highs near 90 degrees all week, for instance).  The East Coast will also face worsening drought and a worsening wildfire risk, so the news isn't good there. 

It's been a relatively warm spring so far here in Vermont, but not as extreme as many other parts of the US. In many parts of the nation, summer essentially started by the time the spring equinox rolled around. Very weird. 

Small storms and disturbances will ride the western and northern periphery  of the heat dome, riding up through the Plains and parts of the Midwest, then turning eastward through the Great Lakes and then New England. Mostly northern New England. 

That means several days of a tornado and severe storms risk in the middle of the nation and flooding risks in the northern Great Lake. For us in Vermont, it won't be so scary.  Well see lots of showers mixed with breaks of drier weather, warm temperatures, especially in southern Vermont, a rapid advancement of spring and probably an explosion of those awful black flies we see every spring. 

Spring can't just be flowers and sunshine after all.

THE DETAILS

Essentially, a front separating somewhere cooler air to the north and the summery air to the south will hang out near the Canadian border most of the week, wavering north and south  into and out of Vermont as s disturbances come by one after the other. 

Northern Vermont will be mild enough, as the real cold air will stay behind another boundary way up in Quebec. By that I mean highs in the 60s most of the week, lows near 50 with those requent shower threats. 

By the time you get to southern Vermont, it will be almost full on summer. Today should be the first of at least six consecutive days in places like Brattleboro will be in the 70s.  I wouldn't be a surprised if an 80 degree day or two were thrown in. Pretty impressive for mid-April!

Southern Vermont might see some showers and thunderstorms too, but probably not as many as areas to the north. 

A warm front came though overnight.  That established our boundary we'll deal with all week. The front should settle back down into northern Vermont as a cold front this afternoon. That means showers would re-blossom this afternoon. 

Most of us should see only a tenth to a quarter inch of rain out of this. 

TUESDAY

The cold front won't be able to drop temperatures much in the north and not at all in the south. So by tomorrow, we'll have another day that reaches the low 60s north, near 70 south.  

Another in a series of disturbances will come at us tomorrow. This one might include thunderstorms. In fact a few of them could get a little strong in the warmer, humid air in central and perhaps southern Vermont. 

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has a marginal risk of severe storms basically south and west of Interstate 89 on Tuesday. That's the lowest of five alert levels for severe storms, but still. I think this i the first time we've contemplated severe storms this year. 

Basically, we could have isolated instances of strong wind gusts and some hail in a few spots tomorrow. This forecasts will probably be adjusted one way or another by tomorrow, so stay tuned. There is a much better chance of severe storms tomorrow over the Great Lakes and many parts of the Midwest. 

WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY

Kind of rinse and repeat. Disturbances will bring showers and maybe a few thunderstorms through both days. Whether we get any sort of strong storms depends on whether the disturbances come through during the peak heating of the day and whether we get sun ahead of these disturbances to make the atmosphere more unstable. 

We'll keep an eye on that, too. 

FRIDAY/SATURDAY/SUNDAY

The ridge of high pressure will tend to reorient itself so it pokes further north. By Saturday, that means we should have the warmest day of this spell of weather. Depending on how much sun hits, many areas could hit 80 degrees for a real summer preview. No promises, but we'll see.

Sometime later Saturday or Sunday, a cold front will come in with more showers and maybe storms, and that will bring us back down to reality.  Summer will be temporarily over by early next week as temperatures fall to near normal (highs in the 50s lows in the 30s).

After a seemingly never ending winter, you didn't actually expect a never ending summer in Vermont, did you?  Of course not. 

 

After A Noisy Night Tonight, A Showery Warm Vermont Springtime Week Due

Daffodil shoots really beginning to grow in St. Albans
Vermont. A wet, warm week, marked by balmy nights
should have daffodils blooming in my yard by
next weekend, if not sooner. 

Saturday wasn't quite the bright and sunny day we hoped for, especially in northern Vermont. Instability clouds lingered, leading to a blustery, cloudy day. Southern Vermont did break into the sun. 

If you like sun, this isn't going to be your week, but on the bright side, many of us will see plenty of April showers, the ones that stereotypically lead to May flowers. And spring allergies. That's especially true since it still looks like we have mild weather on the way. 

TODAY/TONIGHT

Get out first thing this morning if you like to bask in sunshine, as there will be only glimpses of sun during most of the week. 

It started out in the 20s for most of us today, but the morning sun will help get us into the 50s by early afternoon. There were already high clouds out there as of 8 a.m.. Those clouds will thicken and lower today, blotting out the sun. By late this afternoon, it will be gray and overcast and blah, with rain on our doorsteps. 

The culprit is a warm front. That will spread a bunch of rain across Vermont overnight and through much of Monday. It'll also get windy overnight, especially in the Champlain Valley. 

That will create the classic Vermont noisy night: We'll hear bursts of rain on the roof and the roar of wind through the trees, especially before and near dawn tomorrow.  Somehow, that kind of weather makes me sleep better, but I'm sure that's not the same for everyone.

The winds will probably be strongest during the early morning hours. During that time, the rain will have tapered off somewhat.

Strong winds from aloft mix down to the surface better when it's not really raining, hence the stronger winds when we're out of the showers.

 This won't be any kind of destructive wind storm. It'll be what we've seen repeatedly over the past three weeks or so. Gusts will go over 40 mph in many places in the Champlain Valley. In the rest of Vermont outside the higher peaks, winds would gust in the 25 to 35 mph range. 

If you've gotten optimistic and put out lightweight summer furniture and decorations, you might find them blown against the fence line by tomorrow bring. 

There's even a very slight chance of thunder, but I think we're a bit more likely to see thunder later in the week. 

The risk of shower will continue through Monday, but I don't think it will rain all the time. 

Southwest winds aloft might limit precipitation overnight and much of Monday might help the Adirondacks block moisture to the Champlain Valley. Those areas might only see a quarter to a third of an inch of rain by Monday afternoon. The lower Connecticut River Valley should also see about that amount of rain. 

Most of the rest of northern and central Vermont should see at least a half inch of rain with up to an inch in the Green Mountains. 

All this will allow rivers to rise again, but it doesn't look like it'll be enough to set off any real flooding. 

REST OF THE WEEK

The "cold front" from this storm will arrive late in the afternoon tomorrow. I've got it in quotation marks because it won't exactly make us cold.  Mostly because it should stall out somewhere near northern Vermont. 

Places north of Route 2 might be a little cooler during the first half of the week because of this front.  We'll once again see that wide range in Vermont temperatures we've seen so often this spring.  

It's a little tough to predict actual temperatures because it all depends on where that front sets up. But for now, it looks like far northern Vermont will hold in the 58 to 65 degree range for daily highs Monday through Thursday. 

Meanwhile, valleys in far southern Vermont could see highs in the mid-70s for three or four days in a row, which its fairly impressive for April. 

The more eye-popping warm temperatures with this weather setup will be the overnight lows.  Minimum daily temperatures Tuesday through the weekend should range from the upper 40s to upper 50s.  That's pretty close to record high low temperatures for this time of year. Confusing sentence, there, but you get the point. 

The warm nights will also ensure that the pace of spring will move incredibly fast. It's possible a few trees in the balmier valleys of southern Vermont could start to turn green much earlier than normal. Here in northern Vermont, I strongly suspect I'll have daffodils blooming by next weekend. 

Disturbances riding along the front will keep a chance of showers and even thunderstorms in the forecast every day this week. It won't rain all the time. In fact southern Vermont should be dry most of the time. Pinning down the exact timing of the showers is of course early impossible this far in advance. 

Have an umbrella handy all week if you don't want rain to ruin your perfect hairdo, or something like that. 

The west to east orientation of the front looks like it could change to more of a north/south arrangement by the weekend. As it sets up to the west, all of Vermont could see a day or two in the 70s or even near 80 if we get lucky. 

If we had to guess when that front would finally come through Vermont and head east, we'd think maybe next Sunday or Monday.  After it comes through, our summer in April will end amid cooler, blustery weather.  

Why Are There Still Southern Snowbanks? Latent Heat Takes Time

Old snow piles take forever to melt. 

Every spring, we in Vermont see dirty, sad monuments to the past winter. 

They're in the form of those dirty, ugly slowly fading piles of snow at the edges of supermarket parking lots and back behind strip malls. The piles are a remaining bit of late winter grossness while trees bud and flowers bounce happily in the spring breezes nearby. 

This spring, people in the the southern United States had the rare opportunity to experience these fading remembrances of winter and they were freaking out. 

Usually when it snows in the south, it's usually a wet, heavy slop that's so close to water anyway that it melts quickly. Or it's a quick shot of fluffy, usually a couple inches at most.

This winter, a huge swath of the South, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic States got basically snowy cement in January. It was a dense mess of snow, lots of sleet, all frozen together by a round of freezing rain. 

In February, southerners freaked out this mess wasn't melting, despite temperatures occasionally poking well above freezing. The conspiracy theories swirled. It wasn't melting, so it wasn't "real" snow. The government, the corporations, the oligarchs were doing.....something.

But there's reasons why that snow and ice didn't melt fast. We'll get to that in a minute. 

Then, the dirty icy "monuments" in the parking lots in the South remained well into March. That's normal for us in Vermont, but it's completely bizarre for people in Tennessee, or Virginia or even Maryland and New Jersey.   

The conspiracy theories started again. Snow always melts way before now! Something is wrong! say the worried conspiracists.  Even if people didn't believe the conspiracy theories, they still remarked about black piles of debris in Philadelphia in late March that were in fact leftover snow piles. 

Montclair, New Jersey residents are annoyed by lingering snow dumps in parks.  The snow was removed from streets in the winter, and left in the parks. As of earlier this week, much of the snow was still there, covered in grime and flecked liberally with trash. Big piles of "snowcrete" remained at the airport in Baltimore as April arrived. 

Now all these residents get to enjoy what we Vermonters do: On top of our mud season, the rotting piles of dirty snow  in parking lots and the grimy puddles surrounding them are as much a scene of spring as crocuses and budding trees.

Big old snow piles need a lot of what is known as latent heat of fusion to completely melt.  Latent heat of fusion is just the energy needed to turn ice from a solid into a water a liquid. That's not the same as temperature. It's not a matter of just heating up the ice. Energy has to go into the process of converting ice to water. 

According to the Boston Globe via Mental Floss: 

The piles are dense and heavy, especially since they formed in large part from sleet in addition to some snow. The piles were plopped there, become even more dense and heavy. The snow closer to the surface  starts acting as an insulator for the snow buried further down. The compact snow requires more energy to dissipate.

If you really want to get rid of an old ugly snow pile, you can spread it out with a shovel or backhoe. If more surface is exposed to the air, it will melt faster. If you don't have the energy to do that, pray for rain.

A well soaked snow pile melts faster than one that sits out there day after dry, sunny day .

And it could be worse. In the winter of 2015, Boston had epic amounts of snow, we're talking several feet in a few weeks. The city piled snow in back lots in a desperate attempt to get it off the streets. Not all of that 2015 snow melted until July.

North/South Split In Spring Weather Is HUGE In Vermont This Year

Got another small section of the gardens cleaned up
yesterday before it rained. Although we'll have
frequent chances of showers over the next week,
especially in northern Vermont, we also should
have dry, balmy periods to enjoy the outdoors, too.

 Yesterday was another one of those extreme days in which northern Vermont wasn't all that warm while southern parts of the state basked in near-summer warmth. We've had several of those kinds of days already this spring. 

At 4 p.m. Friday, for example, it was a balmy 76 degrees in Bennington, but a relatively chilly 53 in Highgate and 54 degrees in Newport, both near the Canadian border. In the middle of the state, it was in the decent 60s. 

It's almost always warmer in southern Vermont valleys than in the far reaches of the Northeast Kingdom, of course. But in the spring, that temperature range can get pretty extreme. 

This has already happened a few times in Vermont this spring. For instance, at 1 p.m. on March 11, its was simultaneously 36 degrees in Highgate and 63 degrees in Bennington. On March 31, afternoon temperatures were in the 30s in Burlington and flirting with 70 in Bennington. It's almost as if two seasons are an easy drive apart. 

Some of this has to do with the nature of spring cold fronts. 

 Usually, cold fronts come in from the west. But in the spring, we are more likely to have some occasional "back door" cold front as well. Those "back door" fronts come in from the north or even northeast. They tend to move slowly, and often stall out. The stalls for some reason often happen somewhere near the Canadian border,

In some years, spring comes a lot sooner and a lot more completely in places like Bennington and Brattleboro than in up by the Canadian border in little towns like Alburgh, Richford and Derby Line. 

Spring is hitting the whole state, of course. So don't worry. Even if you can see Canada from your house, or if you're actually in Canada, spring is developing. Even if it's a little more grudgingly than further south. 

Next week,  it looks like we might  have more of those extreme temperatures ranges in Vermont and the rest of New England as a front drapes itself somewhere near the Canadian border. The details are hard to pin down this far in advance, but we'll try to give you an idea in the details below:

TODAY/TOMORROW

The front that kept extreme northern Vermont fairly chilly swept through the rest of the state in the late afternoon and evening Friday, dropping temperatures rapidly. Rutland, for instance, went from 70 degrees to 56 degrees within an hour last evening. 

With the front gone, temperatures will be relatively even across the state today. With brisk northerly winds, highs will only make it into the 40s to maybe a couple low 50s south. 

After a frosty start to the day, Sunday should feature increasing clouds with highs in the 50s. Sunday might be the last day for awhile in which the entire state is pretty much having the same kind of weather 

THE (NEARLY) STALLED FRONT

A slug of rain should come through Sunday night and part of Monday. As has been the case lately, the north will get more rain than the south. Current guesses give places near the Canadian border about two thirds of an inch of rain. That'll gradually taper down as you head south, so Bennington and Windham counties will only get a tenth of an inch of rain.

The front we're talking about will then spend much of next week wavering near the Canadian border. Little ripples of low pressure will run roughly west to east along it, giving us an ever-present chance of showers. But it won't rain all the time.  

If the front dips to the south of the Canadian border, northern Vermont would get chilly, at least at times. If it stays north, all of us will see almost summery weather. That means the air would feel kind of humid, and temperatures during the day would get into the 70s. Maybe near 80 if the sun breaks through enough. Nights would stay in the 50s.

Wednesday and Thursday are the most likely days in which the weather will be summery. If this balmy, humid weather actually happens, you'll see spring advance incredibly fast. You'd better get your lawn mower serviced for the season now if not sooner. 

Since the front will stay hung up near the Canadian border, rain is most likely up there during the week. which leads me to another concern. The U.S. Drought Monitor says southern Vermont is still abnormally dry.  To recover from the lingering effects of last year's drought, now is the time you want a lot of rain. 

Southern Vermont might miss out. Forecasts can change but as of this morning, at least 1.25 inches of rain could fall north of Route 2 over the next week. But less than a quarter inch is forecast in the far south of the state.

We all like sunshine and warm temperatures, but you know what they say about those April showers. We need 'em!

 

Snowy April Day Underway In Vermont, Should Clear Out Late, Spring Still Coming

Traffic camera shows a snowy Route 9 in Searsburg, Vermont
around 7:30 this morning. An initial burst of snow hit
far southern Vermont. Much of the rest of the state
could see briefly heavy snow showers today. 

 If it hasn't snowed where you are yet as you read this in and around Vermont, it will soon. 

A small disturbance is blowing through, consisting oa a reinforcing shot of cold air that'll keep us quite chilly through tomorrow morning. 

A burst of pretty heavy snow has already crossed Bennington and Windham counties in southern Vermont, depositing a quick inch of snow. 

It left roads looking pretty slippery around Bennington and along Route 9 heading up and over the far southern Green Mountains. 

Scattered snow showers were across parts of central Vermont as of 8 a.m. Another main band of snow appeared to be twisting around the mini-storm's center not far from Watertown, New York. It was gradually heading east.

I'm not sure whether that band will hold together completely, but almost all of the state has a shot of a quick inch of snow, if it hasn't already happened. There's a slight question as to whether the snow band will be able to pivot into the far northern Champlain Valley, but for now, we should assume it will. 

In any event, the snow could briefly come down pretty hard anywhere in the state. That means that we'll have to harken back to our winter driving habits a bit as the roads will get briefly slick. Since this is happening in April during the day, some of the snow will tend to start melting off shortly after any bursts of heavier snow ends. 

Hopefully that means any problems with icy roads won't last long. This isn't a full blown winter storm, after all. Just a nippy springtime hassle. 

Yep, another snowfall forecast map. Perhaps the last one
of the season? Don't count on it. This map shows many
of us could get a quick inch of snow. There might
be locally heavier surprises in the mountains

Some places might have more than one burst of heavy snow.  Certain spots in the state could technically get up to two or three inches of snow. 

But it would be an inch that melts, followed by another inch that melts again. So nobody except the high elevations should have much  more than an inch of snow on the ground out of this. 

That said, small mini-storms like this in April can work with amazingly lame amounts of atmospheric moisture and create a good local dump of snow, so keep an eye on it through the day.

 A few isolated spots - mostly up high -  could end up with several inches of surprise snow. No guarantees, but just a possibility there. 

Our little disturbance should start to head on out late this afternoon, taking its snow showers with it. 

FRIGID TONIGHT

We're setting ourselves up for potentially the coldest April night since 2016.  What is likely, hopefully, the last Arctic high pressure system of the season should settle right over the top of overnight and early tomorrow. That means light winds and clear skies - the perfect recipe for a frigid night. 

Or almost perfect. If there's snow cover, it tends to get even colder in these situations. Many of us will still have some snow on the ground overnight, so that could make things even chillier.  The bottom line: Most of us will be in the frigid teens by the time dawn breaks tomorrow. A few of us could be in the single digits. 

That's damn cold for April. Maybe even close to record territory in a few places. Burlington's record low of 11 tomorrow is completely safe.  But it could get close in St. Johnsbury, where the record low is 10 above on Wednesday. The most likely candidate is Montpelier. Their record low tomorrow is 14 degrees, and the forecast low is also 14 degrees.

SPRING RETURNS

Don't worry, we still are convinced spring will come back in a hurry. And stay for awhile this time. Tomorrow afternoon will still be cool for this time of year, but 40s won't seem bad after today. 

Thursday and Friday will pop right up into the nice 50s to low 60s before another cold front comes in. But the next cold front is a spring front, not an Arctic one. So Saturday will probably only be about 50 degree, which is still reasonable.

On top of that, a stiff southwest wind could bring us up to near 70 degrees next Monday if thick clouds and rain hold off until the end of the day. Stay tuned on that one! 

Monday Morning: Back To "Winter Echo" In Vermont For A Couple Days

This garden, as of a this morning covered with a dusting of
snow and a mess of dead leaves and disheveled ground,
will someday be pretty again. Sooner rather than
later, we hope!

 Just for a reminder I live in Vermont, I woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground and some snowflakes in the air outside her in St. Albans, Vermont. 

That's not the least bit odd for early April, I know. But, everyone is anxious to see our world finally start to green up after a long, brown, gray, colorless winter.

Don't worry, the big green-up is coming and soon, but we'll have to deal with the usual "winter echo" we get every spring, in which winter weather continues to reverberate after the main show is done.

This year's episode of "winter echo' is pretty mellow compared to some years, so we have that to be thankful for, too.

COLD SPELL

This semi-return to winter really kind of started yesterday. It never really was able to partly clear up and warm up much across the Green Mountain State yesterday. It stayed rather chilly and raw all day even as rain tapered off as expected in the afternoon. 

Colder air coming in last night left us that lovely dusting of snow. At least in some parts of Vermont. It looks like the mountains picked up and inch or two of snow. Vermont Agency of Transportation web games showed is snowing pretty hard again around Jay Peak as of around 8 a.m. this morning. 

This morning's snow showers might tend to dry up during the day today, though they might not entirely die out. I imagine they might especially hang on like a bad party guest in the northern and central Green Mountains off and on all day. 

Highs today will only make it to around 40, give or take, which is about ten degrees chillier than average for this time of year. 

But then it gets worse.

TUESDAY

A reinforcing shot of frigid Canadian air is about to give us a January in April day tomorrow. Highs across most of northern Vermont won't get above freezing, and warmer southern valleys should mostly stay at or below 40 degrees.  

For comparison, valleys north should be around 50 degrees during the afternoons this time of year, while southern valleys should be in the low 50s.

This reinforcing shot of cold air will also bring through a disturbance during the day that should kick off quite a few snow showers. That it's coming through during the day means snow accumulations should be limited. Maybe an inch or less in the valleys and a couple inches in the mountains. 

It might be one of those days in which  you actually get a couple inches of snow, but never actually see that much on the ground. With the strong sun angle of April, you might get a half inch of snow in a burst, then it melts, to be followed by another half inch that melts, etc, 

The orientation is a little in question, so it's hard to tell who gets the most snow. It doesn't really matter that much, because it won't be a lot. Especially first thing tomorrow morning, that snow might be creating slick spots on the roads, though, so keep that in mind.  

The April cold will be a little more intense than we've seen in recent years. The National Weather Service is going for a high tomorrow of 32 in Burlington and a Wednesday morning low of 19. 

If that happens, it'll be the first time since 2016 that a day didn't;t get above freezing in April. It would also be the first time since 2016, and the second time in 20 years that it gets into the teens. It'll be a close call.

Before climate change kicked in, we would much more often see subfreezing highs in April and lows in the teens and even single numbers during the month. The world is warmer now, so we're not used to cold snaps that were once routine, but are now kind of exceptional. 

THE WARMUP

We're not going to flip to anything record warm or anything like that, but you'll find the second half of the week, next weekend and beyond much more palatable. Wednesday afternoon should still be cool after that frigid start, but the warm April sun will make it feel OK. 

It's hard to get a feel for exactly how warm it might get starting Thursday, but 50s and low 60s for daily highs looks reasonable at this point. That's somewhat milder than average, and we'll take it. Since the warm up looks like it will last at least several days, you'll start to see lawns green up a little, garden perennials sprout, and tree buds swell.

It's a promise. Despite "winter's echo," spring is inevitable.