Spring Taking Over Nation, But Bits And Pieces Of Winter Hang On. Especially Frigid Maine

Last Friday, spring seemed to arrive around my home
 in St. Albans, Vermont. By Saturday, as you can
see in the pick, my yard was once again a wintry
landscape of snow and icicles.  

Up where I live in northern Vermont, it seemed  like spring finally hit last Friday.

Under a lot of sunshine, the temperature soared into the 60s, and most of the snow finally melted from my yard.

By mid-morning Saturday, the yard was snow covered again, after a cold front combined with a storm system dumped a couple inches of snow.

The snow started to melt a bit Saturday afternoon, only to be replaced by more snow from a passing cold front early Sunday.

Some of that snow melted Sunday afternoon, but I awoke to another dusting of new snow this morning.

Such is the frustrating life of living in northern New England in early spring.

You try to count your blessings though. At least it's not all that cold in Vermont this Monday morning. Temperatures are in the 20s.

In northern Maine this morning, there's some pretty unprecedented cold for April. Big Black River Maine, reported 20 below! Presque Isle reported at least 13 below early today, and Houlton was at 12 below.  That is just insane for April.

These readings set a new record for coldest temperatures on record for New England.   The previous coldest April reading in the past I could find was -12 in Bloomfield, Vermont on April 1, 1923.

Back here in Vermont, at least the snow is no longer piling up. It's too late in the spring for that. Afternoons get above freezing, and things thaw a little bit, at least in the valleys here in Vermont.

True, it's probably going to snow a little again tonight, and maybe Tuesday night. And maybe a little on Wednesday. Bur during the afternoons, it'll go over to a cold rain, so I suppose that's an improvement.

Plus, the snow is staying in place at the ski areas. There was the best Easter weekend skiing in ages across Vermont and the rest of northern New England, so there's that.

AND, it'll probably warm into the 50s next weekend. Springlike enough. Maybe someday things will green up and flowers will bloom. One can only hope.

Meanwhile, most of the rest of the nation is enjoying spring weather. I say enjoying, because most of it is nice. But not all of it.

Being spring, the weather can be volatile in the middle of the country, and there's the risk around Wednesday and Thursday of a pretty nasty severe weather outbreak of tornadoes, hail, strong winds and flooding.

As I noted, winter is lingering in some areas, as it does most springs. There was a freezing rain advisory for parts of central Minnesota this morning, for instance. Snow is also expected in parts of the northern Rockies.

In a welcome bit of winter news, snow is expected this week in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. This comes after news last week that snowpack in the Sierra is at record lows, which means there won't be much water from snowmelt to feed the needs of drought-stricken California.

This week's snow in the Sierra will only be a drop in the bucket and certainly won't solve the state's drought problems. Not even close. But any precipitation in California is welcome.

At this point, I bet Californians wouldn't even mind these little repeated spring snows I keep getting at my Vermont house this week.