Winter To Finally (Briefly) Hit At The End Of The Week

We might get a dusting of snow, like this one pictured last
November in St. Albans, with a strong cold front Thursday
night. Winter cold to follow Friday, Saturday.

Yesterday's post remarked about how warm the autumn has been and how things are still growing in the garden and all that jazz.  

True, but we New Englanders now need to rush our winter preparation to completion, as winter is going to hit very abruptly, but probably rather briefly late in the week.

It'll be seasonably cold through Thursday, with highs in the upper 30s and 40s across Vermont, but then, watch out! A strong cold front will arrive Thursday night.

Some snow showers or even snow squalls will probably accompany the front, especially in the north and mountains.

Accumulations won't amount to all that much, but the dustings of snow along with the rapidly falling temperatures will almost certainly slicken up many roads later Thursday night and for the Friday commute.

Yeah, it's that time of year.

For many of us in northern Vermont, the temperature will fall below freezing Thursday night and not rise above freezing again until Sunday. Friday will seem brutal, even though we can get this type of weather in mid-November.

But how brutal? Try high temperatures in the 20s with winds gusting to 30 mph. That translates to a wind chill in the single digits. Some of us have yet to see an overnight low in the 20s, so this will seem like quite a shock. By the way, the last time we had a day with a high temperature that stayed below freezing, at least in Burlington, Vermont, was way back on March 16.

On the bright side, this will finally get the Vermont and other north country ski areas to get their snow guns out, and start covering slopes with what will hopefully be ski-able snow soon.

On the even brighter side, if you don't like deep cold, winter will ease its grip for a little while after Saturday. Temperatures will begin to ease up later Saturday and by Sunday and Monday, we'll be back in the 40s again. Not warm, exactly, but not midwinter conditions either.