Snowy Northern New England Might Get Even Snowier Over The Weekend

Snoliage in my St. Albans, Vermont yard this morning. 

New England's first winter storm warning of the season was in effect last night and this morning in much of northern and central Maine, as a strengthening storm moved northeastward in the Gulf of Maine.

The snow extended westward into Vermont and northern New York. As of 9 a.m. a dusting of snow, measured at 0.6 inches had accumulated at my St. Albans, Vermont house.

There are starting to be reports of much more snow in higher elevations, especially further east in Ne England. Norton, Vermont reported 5.5 inches of fresh snow at an elevation of 1,660 feet. Orleans, Vermont reported 4.5 inches. Randolph, New Hampshire reported 11 inches.

By the way, the storm, as it was forming over New England yesterday, was pretty dynamic. It spun off a tornado in Lincoln, Rhode Island, another in Sandwich, Massachusetts (the first Cape Cod tornado since 1977) and strong thunderstorms were reported across much of central and southern New England. Definitely an odd day yesterday.

The snow should taper off this afternoon, and we'll remain in our cold regime with some mountain snow showers continuing into Wednesday.. However, if you like snow, there's a chance that you'll love this coming weekend.

A riot of snow and fall foliage in my St. Albans, Vermont
yard this morning. 

This dynamic weather pattern is continuing. A deep dip in the jet stream will inspire the formation of a nor'easter.

The remnants of Hurricane Willa will help juice this system, but it won't be the main ingredient for the storm. There's plenty of energy and moisture with the weekend system as it heads north.

Temperatures are going to be marginal here in the interior Northeast, so it's going to be hard to figure out if it will be mostly rain, mostly snow, other mixes or what.

At this point, there's the potential for a heavy wet snow in parts of Vermont and surrounding areas. If this wet snow develops, it is obviously most likely in the  higher elevations.

Heavy, wet snow often leads to power failures, so keep that in mind. Plus, there's leaves remaining on a few trees here and there, so that could make it worse.

On top of that, yet another nor'easter looks like it will be a good possibility next Tuesday. That has the potential to dump more heavy wet snow, or a cold rain on us once again.

I suppose we need the moisture. Although it's been a wet month, we still need the rain. A drought is ongoing in northern Vermont, despite the wet weather. If I dig down into the soil around my house in St. Albans, I encounter dry soil.

But this early in the season, I'd rather the precipitation come at us at rain, not snow, but I don't get to choose, do I?