Lots Of Small Storms In Vermont's Immediate Future

I took advantage of yesterday's mild weather in St. Albans, Vermont
to start hacking the glacier from last week's icy weather off
my driveway. With more snowfalls in the forecast, I didn't
want that ice to be a semi-permannet feature in the driveway.

It looks like we've gotten into a weather pattern that this wimpy Vermonter kind of likes: No extreme cold, no blockbuster storms, but plenty of chances for snow.

That's especially true in the hills and mountains, which sustain Vermont's economy with winter sports offerings.

That's all good news as far as I'm concerned.

This very active pattern for the next week or two at least does provide plenty of forecasting challenges, but that's the nature of the beast during the winter, right?

Today will be a rather quiet, warm day, so don't expect anything exciting today, unless ice from last week's storm melting off your driveway rings your bell.

Next, I want to dispel any rumors you might have heard about a big dump of snow from a nor'easter this weekend. That ain't going to happen. But it will still snow.

Some earlier forecasts suggested that a very wet system that is causing flooding in Alabama would join forces with another small thing coming from the Great Lakes to produce a big storm.

Uh-uh.

The wet Alabama storm will pretty much go by to our south and pieces of energy from the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley will hit us. There's some moisture to work with and the stuff from the west is pretty dynamic, so the National Weather Service in South Burlington is going with two to four inches of snow Saturday afternoon and night in the valleys, with perhaps five to seven inches at elevations above 2,000 feet.

After that, the forecasts get iffy because of the fast parade of little storms from the west.  Computer models have trouble keeping track of every little detail of this pattern.  If you miss something, the forecast is way off.

The bottom line is to expect pretty active weather. As it stands now, a Tuesday cold front could produce some pretty hefty snow showers, and another storm on Wednesday could produce either a little or a fair amount of snow, so stay tuned.

After a break Thursday, something else would come along Friday, but it's way too soon to say exactly what.

This generally west to east parade of storms is helping to block really cold Arctic air from plunging into our neck of the woods.  This state of affairs will probably last until at least mid-month, if not longer.

Sure, little pieces of Arctic air might break off and sneak in to Vermont for a day here and there, but we won't have any long, deep freezes for awhile yet.  Which I like.

Of course, there's plenty of time from mid-January to mid-March to have subzero ice boxes, so enjoy this relatively warm break while you can.