Two Destructive Storms Affecting U.S.; Some Effects Here In Vermont

Latest National Weather Service forecast snow map. Yellow and
orange areas, mostly in the Northeast Kingdom and high elevations
depict more than six inches of new snow. 

The storm that's going to sock Maine later today with a major snowstorm and us Vermonters with our share of rain and snow, has really packed a punch in other parts of the nation already.

Or at least the ingredients feeding into this storm have.

Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms swept large areas of the Midwest and South yesterday.  This was  part of the energy feeding into the storm, which I will call Storm #1.  That's because a Storm #2 will create its own big havoc Sunday and Monday. More on that in a bit.

One of yesterday's tornadoes passed very close to Jonesboro, Arkansas, which was hit by a destructive tornado on March 28.  Yesterday's tornado formed southwest of Jonesboro, which is bad because more often than not, twisters head toward the northeast.

This one went east and southeast, though, damaging or destroying more than two dozen homes around Harrisburg, Arkansas, which is a little south of Jonesboro.

Other possible tornadoes were scattered yesterday across the Midwest and South.

As the storm heads east to consolidate over New England, the system's cold front will probably set off more severe thunderstorms along the East Coast from the Carolinas to southern New England, with a zone from Washington DC to New York City being the best focus for damaging straight line winds.

The storm will rapidly organize into a big nor'easter along the coast of Maine tonight. The National Weather Service in Caribou, Maine is calling this an extremely impressive storm for mid-April. More than two feet of snow could smother Mount Katahdin, and many lowland areas in interior Maine could easily close in on 18 inches of heavy, wet snow. Snowfall rates in some parts of Maine tonight will go at two to three inches per hour, which is wild.

VERMONT EFFECTS

We'll get nothing like that here in Vermont, but it will still get unpleasant in a hurry today and stay that way at least through Friday.

The storm will start with a good slug of chilly rain, possibly starting out mixed with a few wet snowflakes in the high spots.

The rain will go over to snow this evening, first in the high elevations then going down to valley floors overnight in Vermont. Far northeastern Vermont is under a winter storm warning because six to 10 inches of wet snow is likely there through Friday.

Much of north central Vermont away from Lake Champlain  has got a winter weather advisory for two to six inches of snow.  The high peaks of the Green Mountains and Adirondacks could get six to 12 inches of snow, locally more out of this.

Even in the Champlain Valley, we'll wake up to a coating of snow Friday morning.

Friday is going to be a nasty day in Vermont by April standards. Snow showers will come down in many areas much of the morning, mixing with cold raindrops in the valleys as temperatures "warm" into the upper 30s.  Strong northwest winds will make it feel even more wintry.

It's still be chilly Saturday, but brighter. Sunday looks OK before the next storm hits which I will get into in a bit.

STORM #2

Forecasters are getting increasingly worried about what will become of a storm that's been meandering around southern California for days.

It'll finally eject into the southern Plains of the United States this weekend. Ingredients seem to be coming together or a big severe weather outbreak in the Deep South by Sunday.

Details are hard to tease out at this point, but the potential is at least there for strong, long lasting tornadoes from Louisiana to Florida.  This still might or might not happen, as a few factors could limit the severe weather. But at this point, things don't look good, and  people in the Deep South ought to be thinking about where they would go in a huge jiffy if these big tornadoes do develop. It's looking like a distinct possibility.

Storm #2 will turn into a strong system as it heads into the Great Lakes Monday.  Up here in Vermont, the early indications are we'll get a relatively mild day with a good chunk of wind and rain Monday, followed by an extended period of March-like temperatures following the storm.