Two Gorgeous Days Before We Tap The Brakes On Spring

NOAA's 8 to 14 day outlook has cold weather in most of the
nation through at least around April 19, with the core
of the cold seeming to be over the Midwest. We will
be chilly here in Vermont, though. 

It's been relatively warm the past few days and spring plants and buds here in Vermont are well ahead of schedule.

Two mainly sunny and delightful days - today and tomorrow - will keep that early trend going, but we will get pretty much an interruption to spring later this week.

That might actually be a good thing. The plants and buds that are up now can withstand some freezing, and a cool spell will slow things down.  If things blossom too soon, they could be wiped out by a late April or May freeze.

As much as we need spring to soothe our frazzled nerves, we don't want too much of it. Yet, anyway.

If you can go outside today and tomorrow to get some exercise do it! As long as you keep your social distance, sunshine and mild temperatures well into the 50s each afternoon will do your body and mind some good.

After Tuesday, the weather will get unsettled and cooler, but a lot of the details still have to be worked out. It surely looks like the mountains at least will get some snow, but we don't know how much yet.

One system will slide by to our south Wednesday, forecasters think. It's unclear how far north the rain will get in Vermont that day, but the clouds will keep us cooler.

Then, a strong cold front will come through Thursday, ushering in the chilly air that will generally stick around - possibly for as long as two weeks. Which is a too long in my opinion. A string of chilly days is fine, but I don't want it to last all month. We'll see how that all works out.

A pretty good storm will get going near the Maine coast Thursday night, but the heaviest rain and snow will probably fall well to our east.  Still rain and snow showers look like a good bet in Vermont Friday and Saturday.

There might be a brief break in the chill Sunday or Monday, maybe. But then it looks like a potentially even colder push of air might spill in after that.  The deepest cold will mostly stay in the middle of the nation during the next week or two, but we will be pretty chilly, too.

The good news is that this is going to hit in mid-April, when temperatures in our region are on average going through a steep warming trend.  So if we do get snow, and we probably will during the next couple of weeks, anything that accumulates will melt pretty rapidly.

You take what you can get, right?