One More Bout of Winter, Then It Turns Spring-ish In The North Country

A mid-winter scene in the spring in my St. Albans, Vermont
yard Saturday evening, with 14 inches of dense snow on the
ground. Some of this snow will finally disappear with thawing
over the next week or so. 

Up here in Vermont, winter drags on, for a little while longer, at least.

Skies cleared up last evening, and with the unseasonably deep snow cover helping to refrigerate things, it got wicked cold again.  

Nearly a week into spring, it was 1 below this morning in Saranac Lake, New York, and near or below zero in a smattering of cold hollows in northern Vermont.

It didn't get quite that cold here at my hacienda in St. Albans, Vermont, but there was 14 inches of snow on the ground as of last evening. (There was "only" 7 inches left down in Burlington, which largely missed out on Friday's heavier snow.)

Next up: Freezing rain.

The sun will fade behind increasing clouds here in the North Country for the rest of the day. However, there will be enough sun to get us above freezing for awhile this afternoon. Temperatures will get to 40 or a little more in most spots, so we'll lose a bit of this pesky snow cover. Not much, but a little.

It's a gorgeous day to hit the ski slopes, though, and the skiing conditions are awesome, so you might want to consider that.

Then the next storm comes in this evening and overnight. This time, it doesn't look like there will be much in the way of snow, but freezing rain is going to be a problem.

Freezing rain advisories are up for the eastern half of Vermont, Bennington County, and the central and souther Adirondacks, and parts of southwestern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts.

Northern New Hampshire and western Maine will probably start out as snow tonight and then quickly go over to sleet and freezing rain. Winter weather advisories are on for those spots.

There won't be enough freezing rain to bring down much in the way of trees and power lines, but there will be icy roads through the Monday morning commute. The worst travel conditions will be on secondary roads. You'll need to watch out on the main highways, too, but they'll be treating those roads, so that will help.

If you're on foot, those sidewalks are going to be horrible. Break out those Yak Trax!

In Vermont's Champlain Valley, temperatures tonight and early Monday will stay near or just a smidge above 32 degrees. There will be spotty freezing rain for the morning commute in a few spots, but forecasters at this point don't thing that ice will be terribly widespread near Lake Champlain.

For those who are really weary of deep winter in spring, I've got some marginally good news. It's going to turn less wintry, starting Monday afternoon.

Rest assured we won't have any gloriously warm, sunny days in the near future. The weather will be unsettled for the next few days, for sure. But not blizzardy or frigid.

Rain and gloom will continue through the day on Monday, as temperatures climb into the low 40s. Another round of showers comes in Tuesday, but temperatures will rise into the 40s to near 50.

At this point, it doesn't look like there will be enough snow melt with this rain and thaw to cause any significant flooding. But some storm drains are clogged with snow and ice, so I imagine there will be some spotty street flooding in places that still have a lot of snow on the ground.

Speaking of snow, it's going to snow again! Scared you, didn't I?

This time, though, it's not that big a deal. Snow showers will dust the mountains Tuesday night through Thursday. There might even be some slushy accumulations in the valleys of northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

But afternoon readings will get to 40 degree or so Wednesday through Friday - still kind of chilly for late March but nothing like the frigid weather we're coming out of.

Beyond Friday, I have no clue what the weather will be like going into next weekend. The computer forecasting models are all over the place. My forecast for next weekend as of today is this: There will be precipitation unless there isn't. The wind will come out of a direction. There will also be temperatures.

Specific enough for you?