Don't Panic, Vermonters, Friday Afternoon Snow NOT Start Of Mega-Storm

About 1.7 inches of wet snow fell around a small brook on
my St. Albans, Vermont property today. This isn't the start
of a big snowstorm. Most of us will total out today at
1-3 inches of new snow.

When the forecasted snow moved into Vermont today, the storm seemed to really mean  business.

Any one location in the Green Mountain State todahy, things would seem to go from just flurries to what appeared to be the start of a very heavy snowstorm in just minutes.

Relax.

This still isn't going to be any kind of mega-snowstorm. This will taper off before it amounts to anything tremendous.  We're still looking at a storm total of one to three inches, with maybe four inches in some of the most favored locations.

As expected, when the precipitation started, the temperature dropped, ensuring we'd get snow. The type of weather set up tends to "front load" the heaviest snow, and then it dwindles off pretty quickly.

What happened with this is a warm front is approaching us from the south. Ha! You say. What kind of warm front is this, that brings us snow in April?

Yeah,  not much of a warm front. But there is big areas of chilly air over the northern tier of the nation, including us. Somewhat warm air is trying to lift up and over the dome of cold air over the North Country. When you get that set up this time of year with air lifting, you often get a brief but relatively heavy spell of snow.  

But how did the air cool off when the warm front was approaching us? Shouldn't it have warmed up and rained instead of getting colder and snowing?

Good question! The air ahead of the snow that arrived in Vermont was indeed above freezing. But the air was dry. The precipitation, falling into the dry air, has a tendency to cool the air as it evaporates in the air at first. That it did. So when the air moistened up enough for the snow to actually hit the ground, it was cold enough to accumulate.

The warm front will probably never actually get through the entire state of Vermont. But it will get close. That rising air on the north side of the warm front will pretty much stop rising at any minute now, if it hasn't already.  If the air isn't rising, you don't get as much precipitation.

As of 5:30 p.m., the precipitation was tapering off, or at least getting ready to. So the pace of the snow that we had this afternoon won't sustain itself. It'll just turn into lighter snow showers. A bit of warmer air is sneaking in to some places, so some of the remaining light precipitation will come down as rain

So, no. No big snowstorm this time. Just a lighter coating. You won't have a backbreaking job of shoveling a ton of heavy wet snow Saturday morning. You can sleep in a bit.

That doesn't mean unseasonable wintry weather is over. Not by a long shot. It'll get windy later tonight as a cold front comes in -- another one! Lighter snow showers will continue into Saturday, and temperatures will remain well below normal. It won't get out of the 30s for most of us tomorrow.

More lingering snow showers could come through Sunday, mostly in the mountains, but they will be light. It'll remain ugly chilly, with highs in the 30s.

Despite a fair amount of cloudiness around this weekend, plus the aforementioned cold air, the high April sun angle will still manage to melt a fair amount of the snow that fell today. Especially in the valleys.

It'll sort of warm up next week, but still stay colder than average. Most Vermonters will see daytime temperatures in the 40s most of next week, which is still at least five degrees chillier than average.

I've been talking about another, possibly bigger snowstorm from a nor'easter around Tuesday. It's still possible, but at this point is looking somewhat less likely. I'll keep an eye on it, though.