A Nice Dash Of Spring Saturday; A Quick Slap Of Winter Next

This perennial bed on my St. Albans, Vermont property emerged
from underneath the snow for the first time since December. You
can see the brook in the background running muddy and
high from the thaw. A half hour after this photo was taken today,
snow once again began mixing with the rain.

Saturday morning, I drove to work from St. Albans to Burlington, Vermont under cold, gray skies, a smattering of light sleet and cold rain clattering on the windshield.

When I got out of work in the late afternoon, it had turned much milder - it was the first 60 degree reading of the year in Burlington, and the first time it was that warm since October 20.

A crocus in a warm, sunny corner by the front of the building had popped into bloom.

On the way home, I noticed swamp maples budding in the low, marshy ground between Colchester and Milton. Overnight, the temperature hovered near 60 degrees.

If that's not spring, I don't know what is.

This is Vermont, of course, so spring comes in fits and starts, and winter always loves to try and reassert itself at every opportunity.

So it was with a cold front this morning. Here in St. Albans, the temperature fell from the upper 50s to the upper 30s within an hour as the cold front blustered through. As of 12:15 p.m., rain was turning to snow.

Unlike last Friday, this isn't turning out to be a blockbuster snow, but it's a reminder that spring is never easy in Vermont.

For the rest of the day, the cold front will keep moving east, erasing any remaining warmth from eastern parts of Vermont. The precipitation will taper off, but rain and snow showers will keep going in many areas, especially the mountains.

Another little band of moisture will reinvigorate the snow showers tonight. Northern mountains could pick up a few inches of snow. Many valley locations will have whitened ground again by morning. Monday will be windy and wintry and chilly, with highs in the 30s. Sigh.

Let's put it in perspective, though. A bit of snow on the ground and temperatures in the 30s are routine in Vermont on April Fools Day. Plus, spring is a worthy opponent of winter. It will win. The battle between the two seasons will go on for awhile, though.

By Tuesday, temperatures will be seasonably mild again. Another nor'easter has been scaring me just a tiny bit, though. Almost all the forecasts have it passing far enough to our east on Wednesday to not affect us, other than maybe throw some clouds our way.

I'm just gun-shy after last week, when a nor'easter that was expected to stay away clobbered us with a ton of late season snow. This upcoming one on Wednesday, though, looks more likely to stay completely away. Fingers crossed!

Thursday will be cooler behind a cold front, but not terrible - highs in the low 40s is not odd at all for early April. More storminess is possible next weekend. It's too soon to say how things will shake out, but preliminary forecasts look more wet than white. Again, fingers crossed!

In another encouraging note, temperatures just might run a bit above normal for the first half of April here in Vermont, at least if long range forecasts turn out to be accurate. (They aren't always that great, but I like to pin my hopes on positive news.)

By the way, there was quite a burst of snow melt with the warmth overnight and the briefly heavy showers this morning. No widespread flooding is expected in Vermont out of this, but there might be pockets of high water today and tonight, especially behind any ice jams that form in northern areas.

Not that big a deal, but something to watch out for. Don't drive through any flood waters, please.