Rinse And Repeat From Last Week, With A Welcome Difference

Snow covered trees in St. Albans, Vermont last weekend. More wintry
weather is due later in the week, but nothing like the storm
we had last Friday.

The weather maps and forecasts looks an awful lot like they did about this time last week, when we here in Vermont were getting ready for a blasting from  \the biggest winter storm of the winter.

As you know, the much of the state basically shut down last Friday amid ice and blizzard-like conditions.

As the storm gathered, floods and tornadoes spun up in the South, and the system organized itself for a rampaging trip toward New England.

This  current Tuesday morning, heavy rains and extensive flooding is hitting the South, and a storm is forecast to organize and head toward New England by Thursday. Sound familiar?

Before you panic, though, this next one won't be nearly as bad as last week's. There's a few differences this time that will prevent the storm from turning into a New England monster.

Still, expect some more snow, and maybe some ice on Thursday.

Just like last week, there a couple waves to this storm.  The first, the one that helped produce very heavy rain in the South Monday, will skirt by southern New England as a weak system today.  Here in Vermont, this will cause nothing more than a few areas of sprinkles, wet snow flakes and drizzle, mostly south and east.

This weak little storm will blow up into a huge monster, but not until it gets up by Newfoundland and out into the North Atlantic.  By then, it will be a hurricane-force of nature. But it won't be our problem, since it will be about 1,500 past us by the time it gets to be this enormous powerhouse.

We won't be so lucky in avoiding storm wave number 2 this week. But there are things working against this next one that will prevent a big blow for us. At this point, it looks like a sort of meh, mid sized storm for New England on Thursday. It will rocket through New England and never have a chance to tap deep Atlantic moisture or organize itself into a strong storm.

The forecast is subject to change, but at this point, it looks like we're in for a few inches of snow, with maybe some sleet and freezing rain thrown in, especially across the southern half of Vermont.

The way this winter is going, we can hardly get through any storms without a mix, can we?

Very much like last week's storm, a pretty strong push of Arctic air will blast into New England behind it. If anything, the next blast of frigid air will be even colder than what came through last weekend.

However, just like the last time, the Arctic blast will be brief. It'll get wicked cold Thursday night and stay that way through midday Saturday.  Then temperatures will creep up again, and start flirting or surpassing the freezing mark by next Sunday afternoon.

The bottom line: Get ready for plenty more wintry weather, but it's definitely nothing to panic over.