Vermont Should Expect Rapid Weather Changes Today With Storm

Amid a cold rain Thursday morning, areas around my house in St. Albans,
Vermont took on a gloomy, early March like feel

As of 10 a.m. Thursday, the storm blowing through Vermont is acting pretty much as expected, which is a testament to the meteorologists who have been covering this thing for the past couple of days.

The main differences from predictions so far is that we have trended more toward rain in the valleys and mid-elevations.  It seems like only areas above 2,000 feet have gotten any snow worth talking about.

Downslope wind reports along the immediate western slopes of the Green Mountains have, as of 9 a.m., not been as spectacular as forecast. However, the most favorable conditions for those winds were only just coming across the state.

As of 8:50 a.m. the highest wind gusts I found at non-mountaintop locations were 49 mph at Mendon and Lake Dunmore and 48 mph in the Nashville section of Jericho.

Vermont Outage Map had about 3,000 homes and businesses without power, scattered across the state, as of 10 a.m. Thursday.

 It seems like any snow that's been mixing in through the valleys or mid-elevations comes with bursts of heavier precipitation, which is normal. As the storm consolidates and strengthens as it moves through it will cool the atmosphere, which is just starting to lower the elevations at which it is snowing.  I noticed Montpelier switched from rain to snow at around 9 a.m.

Those towns that are still in the rain still face the risk of some street flooding from clogged drains and heavy bursts of rain.

The strong front with this storm is moving southwest to northeast across Vermont.  Immediately behind the front, temperatures drop and things switch very quickly to snow.   Since the cold front (really technically something called an occluded front) is coming at us at an odd angle, Bennington was the first Vermont town to feel the temperature drop.

They went from 43 degrees at 8 a.m. with a gusty southeast wind to 34 degrees just before 9 a.m. behind the front with a gusty southwest wind.  The front was moving fairly fast. It had just passed through Rutland at 10 a.m., with precipitation in the process of changing to snow.

This very noticeable switch in the weather will progress across the rest of the state from southwest to northeast for the rest of the morning and early afternoon.

Everybody will get into the snow amid falling temperatures by this afternoon as the front goes through.  However, the best moisture with this storm fades shortly after the front passes, so nobody, except the higher mountaintops, will get  huge amounts of snow. Still, a quick one to three inches, locally more is still a good bet this afternoon.

Those wet roads will freeze and get covered with snow, so you'll have to deal with that on the way home from work this afternoon.

The main storm will be done by evening, but the lingering snow showers will last all the way into Saturday, especially in the mountains.

As I mentioned, there's an epic lake effect blizzard coming to the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario in New York.  Off of lake Ontario, they are still expecting up to four feet of snow from this.

The lake effect snow will have enough oomph to make it all the way to the Green Mountains in weakened form, allowing for several inches of snow to pile up in the northern and central Green Mountains by Saturday night.

Another weather front will sag southward from north to south across Vermont Friday.  That front is weak, but will provide a focus for those lake effect snow showers. Which means even in the valleys,  at least a dusting to two inches, locally more, will accumulate.  This even includes the Champlain Valley, in my opinion.

Some areas of northern Vermont, expecially mountains from Sugarbush north to Jay Peak,  could get six inches or more out of that lake effect.