Peak March In Vermont: Some Snow, Some Rain, Lots Of Clouds Coming

You didn't think you'd get rid of the National Weather Service snow
forecast map this early, did you? Click on it to make it bigger and
easier to see. Accumulating snow is most likely
Monday night in southern Vermont. 

Despite the burst of warmth we had on Friday, it is still very early in a Vermont spring, so you can't expect too much out of the weather just yet.

Sure enough, it's not going to be that great out for the next week or so.  At least there won't be anything extreme to make matters worse in these awful times. We don't need big new problems.

It's cold out there today, but nothing super out of the ordinary for the third week in March.

For instance, it got down to 18 degrees in Burlington overnight, which is a little cooler than the normal low of 24 degrees and far, far away from the record low of 1 above.

A few places in Vermont got down into the single digits overnight. It will only get into the 30s this afternoon, despite abundant sunshine.  Enjoy that sun, as you won't see too much of it over the next week.

The most immediate issue is a moderate-sized storm that will get going around Virginia and then move northeastward just off the coast of New England.

This will come close enough to brush us with rain and especially snow.  At this point, it doesn't look like it will amount to much in northwestern Vermont - perhaps an inch or so there.  As you get into southern Vermont, several inches seem likely, especially in the higher elevations.

A winter storm watch is up for the far two southern counties of Vermont, where six inches or more of wet snow could come down by early Tuesday morning. Parts of southern New Hampshire and western and central Massachusetts are also under this warning.

In the valleys, it will start as rain or a rain/snow mix Monday afternoon, and then change to snow overnight.  All this might impact road conditions, especially the further south you go in New England.

Of course, most of us are hunkered down due to the coronavirus pandemic, so I guess the effects on the Tuesday morning "rush" hour won't be that huge.

The usual caveats apply: If this storm tracks further north than expected, then more snow will fall on more of Vermont, including the northwest. If the storm is weaker and further south, most of us will be pretty much off the hook.

In any event, it'll get into the 40s Tuesday afternoon, so any snow that does fall will start to melt right away.

After this thing blows through, there are several other disturbances that will keep New England unsettled through the week.

Another modest storm Wednesday night will take a path similar to Monday night's storm, which would spread a little more rain and snow across the area, especially south. Then, several more little systems will come through, keeping us mostly cloudy with always a risk of some occasional light rain or mountain light snow through next weekend.