In Some Respects, Vermont's April Snow Shower Siege Has Been Pretty

Snow showers over the Northeast and southern Quebec created a very
pretty, tectured look to this visible satellite photo taken Thursday
afternoon. Vermont is somewhere in the middle of this photo. 

For two days now, us Vermonters have endured cold, windy weather, with scattered, unwelcome snow showers.

I haven't heard much enthusiasm for this snow, but in some respects, it's been pretty, if you look in the right places.

For example:

This strange patterned photo here  is a true color, visible satellite photo of the northeastern United States and far southeastern Canada. It's hard to pick out the geographic boundaries, but Vermont is roughly in the middle of the photo.

(You can click on the photo to make it bigger and easier to see).

The strong April sun worked with a pool of very chilly air aloft to form a whole bunch of snow showers. Each one was small in area, and mostly surrounded by narrow gaps of sunshine. They were pretty evenly spaced, so you get this beautiful pattern, as seen from space.

More to the south, down toward southern New England and New Jersey, where the dynamics weren't quite as good, you can see the size of these snow or rain showers was smaller.

Up here in Vermont, the brisk northwest flow meant that nobody was under any particular snow shower for very long. You'd get a burst of snow, or a flurry, then it would clear, and the process would start all over again.

One of the skinniest of the narrow snow shower clouds that erupted
over St. Albans, Vermont and much of the rest of the state Thursday.

This pattern created a very changeable day. If you were under a snow shower, cold air brought down from aloft would bring the temperature quickly into the low to mid 30s, making it feel like winter.

Then the sun would come out, and the temperature within minutes would poke up into the 40s. With the sun, it actually felt nice. Then, minutes later, it would be in the 30s and snowing again. Go figure.

Today will feature more of the same, but there likely won't be as many snow showers around as yesterday.

However, southern Vermont, along with parts of New York State and central New England, are in for a snowy treat tonight, let me tell ya!  

The southernmost two counties of Vermont - Bennington and Windham - can expect three to seven inches of snow tonight and Saturday morning. The heaviest snow will pile up in the mountains.

Snow will get as far north as central Vermont overnight, but won't amount to much. There might be an inch or two in and near Rutland and White River Junction, with perhaps a bit more than that on some mountains. Once you start approaching Middlebury and Montpelier, there will be little or no snow at all.

We'll be in a chilly pattern for another week or so, which means there will be an occasional chance of a little snow (or a little rain) through the middle of next week.