Spooky Halloween Storm To Step Vermont Down Closer To Winter (California Keeps Burning)

Fallen leaves in my St. Albans, Vermont yard.
The few remaining leaves on the trees will
probably come down Thursday and Friday
amid an expected rain and wind storm.

Every autumn, a strong storm comes along bringing a lot of precipitation and wind, and a pronounced step down toward winter.

Such a storm is coming for Halloween and on Friday, so get those winter jackets out! It won't be extremely cold after this storm goes by, but you'll notice the difference.

First, we have to get through this uncoming storm, which looks to be a bit of a doozy.

Today will be OK, with relatively mild temperatures and some sun in the western half of Vermont. Eastern Vermont will be cloudier.

Same is true Wednesday with only a slight chance of showers.

Thursday, Halloween, is when things start to get interesting. And it's bad news for trick or treaters, unless they're planning on dressing up as umbrellas or rain gauges or something.

It'll get showery and breezy Thursday as the storm's warm front arrives. Things will intensify Thursday night as a lot of moisture is likely to get sucked up from the Gulf of Mexico into this storm.

It's been wet lately, and it looks like we're in for another one or two inches of rain with this storm Thursday night and Friday. Some places will get even more than that. I think at least some minor flooding is a good possibility with this storm.

Overnight Thursday and into Friday morning will be perfectly spooky for the season with strong winds and occasionally heavy rains.  That makes for a noisy storm, and you'll hear eerie things outside, like the occasional small branch breaking,  shutters rattling, things blowing around in the yard, loose shed doors banging shut, that sort of thing.

We'll also have to look out for possibly damaging winds in some areas starting before dawn Friday and lasting much of the day. Details are iffy, but there could be some areas of downed branches, trees and power lines across most of Vermont and surrounding areas Friday.  I imagine a lot of gusts will be in the 50 mph range.

Saturated soft soil also makes it easier for trees to uproot in strong winds.

Behind the storm, we get into a sustained period of chilly weather.  Definitely not like anything we've seen since April. But it will be very typical of November.

Daytime highs starting Saturday and lasting well into next week will only reach the 40s, with lows in the upper 20s to mid 30s. It'll be unsettled, with scattered rain and snow showers around. Some of those snow showers will extend to valley floors, especially at night.  This chilly pattern might easily extend into the middle of November at least.

Deal with it, because at least the weather here is not as extreme as it is out west.

FRIGID ROCKIES, FIERY CALIFORNIA

The weather pattern that is bringing us the storm later this week and the colder air for the weekend is bringing bigger extremes to the west.

This pattern, which I told you about yesterday, features a big northward bulge in the jet stream in Alaska, and a sharp dip southward into the Rockies. Compact storms roll like bowling balls almost due southward into this dip, which have been bringing repeated snowfalls to the West.   Great Falls, Montana has already had more than 31 inches of snow this "winter" for instance.

Each of these "bowling balls" also bring batches of Arctic air.  A high mountain valley, at an elevation of around 8,000 feet, might have set a national record for the coldest October reading on record in the Lower 48. Peter Sinks, Utah got down to 34.7 below zero!  Brrrr!

Denver, Colorado, hasn't been any warmer than the low 20s since early Sunday morning and won't get warmer than that until Thursday.  A winter storm warning is up for the Denver area today, with six to 12 inches of snow in the forecast. Record lows of near zero area expected later this week.

That's way too early for me.

These "bowling ball" disturbances I've describing also increase the pressure gradient between the California coast and the Sierra Nevada mountains and other hills. That's what's been producing the Santa Ana winds in southern California, which has been causing those destructive fires.

It's only going to get worse over the next couple of days.  Santa Ana winds of 30 to 55 mph with gusts to 80 mph on the higher hills are producing another round of extreme fire risk later today through Friday. This is near record territory for the strength of the Santa Anas.

New and existing fires will spread like crazy.   Embers from these fires will fly long distances to start new fires.  Remember, these exceedingly dry winds have been going on and off for a month now, so it's made everything in southern California super arid.  This is NOT going to be a good couple of days there.

Did Someone Say Snow? Relax, NOT For Us In New England

Sunset atop Mount Washington, New Hampshire Tuesday as
seen through a railing coverd with ice and frozen snow.
No more snow there in the foreseeable future, but the
mountains of northwestern United States look like they'll
get some over the next several days. 

As we head into summer, it seems all my nightime dreams involve snowfalls.

No, I'm not pining for snow right now, but it seems I've got snow on my brain.

Maybe it's because I've been watching the weather patterns and see signs of snow for the next few days - for the northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest, not for us, so relax.

It's true it did snow atop Mount Washington the other day, but the jet stream flow has changed and we can expect a few days of summer weather here in the Northeast and through most of the eastern two-thirds of the nation for that matter.

It's another story for the Cascades of Washington and Oregon, the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, and parts of the high country in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

A deep dip in the jet stream is drawing cold, stormy air from northwestern Canada, and the result will be some June snow in these mountains. 

It's actually not all that unusual for it to snow in the mountains in the part of the country in June, but still, people are worried about early season hikers and campers that aren't ready for cold temperatures and wet snow.

Already, a winter weather advisory - in June - is up for the Lassen Park area of California for four to eight inches of high elevation snow. Other advisories might go up for the northwestern United States mountains over the weekend and into early next week.

There was already a LOT of snow in many western mountains from a stormy winter. In Wyoming, things have gotten ugly, and the turn to colder weather toward Tuesday there could actually help.

Ahead of the approaching cold front it is quite warm in Wyoming and surrounding parts of Idaho and Montana. That has created some serious snow melt flooding and things will probably get worsre today and Saturday as thunderstorms unleash heavy rain atop this melting snow.

Forecasters are urging voluntary evacuations in some river valleys of central Wyoming. Also,  the Wind River at Riverton, Wyoming has reached a record crest.

Although people in this area will be relieved at the colder weather by Tuesday, I'm sure they won't appreciate the additional snowfall in the mountains, which will eventually have to melt.