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.

May Proving To Be Another (Sort Of) Wet Month In Vermont

Vermont has been fairly wet since February, which is a good'
thing. Other parts of the country have been way too wet. 

From my temporary perch in Yankton, South Dakota this week, I noticed Monday was another wet day in Vermont.

Precipitation has been running above normal in the Green Mountain State in May, following a trend that began in February.

So far, it's been sort of a Goldilocks rainfall pattern. Not too dry, not too wet, though we've had more than normal precipitation. But it's been the right amount.

Which means we've erased last year's drought, and spring and summer crops and foliage is doing just fine. Just perfect. Like Goldilocks would want.

The weather forecast is a bit uncertain for the next week to 10 days, but it does appear we'll have frequent chances for showers during that period. Nothing terribly heavy, but we'll get a continued supply of showers.

We've been lucky, compared to much of the rest of the United States, which has heen too wet.

Overall, the nation has been wet to excessively wet this spring. (With Florida and the Desert Southwest being dry exceptions)

Overall, April was the second wettest on record for the United States as a whole.

May seems to be following that trend, with big swaths of the nation experiencing flooding problems. On Sunday, we drove from a wedding in Kansas to my in-laws house in southeastern South Dakota.

Along the way, almost all the thousands of farm fields we saw were hopeless swamps, with huge pools of water and mud. They're behind in their planting out here, and some soggy fields have to be replanted because seeds rotted in the flooded fields.

Today, there's flood watches for a large area of the Southeast. 

Later in the week, there are signs there could be excessive rains in parts of the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys and in the southern and central Appalachians.

Up in Vermont, we're hoping we keep up the trend of wet-ish but not too wet.

Weather Pattern Change Good For Us, Bad For Others

Nice evening in my St. Albans, Vermont garden last night
After a chilly, wet nor'easter this weekend, a big warmup
is due next week. 

After we slog through a wet and chilly nor'easter here in New England later today into Monday, a big, well-advertised pattern change will set in next week.

That's good for us, because it will be quite a switch from a chilly, cloudy and dank start to May. (Although I have to say Friday scored a "10" in the weather department with blue skies, sun and afternoon warmth.)

As the nor'easter departs, the weather in New England will turn sunnier, and dramatically warmer. Many areas could get into the low 80s by Thursday. Maybe even Wednesday in a couple spots.

As the Weather Channel and other meteorologists note, the change in the weather pattern next week isn't good for everyone.

There hasn't been many tornadoes so far this month in the nation, which is a good thing, since this is the peak time for them.  (By this time in May, there would have been 82 tornadoes in an average year, and we're only up to 45 now.)

The upcoming shift in the jet stream, however, will make it more likely severe weather and tornadoes could strike the middle of the country off and on next week.

The storminess in the middle of the country due next week could put places like Missouri under water again next week.

They had record flooding in that neck of the woods in late April and early May, but it hasn't been particularly wet out there over the past week. A good thing. Signs point to wetter times ahead in the coming days, and they don't need that!

If you're one of those odd ducks who miss the snow that fell on Vermont early last week, you're totally out of luck, although the summits of the highest New England mountains could get snow Sunday.

However, if you want snow, head west. It looks like snowy times are ahead for the high elevations of the Rocky Mountains next week.