Columns, Weather Watch

Pattern Shift in Forecast Favors Warming; More Snow

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HARDWICK – Both ends of last week’s forecast period show just how significantly conditions can change in a short time. The coldest conditions of the season were observed Wednesday morning, with reporting stations experiencing temperatures as low as -21 degrees. By Monday, high temperatures started to peak just above freezing, a difference of more than 55 degrees.

Vermont’s Free Ice Fishing Day at the Woodbury Lake access area, January 25. finds just one fishing shanty on the ice. By 10:15 a.m., the temperature had risen to 5 degrees.
photo by Vanessa Fournier

Our snowfall pattern hasn’t featured much in the way of accumulation. Outside of a several tenths of an inch to maintain the snowpack here and there, we’ve remained largely dry over the span of the week. The heaviest snow came Tuesday morning with the passage of an Arctic cold front that brought squalls over the span of a couple of hours, along with a reinforcing shot of cold air.

Another wave of low pressure riding along the front as it stalls to our south brings us another round of light snow today, with totals between two and four inches expected. The higher amounts will be over the west-facing hillsides. This frontal boundary then lifts north by Friday as a southern stream low approaches from the Ohio Valley. Moderating temperatures means this round of snow will be dense, although the speed of the southern stream means that most of the snow will fall Friday afternoon before making a quick exit Friday evening. Snowfall amounts will likely be a little more than Wednesday’s storm, but heavy accumulations will be mitigated by the storm’s progressive nature.

Conditions are briefly cooler and drier for the weekend under the influence of high pressure, but another low on the northern stream approaches by the end of the weekend with a renewed chance of snow showers Sunday night. Average temperatures for January include highs around 23 and lows around 9. We might just have a close-to-normal month, temperature-wise. Here are the forecast details:

Wednesday:  Mostly cloudy. Light snow likely. Snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches. High: 24. Low: -3. Wind chills as low as -20 by morning.
Thursday:  Mostly sunny. High: 15. Low: 4.
Friday:  Mostly cloudy. Light snow developing by afternoon, possibly mixed in with a few rain showers. Accumulations of 2 to 4 inches. High: 33. Low: 1.
Saturday:  Mostly sunny. High: 8. Low: -7.
Sunday:  Partly sunny with increasing clouds. Snow showers by late afternoon. High: 21. Low: 14.

Tyler is our weather reporter and a community journalist. He works as a nurse and EMT, volunteers with Hardwick Rescue and helps to train new EMTs.

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