HARDWICK – Spring season conditions blended with intermittent snow showers during the past week. High temperatures peaked in the upper 40s before everyone woke Friday morning to blustery conditions and a couple of inches of snow. Despite some rainfall and snowmelt that preceded the scattered snow showers, the threat of ice jam flooding passed with little fanfare.
photo by Paul Fixx
We closed out the weekend with a few more inches of snow. Total snow depth in most places is at least a foot, up to two and a half feet of snow at elevations closer to 2,000 feet. Normal highs for this time of year should be in the mid-30s, with lows in the teens. Some light attrition of the snowpack is expected.
We will start off the forecast period with slightly below-normal temperatures as a cold front passage from Tuesday night drags some polar air southward, along with some mostly sunny conditions. Moderating temperatures will return modestly through Friday, with some building cloud cover from a disturbance moving north through the Ohio River Valley. A more robust system will dive from the Pacific Northwest into the Central Rockies by Friday, before advancing northeastward into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
It sounds far removed from our area, but as that low deepens, a secondary low develops over the Appalachians and drags a warm front north later Saturday into Sunday, with some light rain developing. We expect highs on Sunday to reach the upper 50s; possibly 60. Although this projection will avoid record-breaking temperatures, this is more than 20 degrees above normal for this time of year and will accelerate snowmelt. The passage of an associated cold front Sunday evening will bring a chance for heavier showers and thunderstorms, with rainfall amounts between three quarters of an inch and an inch on average.
Some preliminary river ensemble guidance does show some minor to moderate flooding out of the Lamoille and Winooski River. Residents along these waterways should prepare for flooding, which would peak in risk overnight Sunday. The exact risk remains nebulous until more specifics on the heavy rain appear in short-term modeling. Here are the forecast details:
Wednesday: Mostly sunny. Breezy with northwest winds 10-15 mph with gusts to 25 mph. High: 28. Low: 17.
Thursday: Mostly cloudy, High: 36. Low: 23.
Friday: Partly cloudy. High: 43. Low: 32.
Saturday: Partly cloudy. A chance of rain overnight. High: 52. Low: 43.
Sunday: Mostly cloudy. Light rain during the day, then showers and thunderstorms likely by evening. Locally heavy downpours possible. Breezy south winds with gusts to 25 mph. High: 58. Low: 38.
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.
