50-degree temperature rise in 36 hours set for the middle of the week

The clipper system talked about a few days ago will move along the St Lawrence Valley Monday. This track is a bit too far north for big snow since the storm's associated jet max quadrants are too far north. Nonetheless the mountain will see snow in the form of snow showers on Monday and then a short period of moderate to heavy snow Monday night. Although the storm will only yield a few inches it will turn viciously cold Tuesday morning. This blast of cold is a special delivery for the northeast with interior New England as the almost exclusive recipient. So while much of the U.S. prepares for near record warmth, Mad River will be well below zero Tuesday morning with wind chills at least 30 below. If you can brave it, you can expect some nice wind blown powder Tuesday . The wind will abate Tuesday night and after another chilly overnight featuring sub-zero readings temperatures will warm dramatically and exceed the freezing mark by the afternoon Wednesday. On Thursday, readings will surge into the 40's and could even reach 50 on Friday.

This brings us to the holiday weekend and the week that follows. Many times in Vermont, big thaws are ended by big rains but it does not appear this will happen in this case. We should see some rain later Friday or early Saturday but not the base destroyer of an inch or more. The pool of instability in the wake of the potential rain event should bring terrain induced snows back to the mountain either Saturday or Sunday and thus the road back to (hopefully) glory begins. I was encouraged with the ensemble runs over the past day which although yet to endorse a full switch in the teleconnection indices back to favorable have at least allowed things to get "interesting" next week. The talk will likely surround a mid-week storm which is likely to take dead aim at the region. It will likely be a classic La Nina style clash of cold arctic air positioned across eastern Canada and mild temperatures across the Mid Atlantic and southeastern states. Any big storm remains a long way off but our much talked about thaw will end by the end of the week and a sustained stretch of winter-like temperatures will follow hopefully accompanied by snow.