Sunday, January 18, 2015

Green Mountains should come out on top by Monday morning

Yes indeed ! #Sweetspot. This was a tough victory to earn as well since it will be such a narrow window of good snow associated with this storm. The Adirondacks are west of the good moisture and most of New Hampshire will see rain. The Pats game in Foxboro is obviously just wet or damp (Take it easy on me Bill Belichick)  with temps in the 40's. Most of VT is sitting pretty however. Perhaps not the Connecticut River Valley and perhaps not the Champlain Valley either. The spine of the Green Mountains ? That is exactly where I would want to be !

Snow should arrive a few hours prior to the Pats Colts Sunday. There has been freezing rain and rain reported throughout southern New England and the New York City metro and precipitation could start as a mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow. There is a lot of very good moisture associated with this system and as the precipitation intensifies Sunday evening we should see more in the way of snow and less in the way of about everything else. Later Sunday night, temperatures will drop, the snow should continue to fall in the more powdery variety and should accumulate 8-14 inches on the hill by first tracks time on MLK day. Snow should continue in lighter fashion for a good chunk of Monday with temperatures in the high 20's. Elevation will be a big help during this storm. You may not do too well below 1000 feet if that's where you reside. I would expect the high country does pretty well in the end however even if things start out a little wet this evening.

Seasonable temperatures follow for the middle part of the upcoming week. A clipper passes well to the region's south on Wednesday but MRG will stay high and for the most part dry during this event.  A big, jet stream phasing, late week 2 footer is out the window I am sorry to report as of today but overall longwave pattern is going to reconfigure itself quite favorably beginning the weekend of the 24th and MRG will reap the benefits of this with several potential smaller events and a chance for a bigger one with a little good fortune. I feel relatively confident about the mountain securing 3-6 inches of powder from a clipper system on Saturday the 24th. Another system early in the last week of January should at least provide lighter accumulation. This one could grab some limited southern branch energy and evolve into something bigger though it's certainly way too early to tell for sure.

The pattern amplifies around the 27th and 28th allowing for some very chilly air to cover a good part of eastern North America. This happens as western North America completely dries out thanks to the establishment of a large ridge in the jet stream. There have been varying indications of snow events in the last several days of January and with the Polar Jet re-asserting itself, I think most of these events would be garden variety but it will still be a nice way to finish out the month and a good way to start February.


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