Mad River Glen and Vermont ski country is transitioning toward spring weather, but some early Sunday snow is very possible

Much of Vermont ski country has been basking in the glory of another epic March storm (our third such event in as many years) while I have spent the last few days neglecting the blog,  mostly due to travel. Sorry about that. The blog returns today at a transition point for Mad River Glen. Wednesday, March 27th will end up marking the transition to a more spring-like weather regime. Over the next two weeks, almost every day will feature above freezing temperatures and several days will see 50-plus if not 60-plus degree readings. We can see well into April now so such occurrences are to be expected.

Thursday is expected to start with some sunshine and end mostly cloudy. The corn horn should sound throughout the valley and most of the high country as well with readings soaring well into the 40's and 50's (after starting in the 20's) with an increasingly gusty south to southwest wind. Leftover arctic chill across eastern Canada will make a futile push back into New England Friday but will likely fail to make a substantial penetration into Vermont. The close proximity of this boundary will provide a focusing mechanism for a few weakened areas of light rain but most of Friday will just feature clouds, some minimal amounts of sun and more above freezing temperatures.

A more organized storm system is expected to make an eastward push toward the region toward the weekend. The track of this storm will allow Saturday to be fairly torchy and somewhat showery with temperatures well into the 40's and even 50's across low lying areas. If folks are looking to get out and ski Saturday, I would be very surprised if it turns out to be an all day washout. My guess is 1-3 hours of lighter rain and 1-3 hours where we see a few peaks of sun. The more organized area of precipitation with this storm is expected to arrive overnight Saturday or very early Sunday. A significant push of colder temperatures will accompany some of this precipitation, undercutting the prevailing area of mild air dominating the region Saturday. This will make the approaching cold front more "anafrontal" in nature and sets up a scenario where rain is likely to change to wet snow early Sunday. A few inches of accumulation is very possible early in the day and the rest of Sunday should feature temperatures mainly in the 30's.

The early part of next week and first few days of April appears dry and a bit chilly in a relative sense with morning temperatures in the 20's, and afternoon readings in the 30's. After that we appear headed toward a pattern that might consist of lots of above normal temperatures beginning with a few days where temperatures approach 60 late next week and a few more days where the same could occur in the following week. One push of cooler temperatures may interrupt the onset of Spring around the time frame of the first weekend in April but this appears to be a decidedly unwinter-like pattern for the first 10 days of April.