Wet snow Thursday night becomes more powdery snow by Friday night with 1-2 feet expected across the high country, less in the valley

During the last update I spent much of time getting folks "jazzed-up" (Herbie Hancock style) for the upcoming storm. We can get further mired in the fine print today which in summary reveals that though we still are likely to get a superb event, the best since MLK day I still think, we are not in that bullseye area. The juicy coastal system will phase and subsequently bomb, but will also track over interior southern New England, thus placing the Adirondacks in the more favored corridor. That said, the storm will still deliver a dose of powdery goods Friday night into what will be a blustery Saturday.

Precipitation will arrive Thursday night as a mix of rain and snow in the valley locations and a gloppy wet snow at higher elevations. At some point during the overnight hours, the wet snow will become heavy and accumulate 4-8 inches above 2,000 feet and about 1-4 inches below that. As the low pressure center continues to intensify over Connecticut/Mass Friday morning the heaviest precipitaiton is indicated to shift west toward the Adirondacks and precipitation in the low lying regions may change to a very light rain or dissipate all together for a time. This period beginning around 9 AM Friday and ending about 2PM  is the warmest part of the storm and temperatures will likely hover above the freezing mark below 2500 feet and at or just below that mark above that.

Later in the afternoon, the storm will continue to wind itself while heading into the Maine, and the colder, moist conveyor of the storm will gradually work its way from the Adirondacks into the Green Mountains. This is where the fun begins with temperatures gradually cooling into the 20's on the mountain and snow recommencing and in a drier form above 2500 feet while snow begins as the wetter variety in valley areas. Snow should continue in rather consistent fashion from Friday evening to mid morning Saturday, bringing 8-14 inches to the high country and 4-8 inches to valley locations. This will mean some wildly different snowfall totals depending on elevation ranging from a very gloppy and dense 6 inches along to the valley floor to 1-2 feet of the drier stuff above 2500 feet. Saturday will be blustery with 30-50 mph northwest winds at the summit though temperatures should stay below freezing across most of the mountain even if readings eclipse the freezing mark in low-lying areas. I continue to watch the data as it comes in and there is still some hope that the storm track is a bit further east. Should this be the case, it would greatly improve the Friday outcome, essentially nullifying much of our time above-freezing and allowing for the Thursday night snow to continue through much of the day Friday (though it would still be of the wetter consistency).

Sunday's temps will be in the twenties to start but soar to near 40 during the afternoon. It might be dry enough to preserve some of Saturday's powder at the highest elevations but this can be difficult to assess and will likely depend on the amount of sunshine (which looks pretty good). The upcoming week appears similar to the last update. Arctic will advance southeastward Monday and some snow (and a few inches of accumulation) is likely to accompany this colder push of temperatures. Tuesday appears very chilly with readings as low as 10 during the morning and only near 20 during the afternoon. Afternoon temperatures Wednesday will climb back toward the freezing mark before milder more typical late March weather prevails for later in the week. The "corn horn" will eventually sound next week but it might take a while.