Winter set to deliver us one more big blast late this week following a mild Tuesday/Wednesday

 The snow was flying once again early Monday across the northern Vermont high country accompanied by strong northwest winds and it won't be the last time we see these types of weather conditions this week. That said, the strong dose of spring last week was a bit too much for the snowpack on the mountain to endure and lift operations at MRG have come to a close for 2021. Though the outlook has trended a little colder for early April, with interior New England perhaps one of the few regions of the country that could experience winter weather over the next week, there isn't evidence of a "bring us back from the dead" type of storm in the outlook. If you miss real winter weather however, you will get at least one good last shot late Thursday into Friday and it won't just be wet gloppy, spring snow. 

In the near term, we will see a classic March roller coaster ride. The wind and cold is here Monday and gone by midday Tuesday, displaced by calmer winds, sunshine and temperatures near 60. Another warm day is set to follow for Wednesday though we can expect clouds to be on the increase and rain to arrive late in the day along with brisk southerly winds.  The surge of cold late this week though is impressive and early April is known for such a wide variety of weather conditions almost anywhere in the northeast. The mild Wednesday temperatures will linger into Wednesday night and even into very early Thursday as another 0.25-0.50 of rain falls across northern Vermont. Colder air then arrives quite dramatically with temperatures nosediving into the 20's during the day Thursday and even into the teens across the high country by late in the day. Along with those falling temperatures, we will see gusty northwest winds and snowfall. Once again we have a late-blooming coastal system that is responsible for a good part of our expected weather conditions late Thursday. If we can get this system energized and more organized a bit sooner, we might see more impressive amounts of snow but for now it looks like a 4-8 inch situation above 2000 feet  by Friday morning with lesser amounts in the valley. I might point out however that the snow consistency will be powdery and should stay that way through most of a sub-freezing and windy day Friday, a day when snow showers could actually continue through most of the ski day. 

The outlook going forward has shifted to the colder side for the early part of April. Mild air is still expected to dominate much of North America but those warmer temperatures are shown to impact northern New England less, and portions of the mid-continent more. In spite of that, sustaining sub-freezing temperatures is very difficult this time of the year and after a very winter-like day Friday, readings should again reach 40 degrees on both weekend days. Disagreement has then emerged with the European showing a sizable and stagnated weather system over the Canadian martimes keeping the weather both cool and somewhat unsettled throughout New England while the American is showing a more progressive and milder outlook beginning late this weekend and extending through much of next week. Using the Canadian ensembles as the tiebreaker here, one would have to favor the cooler and slightly more unsettled outlook in the April 4-9 time frame but in either case, there is no major precipitation producer indicated through April 9 aside from the rain/snow indicated for late Wednesday into Thursday of this week. 

With Mad River closing lift operations, I have about enough energy for 1-2 more updates before we conclude with an end of season summary. Covid restrictions certainly hurt my ski day count this year but our 1 month old daughter had plenty of demands also and kept me pretty busy. Hope everyone enjoyed the season and I will extend my thanks to all the operational staff for making a season possible.