Can't promise anything epic over the next two weeks but it does look wintry with several natural snowfall opportunities

Snow showers across the northern Vermont high country Sunday will provide a small accumulation of snow, especially as one nears the Canadian border but it will fall well short of what is needed for a full scale replenishment. It was a really bad December week across all of Vermont and honestly I am just happy it's over. The upcoming week should feature dramatic improvements with temperatures staying in the sub-freezing territory, as advertised, along with two decent opportunities for natural snowfall.

Temperatures are expected to hover just below the freezing mark throughout a blustery Sunday across the high country before falling through the twenties and teens Sunday night. Winds are expected to subside somewhat by Monday morning and visibility should improve dramatically along with morning temperatures of near 10 and afternoon readings only in the 20's. The southern branch of the jet stream will deliver for us as needed, and provide the region with a garden variety snow event on Tuesday. Clouds should advance back into the region Monday night and snow should be falling across most of the state by daybreak Tuesday. Though the storm will successfully gather a modest amount of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, it will remain a flat wave as the associated area of low pressure moves from the southern Pennsylvania border, quickly to the eastern tip of Long Island by Tuesday afternoon. Light to moderate snow for much of the day Tuesday into Tuesday evening should allow a healthy swatch of 5-10 inches of snow across much of the state, with slightly higher amounts across the central and southern Vermont high country. The MRV should get its fair share of this all powdery snow event as temperatures generally hover in the high teens.

There is a polar kicker that is expected to follow this southern branch feature on Wednesday. Unfortunately the two systems could never fully link and allow for some real east coast excitement. The consolation prize however isn't bad since snow showers should be enhanced by a favorable wind direction off Lake Champlain, especially Wednesday afternoon, evening and night. An additional 3-6 inches of elevation sensitive fluff in this time frame should make Thursday one of the better ski days of the season for much of northern Vermont in spite of some modest cold. Temperatures will spend much of Wednesday near the 20-degree mark but will be forced down near zero by Thursday morning and only rise to near 10 degrees Thursday afternoon with only limited amounts of very low-angled sunshine and stiff northwest winds. Friday should feature more sunshine, less wind and afternoon temperatures closer to 20.

The early part of our upcoming solstice weekend appears dry and could possibly feature a decent amounts of sun. The Sunday-Monday (Dec 22-23) time frame should feature some sort of east coast intrigue. Early indications suggest that the epicenter of action will be focused on areas south of Vermont and closer to the coast but the situation bears watching since the jet stream is expected to soften somewhat behind it which often leaves the door open for all sorts of unexpected scenarios.

Much of the United States can anticipate a relatively mild Christmas holiday this year. The two exceptions would be the ski country across the western U.S. and ski country across interior New England - that be us. Though it certainly doesn't appear to be intensely cold during the period between December 24-27, it does appear that conditions should remain wintry and northern New England will be one of those few places where snowfall is at least possible. Fingers crossed on that but I should think that would be considered a relatively satisfying piece of news all things considered. Onward and upward from here lets hope !