Clouds fail to break until the weekend with only a light accumulation of snow expected

 I've actually been keeping score in a little spreadsheet at home and have logged 24 out of 31 days with clouds for the month of January. I certainly hoped to see some of those low clouds periodically break this week and so far that has been a big fail. I still think sunnier times lay ahead this weekend and early next week, but man they don't make this easy. 

Higher resolution models show clouds remaining in place for Thursday, keeping temperatures just below the freezing mark on most of the mountain. At least those clouds should produce a bit of light snow for us Thursday evening, night and Friday morning. It's enough to produce an inch or two of light snow by the start of the ski day Friday, but winds appear to remain more northerly limiting the moisture from Lake Champlain thus putting a lower ceiling on accumulations. The other limiting factor for snow Friday is an area of enhanced lower pressure south of Long Island. This is likely to produce some early morning rain and snow for them but puts a lid on the moisture over us. I think we see flurries for a while on Friday with those accumulations remaining in the lighter 1-2 inch category. I expect some blue sky and maybe even a sunset for Friday evening as the storminess departs and northwest flow at jet stream level ushers in more dry air. 

What about that sunshine for the weekend ? We still have what should be a sunny start to Saturday before clouds from a very weak clipper system to our east threaten to bring at least an interval of cloudiness (see I am moving the goalposts already). Sunday, Monday and Tuesday all appear to feature sunshine with the monster, mostly rain producing southern streamer staying well to our south. I actually noticed a bit of a northward shift with this feature but the storm is expected to stay well offshore and not have a significant impact on our weather though we will continue to watch it. 

As next week progresses, it is again likely the grow cloudier with moderating temperatures. Readings are likely to stay well below the freezing mark and not far from seasonable levels to start the week and later in the week we can expect a stretch of above freezing temperatures. Models are showing more evidence of  resistance in the warming later next week which is good news and also suggest that at least some frozen precipitation remains a possibility. After that, there are much clearer indications that the weather pattern fundamentals improve. The Arctic Oscillation is expected to actually turn negative early next week (It's currently a very unfavorable +2) and once this aligns with a positive PNA structure, colder weather is expected to return both the southern Canada and eventually New England. The weekend of the 10th and 11th continues to appear quite mild  with colder weather and accompanying storminess returning just before Valentine's Day.