Hello and good day to you, hearty residents of the hills and dales in southeastern Vermont! I want to start by saying how grateful I am for your readership over these past 44 months, through scores of weekly columns.
I also wanted to let you know that this week's column will be my last regular submission for the foreseeable future as The Commons picks up and runs with other priorities at the paper to help ensure that it thrives well into the future.
I want to take a moment and say how much I've appreciated the opportunity and experience that Jeff Potter and Randy Holhut bestowed upon me since 2016.
I've really enjoyed writing these columns to provide you with weekly weather outlooks for your beautiful Windham County region. I truly hope that you've enjoyed reading them, and even learned a thing or two about our weather along the way.
As for this week's outlook, we're going to start off with some dynamic and changeable weather, which will resolve into a colder but peaceful period of atmospheric stasis in southeastern Vermont.
We'll start with mostly cloudy skies for Wednesday, and some light rain showers with some mixed precipitation in the high terrain early in the morning.
After a drier period in the afternoon, rain and snow move back in late Wednesday night into Thursday morning, and a Winter Storm Watch by the National Weather Service is posted as of this writing for western Windham County for localized wet snow accumulations of 7 inches that could produce a few power outages.
Personally, I believe 1 to 4 inches is more likely with up to 6 inches or so in the high peaks of Mount Snow and Stratton Mountain.
After snow and rain quits Thursday morning, we'll see west winds develop and gust to 35 mph or so Thursday evening. This will produce more combined lake effect and upslope snow showers Thursday night into Friday with additional light accumulations possible.
Friday through Monday look seasonably cold and fair with partly sunny skies ruling the roost of our skies, with milder conditions and showers possible by the middle of next week. With our weekly weather picture painted, let's jump into the dailies!
For Wednesday, expect some scattered morning mixed showers, with highs rising into the upper 30s. We'll be dry at times, too. Clouds thicken Wednesday night with our incoming storm system, and lows will drop into the low 30s.
Mixed rain, ice and snow arrive by or after midnight leading into the pre-dawn hours of Thursday morning. While eastern portions of the county will see mixed showers with maybe a coating to 2 inches of snow and slush, with 3 to 6 inches possible in the western portions up in the higher elevations. Highs will reach the upper 30s again.
West winds will pick up in the afternoon, and gust 30-40 mph at times, with additional lake effect snow showers Thursday night into Friday. Thursday night lows will bottom out in the low 20s.
The Friday through Monday period looks to feature fair weather, colder temperatures. Friday and Saturday looks to feature highs in the 25 to 30 degree range under partly to mostly cloudy skies, with lows in the low to mid teens.
For Sunday and Monday, mostly sunny skies return as high pressure builds in and through the region to the east. Highs in the 20s and lows in the teens Sunday and Sunday night rise up to the 30s for highs and 20s for lows.
Milder temperatures are expected for Tuesday leading into the middle of next week with showery conditions and possible snow or ice mix Tuesday morning before turning to rain.
Have a great week, and please do follow my southern Vermont weather coverage on my website WesternMassWeather.com as well my Facebook page entitled “Dave Hayes The Weather Nut.”
Thanks again for your readership and be well!