Snow in Vermont & furnaces blasting in Lafayette

I spoke to some old neighbors in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont last night where I used to go to school for meteorology and they wanted me to share this eye-popping picture of snow. It brought back some great memories of college when it would snow almost every day even until May. Some things never change. In fact Jane Lyons told me she had one inch of snow in only 90 minutes in Coles Pond, Vermont. The birds were not only enjoying her bird feeder for food, but used it as a bit of a shelter from the freshly fallen snow. You can find more riveting pictures on Robert and Jane Lyons web-site below. Check out the beauty of New England! Those were my old stomping grounds.

http://www.robertlyonsphotography.com


Jane Lyons told me she is sick of winter and when she hasn't been covering all of her perennials up with blankets, nature has been doing it with a coating of snow. Vermont has gone from a taste of summer right back into winter. Sound familiar? Here at home almost everybody I have spoken to is also ready for some real warm weather as you can see below.

This isnt right, just had to turn my furnace on in May, send me the 80"ssss.

Thanks, Ann


This e-mail is short, sweet, and to the point. She is so chilly you notice she elongated the s's in 80ssss, just like we do to our r's when it is cold in Febrrruary. Bottom line is we are way too cold for this time of year and we actually woke up with upper 30s across the area on Monday. The only thing keeping us from having a frost were the chilly breezes and clouds! Yes this is a bit absurd. The good news for Ann is I have 80s on the way this weekend. I also told Jane in Vermont I am sending her plenty of warm air. This summer Vermont could actually end up with above average temperatures! Here in Lafayette we will at least have a dozen 90 degree days and believe me, I do not think we will have a week this chilly again until next autumn AND AT LEAST IT IS NOT SNOWING! If you are still upset and need to complain about the weather, I am highly trained in this department and you know where to find me. :)

But here is what you should blame below. There is the huge winter-like storm that brought snow to Vermont and is keeping us in a chilly north to northwest flow. Our air mass is coming right down from the North Pole and it feels like it. The good news is this area of low pressure will move to the east by late week. That is when I think we will start to feel and even look much better. Brighter and drier days are not far away!

I will not take credit for this, but you can thank the high pressure building into the Midwest and we will heat up nicely into the 70s on Saturday and 80s by Sunday and the rest of your Memorial Day weekend. We should be between two big storms and as a result I also think it should be mainly dry with our next good chance of rain likely holding off until late Monday and Tuesday next week. We could see a mesoscale convective complex roam our way later Thursday night and Friday morning before our big weekend sets in, but I will talk more about this tomorrow here on the blog.

Now this could still change, but here is your race day forecast! I am going to be brave and go for highs in the lower 80s as you see below. As all Hoosiers know, you never guarantee dry and warm weather on Race Day. Things change in a heartbeat this time of year. One map that came in late tonight did have the front speeding up by 24 hours, which would bring rain chances in here Sunday night instead of Monday night. This model could be the first warning sign of a faster front which would of course change this forecast. Right now I will leave less than a 10% chance of rain in the forecast, but we all saw how much that worked out the other night. The best I can do is continue to monitor it for you, but at least I am still optimistic on getting the race in before the rain sets in.

Mary Anne Best forwarded me this picture of unbelieveable clouds that sometimes form here in the Midwest. Do you know what they are called? I will have your answer here on the blog tomorrow.