This is no April Fool's Joke. Powder hounds on the east coast may have one last chance for some deep turns. A strong storm will impact Northern New York and Vermont Wednesday evening through Thursday. Whiteface, Stowe, Smuggler's Notch, and Jay Peak will be solid options for April Fool's powder.
A pretty classic setup will result in this late season snowstorm. An upper level area of low pressure (and its associated cold front) will track from the Great Lakes into the Northeast, which will lead to the development of a surface level storm over Delaware. This surface low, as it moves northeast, will stall the cold front in a favorable location for snow in Northern Vermont and New York. The front is located along the purple color stretching from SW to NE (also indicated by the blue line below).
This map shows the temperatures at about 5k feet. It may be a little hard to see, but in the gif below the cold front is marching along pretty fast and then slows a little bit as it moves through Northern New York and Vermont.
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(image courtesy of Weatherbell)
This stall will lead to a period of moderate to heavy precipitation. Prior to the arrival of the cold front, precipitation may start out clear, unfortunately. However the cold front will arrive soon enough and turn everything to snow in Northern New England.
The storm should wind down Thursday afternoon but some lingering snow showers under northwest flow could deliver a few additional inches to the usual suspects in Northern Vermont. The atmosphere will be cool and moist, there will be decent vertical motion, and winds will be out of the NW. This is a recipe for additional snowfall in the Northern Green Mountains. When all is said and done, I think snow totals will be in the 4-8\" range. I wouldn't be surprised if Whiteface and especially Jay/Smuggs/Stowe come in around 12\". Thursday will be a solid powder day and perhaps Friday am as well if you know where to look. All in all, a solid late season storm. Here is a look at the snowfall totals from the American model:
(image courtesy of Weatherbell)
This may be your last chance to ski/ride powder this season, so don't miss out.
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