We are going to have to live with minor snowfalls following periods of 
mild air through the holidays, then the signals are mixed but persistance 
says forecast the mild pattern until you are witnessing otherwise.

That equals:
Wednesday...Nice day but becoming mild with a breezy south wind bringing 
temps up to 40F or above in the valleys.  Freezing at the summits and 
upper 30's at the bases.
Thursday...Cold front sags southward out of Canada bringing a chance of 
flurries in Vermont and snow showers (dusting-1") in the northern 
Adirondacks.  Temps about 5-10F colder than Wednesday.
Friday...Colder but still only around average for this time of year with 
highs just below freezing in the valleys and 20's on the mountains.  
Clouds increasing late in the day.
Saturday...Mixed precipitation, likely in the form of sleet to start then 
going to rain or freezing rain in some mountain valleys.  Showers or 
steady light-moderate rain on Saturday afteroon with total precip amounts 
around a half inch liquid.  Only catch here might be if we can spawn a 
secondary low south of SNE to strengthen enough, which appeared possible 
the other day, but now appears to be a long shot as any low that forms 
will not be strong enough to transport deeper moisture into our region in 
the cold sector.  Thus, Saturday night and Sunday morning will see a 
transition to mountain snow showers and valley sprinkles or flurries.  
Sunday...Snow showers in VT possibly lingering in the west slope regions 
through the afternoon.  Only a dusting-2" though.
Monday...Day inbetween systems with sun and average temps or slightly 
above for Christmas Day.  Good model support the last two days, from the 
data I've looked at, for a low pressure system to form in the deep south 
near the Gulf Coast and track NEward, reaching Cape Hatteras Monday night.
Tuesday...Models diverge with many tracking the low ENE off the coast of 
NC/VA, grazing the I-95 corridor with some light snowfall accums during 
Tuesday.  Clouds in VT, chilly.
Wednesday-Friday...High pressure and temps becoming mild with above 
average likely most of the Holiday week...unless Tuesday's system can 
deepen and track further north we could be able to tap cold air in Canada 
as the low passes to help mitigate any push of mild air in from the 
southwest.  This is the primary system I am watching right now as late 
last week, the long range models had this storm near or just after 
Christmas tracking up into the Gulf of Maine bringing good snowfall to the 
north country.  Models have had this system, in one form or another, over 
the last 5 days...all with tracks from the Gulf of Mexico to the the coast 
of NC/VA but have varied in the direction after that.  Watch the time 
period right after Christmas, if it doesn't hit ski country is has the 
potential to produce some snowfall in many areas closer to the coast that 
haven't seen flakes yet.

-Scott  

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SkiVt-L is brought to you by the University of Vermont.

To unsubscribe, visit http://list.uvm.edu/archives/skivt-l.html