Our small spring snow event is still on for tonight and early Monday with some areas seeing more than others.  The bulk of the storm will miss southern Maine while eastern Maine is clipped by some heavier snow as the storm departs into Canada later Monday.

With some sunshine today the roads will heat up a bit under strong late March sunshine.  This will help to eventually begin melt any snow tomorrow afternoon and leave more slush rather than by  Tuesday afternoon.  Although the clouds will be present tomorrow and snow will fall first thing in the morning, after 11 a.m the sun’s higher angle is going to help the snow not stick as fast.

There have been some large swings in the forecast amounts of snow in the past several days.  As a forecaster, we need to wait for the guidance we use to agree more than disagree before making a forecast.  Yesterday morning the majority of the guidance had the storm staying primarily east of Portland, those same models abruptly shifted during the afternoon, thus the changes to the forecast.

Early this afternoon as more and more data is available the consensus is for the storm just to clip the coastal plain as it parallels Maine on Monday.  If anything the line of accumulating snow is a bit further east.  This bodes well if you don’t want a big storm.

How Much Snow?

There will be a very rapid fall-off of the snow totals as you head west of the ocean.  There could even be a 2 to 3 inch difference between the Jetport and parts of Gorham for example.  By the time you reach the mountains little or no snow will fall.  This is unfortunate as a late season snowstorm would be great to keep the ski season going a bit longer, but this isn’t the best year for the mountain in terms of natural snow.

Early Plants That Have Bloomed

If the storm clips eastern sections of Maine there could be cancellations and even some power outages from the heavy snow and gusty winds.  I don’t expect many problems elsewhere as the snow is not going to pile up to large amounts.  There may be some delays or even cancellations as some venues don’t happen even with just a bit of snow.

Some flowers have already come up across the area.  Snow can crush plants, but honestly often the snow just falls around them and when it melts they spring back up.  Don’t cover your spring flowers with tarps as the weight of the snow will crush the plants.  Either leave them alone or put a large plastic pot or bucket over them.

No Coastal Issues

I don’t expect coastal flooding to be an issue with this storm and although winds will be gusty at times Monday morning east of Rockland, they won’t be strong enough to cause damage.

Milder Air Later This Week

There is a warming trend later this week, but there could be some more very wet snow (an inch) as the warm air arrives Friday.   Spring has arrived early this year overall, but as is quite typical will be occasionally interrupted as winter takes leave.

I’ll update changes to the forecast here and on Twitter @growingwisdom

Have a great day.

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