Good morning everyone! We’re moving into the final weekend of the season for most, and it’s going to be very warm to kick off the end of the week. We’ll discuss the details of that below. It’s a foggy start for most mountains today, here’s the webcam on top of Cannon to show you what that’s going to look like on the summits:

Courtesy of Cannon Mountain

Temperatures today are going to soar into the upper 40’s to lower 50’s on the slopes today. It’s going to be an absolute spring skiing kind of day on the mountains everyone. Snowpacks are going to soften up, and become slushy to carve through. Any kind of icy patches that froze last night from yesterday’s rain, will break up by mid afternoon from the warm temperatures. This is going to be the last Friday for most resorts, and the warmest for the foreseeable future. If you love spring skiing, you’re going to love today. Here’s the temperature forecast for today:

This evening we’ll start to see some precipitation fall on the slopes. The region will start seeing scattered precipitation move in from the west around 8 p.m. tonight (well after most resorts closing). This system is going to be tricky to forecast, simply because it’s a unique storm that will last most of the weekend, and change precipitation types a few times. Expect rain to fall most of the night, but begin to turn into a wintry mix by the morning. The scattered storm will begin to drop a mix of sleet and freezing rain on the region during the day Saturday. If you’re heading out tomorrow, you should be cautious on the roads. There could be some patches of black ice in northern NH and VT. The slopes themselves will already be a slushy mess by the end of Friday, so Saturday will see even slushier conditions. The summits could see some snow from this system, but overall expect freezing rain and sleet to fall on the mountains. Here’s the model run into Saturday night: 

Courtesy of Tropical Tidbits

This pattern will continue into Sunday and Monday, so if you’re not a fan of getting rained on while you ski, you’ll want to head out today! It’s a perfect spring skiing kind of day, so get out before most resorts close after this weekend!

This long-term storm that will be affecting the region will continue into the latter part of the weekend, as well as the beginning of the week. As the low creeps closer to the Northeast, the leading warm front will continue to linger just south of the region, inducing a significant amount of precipitation. With this being the last weekend open for many mountain resorts, this is certainly not best way to end the season.

The type of precipitation for Sunday has been the trickiest part of this forecast. With warm temperatures aloft, and models hinting at colder temperatures near the surface, it is possible that we will see a significant amount of sleet and/or freezing rain throughout the day. To be frank, the conditions on the slopes will be very poor. Many icy/slushy patches and a nearly constant state of falling precipitation will make it a wet, cold and unpleasant day.

This will continue into Sunday evening and overnight into Monday. The cold air may beat out the warm enough to see some snowfall in the northern portions of the region, but ultimately the precipitation is likely to be a mix of ice and freezing rain.

Depending on how long the cold air hangs on, some areas of NH may see this mixed precipitation last through the late morning on Monday. For the rest of New England, the mess will finally change over to all rain, heavy at times, and will slowly taper off to showers as the week goes on. 

Though it will be a poor weekend, today looks like your best option for a few more runs of spring skiing. Check back in tomorrow for more details on this mess of a storm.

Christopher Hohman, Plymouth State Student Meteorologist

Julia Moreland, Plymouth State Student Meteorologist