Irma Records, And Seemingly Endless Vermont Sunshine

Sister Margaret Ann in West Kendall, Florida
became an social media sensation when
she was spotted chainsawing like a pro
to clear trees felled by Irma that were
blocking a road. 

I have to say that while we've been watching Hurricane Irma, we here in Vermont have entered a stretch of truly gorgeous late summer/early autumn weather.

Sunny, warm days and clear, cool nights have settled in starting this past Sunday, and it's due to continue all week.

There are very few flaws to this weather if you like these types of conditions. There is still smoke in the air high above us, from all those fires in the western United States and Canada. That's giving the sky an off-color, not that bright robins egg blue we like to see.

Chances are the smoke will clear a bit, we'll see. That's partly due to a dramatic shift in the weather coming up for Montana, which has really had a big problem with wildfires this summer.

Today, in the western Montana mountains, the threat of wildfires and dense smoke continues amid unusully warm conditions.

By Thursday night, the temperatures in those same mountains will plummet by up to 50 degrees and it will start to snow. The first winter storm watch of the season is in effect for some of the Montana mountains, believe it or not.

Back here in Vermont, no snow, but there might be a few isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms around Thursday and Friday afternoons to briefly interrupt our sunny stretch. That's because a little moisture from the dead remnants of Hurricane Irma sneak into our sunny world.

High pressure, however looks like it will continue to hang tough over us through the weekend, giving us continued warm afternoons and clear nights.

While I say nights will be clear, this time of year there is almost always patches of dense fog, especially in river valleys and near lakes and ponds.  So you'll have to watch out for that if your driving early any morning for the next week. Any fog each day will burn off quickly after the sun comes up.

Recapping Irma, she did set some records for an intense Atlantic hurricane.  Philip Klotzbach, a meteorologist at Colorado State University who specializes in hurricanes compiled a long list. Some highlights.

Irma was tied with the 1935 Florida Keys storm, Gilbert in 1988 and Wilma in 2005 as having the second strongest winds on record for any Atlantic hurricane, at 185 mph. (Hurricane Allen maxed out at 190 mph in 1980.)

The 185 mph Irma winds were the strongest of any Atlantic Ocean hurricane outside the Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico.

Those 185 Irma winds lasted 37 hours, the longest period of time  such strong winds persisted for any tropical cyclone anywhere in the world.

Irma was a Category 5 storm for a little over three days, tying the record for the longest life of a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic. The tie was with a hurricane that hit Cuba in 1932.

Another interesting coincidence: The last major hurricane to hit Florida was Wilma in 2005, which made landfall on Marco Island. This year, Irma made landfall in Florida, you guessed it -- on Marco Island.

By the way, the other hurricane spinning out in the Atlantic - Jose - is looking more and more likely to completely miss the United States, which is great news.