Enormous Heat Wave Poised To Hit Vermont, Rest Of Northeast

Water shoots from a lawn sprinkler in my St. Albans, Vermont yard
a couple of summers ago. You'll want to get under such sprinklers to
cool off starting this upcoming weekend as a nasty heat wave
looks set to strike. 

When I was a kid, I used to love summertime heat waves. It meant time in the swimming pool and at the beach, lazy evenings chasing fireflies, and the smell of the night woods coming through the windows on muggy nights.

I don't like such weather anymore. I often have to work outside, and I melt in the heat. A medication I take forces me to overheat, sweat excessively and dehydrate in hot weather.

Which is why I have liked this summer so far. We haven't had any prolonged spells of heat and humidity, and we've had a fair share of cool, breezy days.

My luck is about to run out. But if you like heat waves you finally will get your chance soon. After a few more nice, cool-ish days at the beginning of this week, it looks more and more likely we'll be in the throes of a big heat wave by next weekend.

This one looks like it could be a doozy, too. It will probably last several days, and temperatures won't merely be close to 90. It's possible they'll zoom well past 90 degrees into near record territory by Sunday or Monday. And there's even a very slight chance - if strong thunderstorms don't develop near the International Border - that Burlington could see its first 100 degree reading since 1995.

The upper level ridge of high pressure that will set up over the eastern United States by the weekend is forecast to be stronger than the typical summertime heat ridge. That explains the risk of near record temperatures in parts of the Midwest and the East.

Up here in northern New England, we'll be close to the northern edge of this heat ridge. Usually when these heat waves set up, batches of thunderstorms, often strong ones, ride along the northern edge of these heat zones.

If these develop, the storms might temper the heat ever so slightly in the northern reached of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, but don't count on that yet. And, like I said, the storms could be strong, which would lead to a new problem, of course.

On the bright side, while fleeing to the outdoors on the upcoming stifling nights, you might see decent displays of heat lightning to the north in Quebec toward Sunday or Monday. (Heat lightning is just regular lightning that's so far away you can't hear the thunder.)

It's hard to say how long the heat locally here in Vermont will last, but at this point, I don't see signs of any significant relief until a week from this coming Thursday. Which means the heat and humidity could last close to a week. We'll see about that.

Before the heat arrives, enjoy another nice cool day today and a pleasant Tuesday. There might even be frost tonight in the coldest mountain hollows, just like there was on Friday. (I'm thinking places like Saranac Lake, New York and Island Pond, Vermont. The rest of us will be fine.)

It looks like we'll get a decent slug of rain coming in Wednesday night into Thursday. Then we'll start to feel the heat Friday, and really get into it Saturday and Sunday.