July Was Burlington, Vermont's Hottest Month On Record

The sprinklers were going frequently in my St. Albans, Vermont
garden in July as I, and my plants, endured the hottest month on record.

If you were saying to yourself in July, "I've never seen a month as hot as this one," you were absolutely right, at least if you were in Vermont, and some other areas of northern New England and southern Quebec.

Burlington, Vermont had an absolutely incredible month of July, capping it off by becoming the hottest month - any month - on record. These records date back to 1892.

A lot of records were tied or broken in Burlington. The ever-helpful National Weather Service office in South Burlington summarizes them for us:

Hottest Month: Mean temperature 76.0 besting the previous record of 75.3 in July, 1921
Hottest Maximums:  The average high temperature during July, 2018 was 87.4, beating the previous record of 86.5 degrees in July, 1949.
Most Days At Or Above 85 degrees in a month: 21 day in July, 2018, besting the old record of 20 such days in 1999, 1975 and 1955.
Most Days In a Month at 80 degrees or more: 29 such days in July, 2018, tying the record set in July, 1975.

Also, back on July 2, we had a minimum temperature for the day of 80 degrees, which is the highest minimum temperature for any date on record going back to 1892. And on June 30 through July 5, we tied the record for the second longest heat wave on record. Six straight days in the 90s.

HOT ELSEWHERE

Up in Caribou, Maine, normally an ice box, they had their hottest month on record, too. Their mean temperature for the month of July was 70.9 degrees, exceeding the previous record of 69.6 degrees in July, 1970.

The records are amazing, but of course they have real world effects. The heat early in the month killed at least four Vermonters and dozens in Quebec. July was drier than normal, but we didn't set any records for dryness. However, the extreme heat increased evaporation, so the ground dried out a lot more than it otherwise would have. You can actually see wilted, dead trees, killed by the dryness along Interstate 89 in Colchester, for instance.

If you thought it was hot in New England, and it certainly was, it was worse elsewhere. Death Valley, California just finished up the hottest month ever recorded anywhere in the United States. The mean temperature of 108 degrees (!!!) exceeded the record  of 107.4 degrees set just last year.

The many heat waves across the Northern Hemisphere seem to keep going. Record high temperatures were reported from Norway to Germany this week. A new heat wave developing in Portugal, Spain and France could bring all time European record high temperatures in the coming days.

It's true it's cool in some parts of the world -  parts of far northern Canada had a cool July and parts of the upper Midwest weren't super hot in July. However, all these heat waves do seem to overwhelm things. To me, a likely sign of global warming, climate change, whatever you want to call it.

HOT NEW ENGLAND OUTLOOK

Back here in Vermont, there's no rest for the heat weary. It's going to remain very warm and humid at least through next Tuesday, I'm afraid.

A warm front is trying to work its way up from the south today, which will set off scattered showers and thunderstorms. A few storms, especially south, and out towards New York's St. Lawrence Valley, might be strong this afternoon.

We still need the rain, so let's hope non-severe showers are widespread tonight. We'll see.

That warm front will make it even more humid going forward over the next few days. Daily highs will be in the 80s, with some 90s possibly showing up Thursday, and especially this coming Sunday and Monday.

There will be some hit and miss showers and storms scattered about through most of this period, but especially going into the weekend, I think the rain will be more miss than hit.

For those of you sick of the heat, I know there's no immediate relief in the forecast, but consider this: We're past the peak of summer. During August, normal temperatures in Vermont begin a slow decline. Maybe the heat will begin to wane later this month.