We're (Finally!) At The Beginning Of The End Of A Long Hot Vermont Summer

A bit of color in the trees already near my St. Albans,
Vermont house as the end of summer draws near.

The last couple of days here in Vermont marked the beginning of the end of this long, hot summer.

Oh sure, we'll have some more oppressively humid days. Very warm days. Hell, between now and mid-September we could have another scorching, multi-day 90 degree heat wave.

But overall, we're now on a downhill slide away from the peak of summer heat. The initial cooldown is subtle, for sure.

A cold front early Thursday introduced a bit of cooler, drier air, though it was still seasonably warm for this time of year. That seemed like the first hint.

On Friday, the temperature in Burlington, Vermont failed to make it to 80 degrees, ending a record long streak of 29 consecutive days at or above 80 degrees.  Even so, the air turned quite muggy again yesterday, though the air had the feeling of a last gasp burst of September humidity rather than full on summertime stuff.

Another cold front was sinking slowly southward across Vermont and the rest of New England this morning. When I took the dogs out early this morning, a chilly drizzle slapped me gently on the face, propelled by clammy north breeze.

Behind this cold front, it will still be relatively warm, summery. Just not full on hot. Afternoon temperatures over the next few days will be generally in the 75 to 82 degree range.  A storm system heading northeastward through the Great Lakes looks like it will have sort of an autumnal character, too.

That storm will be stronger than most mid-summer weather systems, and will have a bit of wind with this. And it will be moving along pretty fast, a departure from the normal sluggish pace of high summer weather changes.

This slow transition away from summer almost always seems to begin in Vermont around mid-August. It's right on schedule this year. You see it in the landscape, too. A few unhealthy trees already have a little color. The rest of the still green leaves look tired and battered. Open fields are turning yellow with carpets of goldenrod.

Usually at this time of year, I get a bit wistful, disappointed that our short summer is coming to an end and we face a long winter.

This summer was so hot, so persistent that for the first time in my life I feel a bit relieved that heat is relaxing. I'll change my tune soon enough and complain about the cold like I usually do.

The heat was one for the record books. This weather geek gets a little excited when long standing climate records are broke like they were over the past couple of months. . But with the heat that wilted most of the Northern Hemisphere this summer, the often unprecedented blast furnace was more than a little alarming. Climate change is here.

Not every summer going forward will be as hot as this one was. There will even be a few disappointingly chilly and cloudy summers now and then. But the chances of us having long stretches of heat are clearly rising.

Maybe it's time to start getting used to strange Vermont heat.