More Vermont Heat Records. Late Summers/Early Autumns Incredibly Hot In Recent Years

Tropical looking clouds rise over Lake Champlain and the Adirondack
Mountains on a steamy, hot August 14, as viewed from South
Burlington, Vermont. No surprise that August was the hottest
on record. 

Yesterday, I fled Vermont and went to South Dakota to escape the tropical heat, much like Floridians come, or used to come, to Vermont to escape the Sunshine State's incredible summer humidity.

Just kidding about the motivation to go to South Dakota. I'm here visiting relatives and friends.

But it's just as well that I left when I did, as another spell of heat and humidity is coming to Vermont. As if we need more. I'll get to that in a bit.

But first, this hot summer!

As expected, August was the hottest on record in Burlington, with a mean temperatute of 74.5. That beats the old record of 73.7 set just a couple years ago, in 2016.

Numerous other cities in the Northeast are also likely to clock in with the hottest Augusts on record in 2018.

We in Vermont had a record hot July, too. It's very rare to have two consecutive months become the hottest on record. We didn't quite have the hottest summer in history, since June's temperatures were close to normal. We'll have to settle for the second hottest summer, with a mean temperature of 71.8 degrees. Only 1949 was hotter, with an average summer temperature of 72.2 degrees.

For climate purposes, summer is defined as the period from June 1 through August 31

The most remarkable thing I've noticed while looking at these records is how hot August and September have been compared to the historical past going back to the 1880s. I can't pin this trend exclusively on global warming, but I can't help but suspect it might have had some influence on these recent toasty late summers.

Six of Burlington's hottest summers have been since 1995. But that's not the most wild part.

Three of the four hottest Augusts have happened since 2015. Eight of the top 10 hottest Augusts have have occurred since 2001, though other prior years are tied with some of the hot years that have started this century.

The three hottest Septembers on record were in 2015, 2016 2017.

Now, it's possible September, 2018 could join that list, but we have to wait and see on that.

September this year in Vermont is certainly going to be off to a hot start. It looks like each day today through Thursday will reach 80 degrees or above. Highs will be in the mid to upper 80s Monday through Wednesday, with some areas - especially the Champlain Valley and southern Vermont valleys possibly getting to 90 again.

Humidity will once again be awful, too. Heat indexes Monday and possibly Tuesday, and Wednesday could reach the upper 90s.

Ocean temperatures off the Northeast Coast of the United
States are far above normal. That contributed to the
heat and humidity this summer in New England.

Perhaps the worst thing about this summer's heat has been the incredible humidity and warm nights that air moisture has caused.

 As the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang points out, Albany, New York, Boston, Massachusetts, Burlington, Vermont, Portland, Maine and Providence, Rhode Island have all probably had their most humid summers on record.

Boston hasn't been below 60 degrees for the past 67 days and counting. (The record is 80 such days in 2010.)  

High humidity contributes to abnormally warm nights.

Part of the problem this summer is that the water temperature off the East Coast is far above normal. That, and the overall weather pattern has been streaming high levels of humidity into the Northeast.  As Capital Weather Gang explains, high pressure has held firm over the Northeast this summer, preventing breezes from dispersing the humidity.'

On top of that, the high pressure has often centered itself over southeastern Canada, setting off a wind flow coming from that hot ocean water off the East Coast. No wonder it's been so humid. Northern Vermont's climate this summer has been what people normally experience in Maryland.
 
Here in Vermont, relief from the heat will probably arrive by Friday, but temperatures then will likely be at or a bit above normal still (in the 70s). Plus, the overall weather pattern favors more warmer than temperatures at least until the middle of the month.

After that, who knows?

Just like last year, though, Vermont is in the throes of a never-ending summer.