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| April flooding alaong Lake Champlain in Alburg threatened this mobile home. Vermont experienced heavy rains through much of 2019, resulting in two disaster declarations for parts of the state due to flooding in April and November. |
It was still warmer than normal, of course. The mean temperature for the year in Burlington, Vermont was 46.3 degrees, which is 0.5 degrees above the long term average.
A half a degree might not seem like much, but for a period lasting a year, it's a fair amount above average.
Still, this was the first year since 2015 that the yearly average temperature was not among the top ten warmest on record. You do have to consider, though, that three years in a row, 2016 through 2018 being in the warmest list is unprecedented. That couldn't go on forever.
And, I would remind you again 2019 was warmer than average. And by the way, eight of the ten warmest years in Burlington have happened since 1998, which echoes global climate trends.
Many climatologists say that climate change is also making our area wetter than it used to be, overall. Sure, there has been and will be dry years in recent decades, but the overall trend is wetter.
The year that just ended followed that trend. In Burlington, total precipitation for 2019 came to 43.47 inches. That makes 2019 the seventh wettest on record.
While the trend toward wettest isn't as stark as the trend toward warmth in recent years, there is still a noticeable move toward more precipitation in Vermont. Including 2019, five of the top ten wettest years in Burlington have happened since 1998.
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| A February 6 ice storm made walking in downtown Burlington, Vermont a tricky, dangerous exercise. |
The bottom line is, if you think climate change is affecting us here in Vermont, the answer, based on the stats, seems to be yes.
These stats are a better measure of how the footprint of climate change is affecting us than more subjective measures. Climatologists say that global warming is causing more extreme weather events.
I get the feeling that the weather and climate in Vermont has gotten more extreme than it used to be, but how do you measure that? Sure, perhaps a storm you experienced recently might have been more intense than you're used to, but is that reality?
In any event, here are the most notable weather events in Vermont during 2019:
January 19-21: An unusually cold, heavy snow. Burlington had a storm total of 18.6 inches. During the storm, low level cold air drained south from Quebec, keeping temperatures below zero for the bulk of the storm. It's odd to get that much snow in such cold temperatures. Other sections of Vermont were a little warmer.
Nevertheless, a statewide thaw and heavy rains on January 24 subsequently caused ice jams and local flooding. Overall, 41.8 inches of snow fell on Burlington during January, making the first month of 2019 the >>>> snowiest on record.
February 5: Burlington reached a daily record high of 53, exceeding the 51 set in 1991. However, freezing rain the next day caused numerous accidents in the Champlain Valley and had some people stranded on Interstate 89 for nearly four hours.
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| My St. Albans, Vermont driveway awash in heavy early spring snow on March 23. |
However, St. Albans got a foot of heavy, wet snow. The town of Averill in the Northeast Kingdom had four feet of snow on the ground immediately after the storm.
April 15-16: Significant spring flooding hit Vermont, especially in southern and central parts of the state. A line of strong thunderstorms with heavy rain hit the southern half of Vermont. That, combined with snow melt, led to the flooding.
Six counties in southern and eastern Vermont were declared major disaster areas, as there was $2 million in public infrastructure damage. Most of the damage came in the form of road washouts.
That was state highways. Municipalities had it worse. For instance, there was $1.5 million in damage to roads in just the town of Bethel, says WCAX-TV.
May 14: Late season snow hit parts of northern and high elevation parts of Vermont. Greensboro and Woodford reported four inches, Danville got 3.5 inches, Plainfield 2.5 inches, 2 inches in Marshfield.
June 20: Flash flooding again caused some damage in parts of central and southern Vermont, though this wasn't nearly as bad as the April storm. Orwell reported 3.25 inches of rain. Severe storms downed trees in Hartford, Rutland, Mendon and Clarendon.
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| Extensive damage in Sheldon, Vermont following a severe July 30 thunderstorm. |
A microburst that traveled from the northern Champlain Islands through Franklin County pushed a Highgate mobile home off its foundation and toppled hundreds of trees. A separate severe thunderstorm caused a lot of damage in the New North End of Burlington, Colchester and Milton.
A second round of storms on July 31 wasn't as severe, but caused a city-wide power outage in St. Albans and street fooding.
July 31: The mean temperature in Burlington for July ws 74.9 degrees, the third hottest on record. Only 2018 and 1921 were hotter.
August 17: A cluster of severe thunderstorms moved across Rutland and Windsor counties, felling trees near Lake St. Catherine, and in West Rutland, Plymouth and Windsor. (Windsor would be struck bu a tornado four days later. See next entry.
August 21: A tornado hit the town of Windham, Vermont. This was the first tornado in the state since 2012. (Vermont averages one tornado per year, so this ended a tornado drought of sorts in the Green Mountain State). The Windham tornado was an EF-1 with winds of 105 to 110 mph. Several homes suffered window, roof and siding damage.
October 1: Strong thunderstorms and heavy rain hit northern sections of the state. Golf ball sized hail fell on Massena, New York and lightning cut power to the St. Albans area. Flooding and washouts occured in some areas. Westfield picked up 3.25 inches of rain, and Wheelock got 3.16 inches.
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| A large uprooted willow tree on my St. Albans, Vermont property following the big storm of October 31-November 1. |
The entire month had been wet, saturating the soil, and then an additional two to five inches of rain fell on western and northern Vermont. East Berkshire reporte 5.26 inches of rain, with 4.85 inches in Enosburg Falls and 4.8 inches in Fletcher.
Numerous roads and culverts were washed out, and much of Vermont was declared a disaster area for the second time in 2019. High winds caused additional substantial damage to power lines, trees and some homes.
Mid-November: Record cold settled on Vermont and much of the northeastern United States. Burlington dropped to a record 9 degrees on November 13, the coldest for so early in the season. Rutland dropped to 6 degrees. An early season snowstorm just before the cold wave also dumped six to ten inches of snow, with locally higher amounts in northern Vermont. A second push of record cold air arrived on November 16-17.
December 30: A messy mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain fell across the state, most heavily in southern sections of Vermont. Some trees and power lines came down. Lightning and thunder were reported in Bennington and Windham counties.
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