You Think It's Hot Here? Go North To Maine/Canada For Real Heat

The more north you go, the hotter it gets. Forecast highs for
today. Northern Maine is expected to be in the mid-90s,
but it'll only be 80 degrees or so once you get
down to New Jersey. 

As expected, it was quite a hot day in Vermont Thursday. Burlington made it up to 92 degrees.  That was already the fourth day this year that made it to 90 degrees or better.

Normally, the Queen City has just five or six 90 degree days each summer, and most of those days come in July or August.

So we're ahead of the game. Especially since there's at least a chance today, tomorrow, or Sunday could also reach 90 degrees.  The humidity is also going to increase.

However, we're just on the edge of an intense heat wave that's hitting northern Maine, southern Quebec and New Brunswick with some mind-blowing temperatures.

To begin with, the temperature maps are inverted. It's hotter the further north you go on the East Coast. The hottest place anywhere in the United States yesterday east of the Mississippi River was the northern tip of Maine.

Caribou got up to 95 degrees, a record for the date.  Meanwhile, places like Atlanta, Georgia are still waiting for their first 90 degree day.

Some of the temperatures up in southeastern Canada were off the charts. At Sept Iles, way north along the north shore of the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, they experienced their all-time hottest temperature on record at 98 degrees.

Even further north, about 310 miles north of Montreal, Chibougamau, Quebec reached 91.5 degrees.

Jackson the weather dog sits in cool grass in the shade while
taking observations of 90-degree heat in St. Albans,
Vermont Thursday afternoon. 

In New Brunswick, Bathurst reached 99 degrees on Thursday.

The heat will continue in full force across southeastern Canada and northern Maine today. Heat warnings are up for much of Quebec, including metrol Montreal.  Caribou could have a high temperature of 97 degrees today, which would be the hottest reading there since at least 1939, when official records began.

Here in Vermont, it will be hot and humid through the weekend, but perhaps not as bad as points north. Most of the Green Mountain State can expect dailly hghs mostly between 85 and 90 degrees, probably through Tuesday.

There might be isolated thunderstorms, especially in the mountains, today through the weekend. Most of us will stay dry, though.  So drought or drought like conditions will likely keep building.

Always Trying To Find Out Who's Got It Worse

A snow drift in New Brunswick, Canada last week. Via
Ashley Ricard, Facebook

When I'm discouraged by weather I don't like, I perversely find places where conditions are even worse, just to console myself.

One place I found was Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada. As you know, I've been whining about the deep mid-March snowcover from the recent nor'easters and the current January-like chill.

New Brunswick has also been dealing with the same nor'easters, and the snow drifts are worse, much worse than around here.

A woman named Ashley Ricard has been posting photos of her snow-buried neighborhood, and houses are nearly buried. A couple of her photos are in this post.

A New Brunswick, Canada house buried in snow. Via
Gail Harding/CBC

Like us here in Vermont, it's cold in New Brunswick, so most of the snow won't go anytime soon.

There have been reports of a couple buildings collapsing under the weight of the snow, and travel is still difficult in some spots in southeastern Canada because of the snow.

Speaking of nor'easters, we're still watching one for mid to late week. Current forecasts are still insisting the next one will have little or no impact on Vermont, but I'm still not counting it out.

The beginnings of this next storm swept across Texas Sunday, causing a couple of tornadoes, strong winds and numerous reports of giant hail, some the size of baseballs. (Once you start getting into March, storm systems are increasingly likely to bring severe weather to parts of the nation.)

Today, the storm will bring severe weather to parts of the south, particularly Alabama and Tennesee, where damaging tornadoes are possible. 

The storm is still expected to head off the North Carolina coast. Some computer models continue to nudge the projected path of this next nor'easter a little closer to the coast. But it still - at this point at least - looks like it will pass relatively far off the New England coast Wednesday and Thursday.

Southeastern New England still looks like it will get a little snow and wind from this. It looks like the New York City area, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, including the Washington DC area, look to be in play for some snow out of this as well.

I expect it will throw some clouds back over Vermont. If the projected path holds, the Green Mountain State will get little if any snow out of this. If the storm track ends up being another 100 miles to the northwest than current projections, then it's -- ugh.

Meanwhile, it remains frigid. Widespread below zero temperatures were reported across the North Country this morning, though readings were a few degrees warmer than Sunday morning.

Still, I also always like to look for signs of hope during weather I don't like. The March sun angle is high, and temperature, while remaining well below normal, will gradually creep up a bit each day through Wednesday.

I noticed yesterday when I was in Rutland, Vermont, where the snow cover is thinner than it is up here in St. Albans, the sun was able to open up a few bare patches on steep south and west facing slopes. Not a pretty look, but a sign that the snow will want to try to melt. Some day, at least.

Last Week's Ice Storm REALLY Clobbered New Brunswick

Trees laid low in New Brunswick, Canada after last week's
ice storm. 

Remember that ice storm in Vermont last Tuesday, the one that made that morning's commute hell, closed most of the schools and dropped a few trees and power lines.

That storm got much worse once it got to New Brunswick, Canada, just east of Maine, and they're still reeling up there.

There's videos, too at the bottom of this post.

The storm in New Brunswick cut power to at least 130,000 people there. Nearly a week later, about 25,000 people were still without power, mostly in New Brunswick's Acadian peninsula, which was hardest hit.

The Canadian government is sending troops in today to help with cleanup and power restoration, says the Globe and Mail.  In some places, ice is still on the trees, and gusty winds are making some of them fall, leading to new power outages.

At least two people died in the New Brunswick storm and at least 31 people have suffered carbon monoxide poisoning from generators used during power failures.

We here in Vermont really dodged a bullet with this one, didn't we?  I'm still slipping on the ice, but at least the electricity is still on, and the trees in my yard remain pretty much intact.

Here's some videos out of New Brunswick:

First, a train makes its way through sagging trees and branches laid low by the ice:



ere's a view from inside a house at night as a big tree gives way under the weight of the ice:




Power flashes in Moncton, New Brunswick at night as power lines fail under the ice:

Cat Finds New Brunswick Snow To Be Far Too Much Work

Rudiger the cat was feeling
a little trapped by blizzardy weather
recently in Moncton, New Brunswick

Hey New Englanders and denizens of southeastern Canada!

Does all this snow have you feeling hemmed in? Suffering from cabin fever? Maybe you're just feeling trapped by winter? Does the forecast of more snow have you collapsing into a heap of tears?

A cat in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada feels your pain.

It seems the resourceful residents of New Brunswick have been managing the mountains of snow creatively, if not always enthusiastically.

Yesterday, I showed you that locomotive blasting through the deep snow in Sydney, New Brunswick. That's one way to get through the drifts.

Today, we'll see the cat in Moncton feeling drifted in, then doing something about it.  Another way to get through the drifts, I guess.

A fun thing to watch: