The South Moves North Once Again

An outflow boundary from a thunderstorm passing by to the north
helped create thes turbulent looking clouds over St. Albans,
Vermont yesterday.  The boundary produced wind gusts close
to 30 mph at my house, but they oddly weren't cool winds like
you'd expect from normal thunderstorm outflow. 

The Northeast had a terribly Florida type of day Monday, with temperatures in the 90s, humidity levels through the roof, and a few strong storms to boot.

Maine was downright weird. You know Maine in the summer, right?  Cool breezes, comfortable humidity, great sleeping nights, manageable summer rain showers? frigid ocean waters?

Not yesterday.  The waters in the Gulf of Maine are practically bathwater, setting records for high ocean temperatures.  That means marine life is heading north to enjoy those warm waters. That includes sharks.

Tragically, a woman was killed in a shark attack near Bailey Island Maine on Monday.

Those warm waters along the coast of New England are also bad if a stray hurricane comes along later this summer and autumn.  Northboumd hurricanes along the coast weaken because they don't do well in cold water. The warmer the water, the slower a hurricane will weaken, making one that comes along stronger than they otherwise would be if the water was chillier.

Meanwhile, in Portland, Maine, the low temperature Monday was 78 degrees. That is the warmest "low" temperature on record for any date in Portland.

Additionally, a possible tornado hit parts of Somerset and Penobscot Counties in Maine.  Radar images showed some pretty tight rotation in a severe thunderstorm, plus there was tree and wire damage in the area.

The National Weather Service will investigate to see if that was really a tornado.

For those who are easily worried and confused, the possible tornado hit the town of St. Albans, Maine, NOT St. Albans, Vermont, where I live.

The heat was on elsewhere in the Northeast.  It was 97 degrees in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the hottest it's been there in four years.  Hartford, Connecticut got up to 98 degrees.

Ahead of a weak cold front, heat advisories are up along the East Coast today from southwestern Maine to South Carolina.

Here in Vermont, it got up to 93 degrees in Burlington, the 17th day this year it has been in the 90s.  We're still in the running for the most consective days staying continuously above 60 degrees. The wild cards are how warm it stays at night in the second half of the week and into Saturday.

Current forecasts have Burlington's lows just above 60 degrees each night, so we could do it.

Showers and thunderstorms were concentrated across northern Vermont yesterday and last evening, and southern Vermont stayed dry.  However, a decent batch of rain was moving through central and southern Vermont this morning.

Today will be another relatively hot one, with highs in the 80s to around 90 in a few spots. At least the humidity will briefly go down this afternoon.

The humidity will spike up again tomorrow ahead of the next system, but that won't last long.  There could be a few more showers and storms tomorrow, too.

Which is fine. Last evening, a brief heavy downpour passed through St. Albans, Vermont. The rain was almost as warm as bath water. There was no lightning, so it felt safe to stand out in the rain and let it drench me. It felt awesome.

I joke that the rain did wonders for my naturally curly hair.  The joys of summer, I guess.

A Welcome Rinse, And Then A Hot Repeat ThIs Afternoon

I awoke to the delicious sound this morning of rain drumming on the roof of my St. Albans, Vermont house.

The weather deck of our place in St. Albans, Vermont was tropical
humid and wet this morning after some welcome showers.
More heat, humidity the rest of the day, into tomorrow, I'm afraid. 

I've been constantly whining about too-dry weather in Vermont since May, so this nice round of downpours will shut me up for a little while.

I'll still cry about the hot weather - more on that in a minute - but this was one of the better rains of the summer.  

That's not saying much, but I'll take it.

The showers were mostly focused along and north of Route 2, so the southern half to two thirds of Vermont missed out.  But the showers this morning were widespread, and many areas got a few hours of rain, sometimes heavy.

As of 8 a.m., Burlington had received just over a half inch of rain. That's not exactly an incredible amount, but still manages to make this the wettest day of the month.

The showers were clearing out by mid-morning, setting me up for my hot weather whine.

We all felt the humidity, even during those showers. The weather disturbance that caused them is zipping off to our east.  The air mass hasn't changed since yesterday, except for the fact that it's even more humid than it was on Sunday.

Today will be the 32nd consecutive day in Burlington in which the temperature has not fallen below 60 degrees. Only one other year, back in 1898, had a longer streak, with 37 such days.   Also, Burlington got above 90 degrees yesterday for the 16th time this year.

Hot summer, anyone?

Before the next weather disturbance in the pipeline comes through, it looks like we will get at least some sunshine, so once again, the warmer valleys will probably hit 90 degrees.

Heat advisories are up for the valleys of western Vermont from north of Burlington to Massachusetts, and for the Connecticut River Valley from Brattleboro to north of White River Jumction. Between the hot air and the humidity, the heat index will be between 95 and 100 degrees.

The rest of Vermont won't quite meet the criteria for a heat advisory, but it will still be damn uncomfortable.

Another one of those pesky weather disturbances will approach us this afternoon.  Combined with the hot, humid air, scattered thunderstorms will erupt very nicely.  Of course, the word "scattered" should tell you 1. Your weather reporter here has a scattered brain and 2. Only some of us will get a storm.

A small minority of these storms could contain strong gusty winds and torrential downpours. Northern Vermont, along with northern New Hampshire, northern and western New York and most of Maine, are in a marginal risk zone for severe storms today. 

That means there will probably some isolated, rather short-lived episodes of severe storms here and there today.   It's possible some of the area might be bumped up to the next level of risk, called "slight" but that just means a slightly greater coverage of severe storms. This potential upgrade is just speculation on my part. to be honest.

An alleged cold front is coming through tomorrow, but don't break out those ski parkas.  Just like a cold front exactly a week earlier, any cooler air will lag far behind the front, so Tuesday will be another very warm, humid day. Some 90s might pop up again in southeastern Vermont. Southern New England will flirt with 100 degrees in spots.

On the bright side, you'll start to notice the humidity come down late in the day, especially north and west.

Then we get another round of average summer weather, just like we did during the second half of last week.  Another rinse and repeat.

Except after today, there won't be much rinsing in Vermont.  Scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible daily Tuesday through Thursday, but don't hold your breath.  It will trend drier and warm by next weekend.

As we head into early August, it looks like we might go back into an above normal temperature/below normal rainfall regime again.  Time will tell.

Unlike some chilly seasons in the rather distant past, this will be another year in which we Vermonters won't feel cheated out of a summer.

We're now just past the meteorological midpoint of summer, and temperatures will start falling soon enough.  In just five or six months, on some dark and frigid winter day, we will be looking back on this month's high heat and humidity with some real fondness.

Hurricane Hanna Causes A Mess, Hot Atlantic Water Spells More Trouble

Debris scattered in Texas due to Hurricane Hanna 

A quick Vermont update at the bottom of this post, but since it's hurricane season and hurricanes are quite appropriately on everybody's mind....  

HURRICANE HANNA:

Hurricane Hanna showed what unusually warm water can do to a developing hurricane.

It's basically jet fuel for such storms.

Such was the case with Hurricane Hanna, which kept getting stronger all the way until it made landfall on the southern Texas coast.

Peak sustained winds were 90 mph, stronger than pretty much everybody anticipated just a day or two earlier.

The storm caused the type of damage you'd expect from such a storm. High winds damaged some structures, more than 280,000 homes and businesses were without power, widespread flooding damaged many other buildings, and embedded tornadoes caused added trouble. A large pier along the coast collapsed. Storm surges flooded parts of downtown Corpus Christi, Texas.

Hanna videos at bottom of this post.

Hanna, now well inland, is fading fast, but still dumping torrential rains and causing a lot more flooding.

OTHER STORMS:

Hanna was no doubt powered by warmer than normal water temperatures, but that's not the only ingredient you need. It's just one of the more important ones.

Case in point is former Tropical Storm Gonzalo. It fired up awfully quickly amid super warm ocean waters, but the sputtered. That's because dry air aloft got pulled into the tiny system and choked off its thunderstorms.  Former Gonzalo is now just a few scattered showers and storms heading into the Caribbean Sea.

So you see, hot water isn't everything.  It is hurricane jet fuel, but only if everthing works on all cylinders, so to speak.

It's certainly early in the hurricane season and forecasters are already watching the next potential Atlantic troublemaker. A growing disturbance way out in the central Atlantic will probably become Tropical Storm Isaias.

Damn name is impossible to spell and even worse to pronounce, but oh well.

Computer models - at least for now - take Wannabe Isaias to near or just off the southeastern United States coast in about a week or so.  The majority of models  seem to take this system out to sea, just missing the U.S., but these long range models are notoriously unreliable.  Anything could happen, so we'll just have to wait and see.

And let's not forget about Hurricane Douglas out in the Pacific!

Hurricane warnings are up for many of the Hawaiian Island.  Douglas this morning was a little more tha 200 mies east of Honolulu with top sustained winds of 90 mph.

It'll continue to slowly weaken as it approaches the islands, but will probably still be a hurricane as it passes through Hawaii. It's not weakening that fast because, in part, water temperatures heading toward the islands are not as cool as they usually are.

Trees and infrastructure aren't really designed to hold up against strong winds in much of Hawaii, so this could be a real troublemaker

Even if Douglas doesn't go directly over any of the islands, it will be close enough to cause hurricane force gusts through downsloping forces along mountains, or winds funnel through valleys.  The upper floors of Honolulu high rises risk lots of shattered windows, too, because winds near the top floors will be stronger than at street level.

Flash flooding will be a real hazard, too at least for the rest of the day

VERMONT UPDATE

Yeah, it's pretty hot out there, despite some morning clouds in the northern  half of the state that temporarily slowed today's warming. Warmer valleys still  have a shot of getting to 90 degrees today, despite some lingering partial clouds.

We'll need to watch a so-called "ridge runner" late this afternoon and early evening along the International Border. This is a disturbance that is running over the top of a hot dome of air in the middle of the nation through the Great Lakes and into Ontario.

It'll move east to southeastward into southern Quebec and eventually western Maine later today. Some of the thunderstorms with this thing could creep south to just along the border between Quebec and Vermont later today, and a couple storms could be strong, especially in the Northeast Kingsdom.

Other little "ridge runners" might affect us with scattered showers and storms late tonight and again Monday afternoon and evening.  The biggest "threat" from these will probably be locally torrential downpours. Some places won't get any rain and all. It'll be the usual hit and miss type stuff.

It's possible clouds tomorrow will hold temperatures below 90 in the north, but even if that happens, it'll be ridiculously humid, so it will be uncomfortable.

Just like last Tuesday, a weak cold front will come through this Tuesday with a risk of some showers and storms, and gradually lowering humidity starting later on Tuesday. We hope.

Videos:

News video summarizing the storm.  Love the transition from official telling people to stay inside during the storm and then cutting immediately to ABC report in the eye of the storm:



Lots of debris in the water on the Corpus Christi waterfront:

The Stresses Of A Hot, Humid, And Very Iffy Summer Roll On

Part of my St. Albans, Vermont gardens this morning. At the time
they were getting a brief drink of water from a passing
shower, which pleased both me and the flowers. 

Yesterday and today are continuing the humid cat and mouse game with storms drenching just a few people with needed rain while others miss out.

I've been saying the same all summer, I do realize. Call it Rinse (Not) and Repeat.

I managed to collect just over a third of an inch of rain at my St. Albans, Vermont hacienda Saturday, mostly from one rain band associated with former Tropical Storm Fay, plus one brief relatively heavy shower that happened to luckily bullseye my place early Saturday afternoon.

So it helped, but I wanted more. As I write this Sunday morning, I am getting a brief moderate additional rain shower, so that brightens my mood a bit.

Even so, Saturday evening, I watched longingly as a parade of thunderstorms moved northward through the eastern Adirondacks.  The clouds looked thick and rich with rain, rumbles of thunder grumbled in the distance.  But no more rain for me, despite the air you can wear feel from the humidity.

At least I was out enjoying my gardens, right?

It was like this through much of New England and northern New York.  Some pockets got really nailed.

Flash flood warnings were up early today in parts of the central Adirondacks due to a small zone of heavy overnight rain there.  A tornado touched down Saturday afternoon in western Maine, near Sebago Lake. Flood advisories were up for a time near Saratoga, New York Saturday.

Today, the humidity rolls on. The risk of showers, though, is diminishing for the rest of today, but some will still roam around, given the humidity.

More hit and miss kind of stuff will be around on Monday, too.

There is the prospect of a brief break in the humidity later Monday into Wednesday before it gets sticky again.  Tuesday night, Burlington's temperature might actually drop below 60 degrees for the first time since June 25.

I don't know what the record is for the longest stretch we've stayed above 60, but we're already at 16 consecutive days through Saturday. That's an unusually lengthy stretch for such warm nights.

Signs point to a return to sticky warm to hot weather by the end of the week. It's unclear if it's just going to be muggy and warm (highs in the 80s) or downright hot (90s) by next weekend. We'll just have to wait and see.

Most of the nation except for the Pacific Northwest is very hot and in most cases humid,. It's been like that for weeks, and this state of affairs looks like it will continue most of the rest of the month.

As we all know, it's an incredibly stressful summer for most of us, given the unrelenting coronavirus pandemic, economic crisis, racial tensions and failures of leadership.

Hot, humid weather tends to make people more stressed, anxous and angry, so this isn't helping.  The nationwide heat wave is causing droughts to worsen worringly  in some parts of the South and Southwest.

In other parts of the country, the heat and humidity is the spark for destructive storms, bringing pockets of flash flooding, hail, a few tornadoes and the constant drumbeat of storm watches, warnings and advisories. Which doesn't help the moods of most people.

Last evening, after a day at work, I was tense, hot, frustrated and angry, even though I should consider myself lucky I have a job.   My gardens did cool off my temper, if not my body, even as I longed for the rain and thunder I was seeing across Lake Champlain from my house.

The gardens do help, and I'm thankful I have them.

I hope you all have a refuge like I do.  Or are able to create one.  It doesn't have to be a garden, just someplace where you can find peace and forget about everything.

Please find your own refuge from the heat, the storms, and the stress 2020 will forever be known for. You deserve it.

Tropical Storm Fay Is Vermont's Friend

Vermont is rarely hit by any kind of tropical system.

Visible satellite photo showing Tropical Storm Fay
moving northward just off the Mid-Atlantic coast. 

But when the Green Mountain State is hit by a tropical storm or depression or hurricane, it's pretty much always had news.

In the topsy-turvy year of 2020, though, Tropical Storm Fay, on balance, looks like it will help Vermont much more than it will hurt.

Since Fay is a tropical storm, which are always very wet and windy, the storm will be bad news for some people, though.

WHERE IT'S AT AND GOING

As of 8 a.m this morning, Tropical Storm Fay had top winds of 50 mph, mostly east of its center.It was about 100 miles or so south of the southern tip of New Jersey.

Tropical Storm Fay was northbound as of early this morning, and will continue in that direction as it picks up forward speed. It'll scrape past New Jersey, possibly even making landfall there.  If not, it will come ashore not far from New York City tonight

At this point, forecasts take Tropical Storm Fay up the Hudson River Valley into either eastern New York or western Vermont.  The official 5 a.m. Friday National Hurricane Center forecast track had Fay pretty much sitting right over my house in St. Albans, Vermont at around 2 p.m. Saturday. It will then head into Quebec.

I'm delighted this could happen. So are my gardens.  We welcome the prospect of a potential soaking.

Of course, by the time, Fay hits Vermont or nearby, it will have been downgraded to a tropical depression and it will be starting to transition to a non-tropical system.

If Fay is still at tropical storm strength by the time it hits Vermont, it will only be the fourth tropical storm known to have its center pass over somewhere in the Green Mountain State.

Two of those past tropical systems were devastating and deadly. Tropical Storm Irene killed at least six Vermonters and pretty much tied with 1927 as creating the worst flood in the state's history.

The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 also passed through Vermont, causing serious flooding and leveling tracts of forests with its winds. The 1938 storm decimated the maple sugar industry for years afterward.

FAY IS NOT MEAN LIKE THE OTHERS

Fay's effects will be far, far, less serious in Vermont than Irene or the 1938 storm.

Here's why:

1. It's weak, so doesn't have the power to unleash widespread torrential rains or damaging winds.  Wind gusts for almost all of us should stay below 35 mph. A few favored areas, perhaps including some of the western slopes of the Green Mountains, could see gusts as high as 45 mph.

2. It's fast. Fay will be rocketing northward and will only affect directly affect Vermont for several hours.  It might rain torrentially at times, but the rain won't last long enough to cause serious flooding. Some favored spots might get extra rain, causing local stream flooding, road washouts and urban flooding, but this is certainly no Irene.

3. Vermont is dry. Parts of the state are in a drought. That's why I'm liking Fay so much.  It could put a good dent in the dry conditions we have been having.

The thing I worry about most from Fay is not too much rain, but too little. Forecast tracks for Fay keep pushing it further west.  The heaviest rain with northbound tropical storms in the Northeast is to the west of their track.

If Fay goes up through New York State instead of through Vermont, we could miss out on the heaviest rain.   Right now, forecasts call for one to two inches of rain from Fay in Vermont, with locally higher amounts.

More rain and thunderstorms Sunday through Tuesday could offer additional help with the dry conditions.

Fay will also help break the heat somewhat.  We have one more hot day today, but the clouds and precipitation with Fay, and another disturbance approaching from the west, will encourage clouds, which will hold daytime temperatures down a little. It will still be miserably humid though, at least into Monday.

Some clouds from Fay will move northward across Vermont this afternoon, and those might actually temper the heat a little in southern  Vermont  It will still be blazing up north, though.

FAY'S EFFECTS ELSEWHERE

It isn't all fun and games with Tropical Storm Fay.  Closer to its landfall, Fay could easily dump enough rain to cause flooding. Flash flood watches are up for New Jersey, western Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, far eastern Pennslyvania  and the Hudson River Valley and surrounding areas from Saratoga Springs south to New York City.

Some of the downpours with Fay are pretty intense.  Ocean City, Maryland had about 1.5 inches of rain in one hour, and 2.75 inches within just two hours, for instance.

Winds along some coastal areas could gust to 55 mph. Coastal flooding is likely to be minor.

Tropical storms like Fay can spin up tornadoes, so some are possible later today and tonight in and near Long Island, New York parts of far southern New England, the  New York City metro area and coastal New Jersey.

Vermont Is The New Florida - Continued

A strong thunderstorm over Lake Champlain last summer, More
potentially strong to severe storms are firing up todau. 

If the headline on this post seems familiar, it's because I wrote a similar headline in this blog thingy back in late June.

The heat and humidity has been pretty consistent since the third week in June. On and on it goes.

As uncomfortable as it is, at least there's some rain chances.  Believe it or not, that rain prospect is in part due to the influence of a possible tropical depression. or storm.  Yes, that sounds like Florida, too.   I'll get to that in a bit.

Burlington got to 89 degrees yesterday, just missing the chance to notch yet another 90 degree day this summer.  Don't worry, it looks like there will be two more days above 90 degrees this week. Um, yay?

Today would reach 90 degrees if not for a disturbance coming through that will touch off a fair numer of showers and storms.  We need the rain, still. Especially in the northwestern part of the state. Of course, the far northwest has the lowest chances of rain with this, though there's still roughly even odds.

It was frustrating here in St. Albans, Vermont early this morning with a couple flashes of lightning and claps of thunder, but the rain with that storm blew by just to my north.

The showers and storms with this incoming disturbance fired up in Quebec pretty early - before noon. They're moving southeast as of early afternoon and other pop ups are forming in New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.

A few storms, especially from the Champlain Valley east, could be strong or locally severe, with strong, gusty winds, hail, torrential downpours and lightning. Lightning detector maps were already showing lots of lightning as of 2 p.m. All of Vermont, New Hampshire and most of Maine is under a severe thunderstorm watch until 10 p.m.

Storms should wind down this evening

ON WITH THE HEAT

The core of the latest burst of heat will be over us Thursday and Friday. Heat advisories are up in the Champlain Valley for Thursday and Friday.  And in many places around the Great Lakes and Northeast, too.

Highs will get into the 90s for most of us both days.  Humidity will be even higher than it was during that horrible June heat wave.

An interesting thing might happen with the heat Friday, and may worsen it.  A tropical depression or tropical storm is expected to form off the South Carolina coast soon and move northward.

It'll never get that strong, but as it approaches coastal New England Friday, it will pump up the hot ridge of high pressure over northern New England, northern New York and Quebec. That, in turn,  has the potential for boosting temperatures even higher. It's not definite, but it's possible we'll see highs in the mid to upper 90s in some of the hotter spots Friday.

It depends on clouds and the path of that tropical or subtropical system.

WAIT, TROPICAL STORM?

Yes, I did say tropical storm.  If wannabe Tropical Storm Fay develops, it would most likely track toward southeastern New England, or offshore.

It would bring a slug of torrential rains to southern and eastern New England, and perhaps some gusty winds. Wannabe Fay will probably go to far east to directly affect most of Vermont.

However, it will bring added tropical moisture into Vermont, just as another disturbance approaches for the west.

At this point, it appears this situation will give us a terribly oppressive weekend with sky high humidity. But this scenario could also give us numerous showers and storms Saturday afternoon and evening, and maybe into Sunday.

The good news is if this pans out, we'll get some beneficial rains.  A bit of potential bad news is some slow moving storms this weekend could cause some local flash floods. We certainly don't know that for sure yet, but it's something to keep an eye on.

THEN DO WE GET RID OF THE HEAT?

The answer is no.  But you kind of knew that, right?

We do get a temporary reprieve.  That disturbance which could give us the rains over the weekend will probably "cool" us off to readings early next week that are only a little warmer than average. It will still be a little uncomfortable because the humidity won't totally crash. But it will definitely be better.

Not for long, it looks like. Early indications are another burst of high heat and humidity could surge into northern New England during the second half of next week.

Sigh.

Vermont Temperatures In June Were A Roller Coaster

Story of June, 2020. In a dry month, this thunderstorm teased
by poking above the treeline behind my St. Albans, Vermont house
then quickly scooted away, making sure I didn't get
any needed rain. Photo taken June 23.

Most of the time, I rate June and September in Vermont as the mellowest times of the year in the weather department.

True, months like June can have some pretty impressive rainfalls, floods and severe storms. But the two months I mention aren't generally known for temperature extremes, or big swings from one day or week to the next.

This June, though, was a roller coaster for sure.

In the first half of the month there were a couple days setting date records for the chilliest high temperatures - reaching only the 50s.

By the second half of the month, we were in a record heat wave.

Burlington's swings were common for what the state saw in June. We awoke to temperatures in the 30s on June 1, with frost in the cold spots. By the 5th, it was 90 degrees.  On the 13th, high temperatures were only in the 50s. By the 18th, Burlington was starting its June record breaking six consecutive days in the 90s.

Also in Burlington, there was very little rain all month, until the last two days, when 1.14 fell.

Overall in Burlington, the average temperatures for the month worked out to 69.0 degrees. That was 3.1 degrees above normal and enough to make June the tenth warmest on record.

June's temperature was closer to normal in towns away from the Champlain Valley, I think mostly because unlike the Champlain Valley, partial clouds and daily scattered thunderstorms tempered that long heat wave a little over the Green Mountains and points east.

So far this year, we've had nine days at or above 90 degrees in Burlington. Average for an entire year is five, so were off to a fast start in the hot weather department.

Pretty much everyone in Vermont was dry in June. Despite the rainfall in the last two days of the month, Burlington ended with only 1.88 inches of precipitation for June, which is right around half of normal.

Most other places in Vermont had similar precipitation deficits. An exception was Montpelier, which was lucky enough to be in the path of several thunderstorms during the month. They were only a third of an inch shy in rainfall, with a June total of 3.47 inches.

As always, what the next month will bring could be anything. However, there is a pretty remarkable, but not universal consensus that July will be hotter than average in New England. The first few days of the month, at least, look to be warmer than average.

Long range forecasts have been putting us in a moderate risk of a heat wave during the second week of July. We'll see how that pans out.

It could have been worse.  Miami, Florida just endured more than six days in which the heat index was 90 or more. This includes every hour during that period, including nights. Ugh!

Loopy, Wrong-Way Weather Pattern Keeps Heat At Bay. For Now

It tried to rain Friday evening on my still dry back yard in St. Albans,
Vermont, but it only amounted to a trace before the setting sun
blasted through the clouds.  I still have a shot of some
showers over the next few days. 

We can safely report it's not that torrid in Vermont for a change.

True, it has been a bit warmer than normal the past four days or so, but certainly not to the extent of that huge heat wave last week.

Still, Saturday was the 12th day in a row in Burlington that got to at least 80 degrees, so that's still an ongoing warm streak if you ask me.

There were some fears that heat would come roaring back by sometimes early this week, but that won't be happening, thank goodness.  At least the heat is delayed some in returning.

Credit a rather loopy, wrong way weather pattern for that.

The loopy part is a cut-off storm in the upper levels of the atmosphere that is stalling over or near New England. It's just a pool of cool air aloft, with light winds circulating around and around in a counterclockwise loop.

The fact that the this upper level circulation has cold air with it many thousands of feet in the air means we're in for daily scattered showers and possible thunderstorms.  The contrast between the relatively warm air at the surface and the colder air way up there will encourage those tall, billowy clouds to form.  The tall, billowy clouds, of course, unleash those scattered rains.

We've been settling into a drought, so the type of rain that's in the forecast won't help nearly as much as a good steady soaker would. But we'll take what we can get.

A few storms today in southern Vermont, and especially southern New England, might be strong to severe. It's more likely that any thunderstorms that blossom in the north will be garden variety.

There will be winners and losers in this pattern. A few lucky spots will receive over an inch of rain between now and Wednesday because they'll keep getting hit by these daily showers. There will also be the unlucky ones, in which, by chance, the showers avoid those towns.  The drier spots will get a quarter inch or less of rain, which sucks.

The loopy low over us means daytime temperatures through Wednesday will be at, or just a wee bit cooler than average. Nighttimes will be at, or a wee bit warmer than average through the period.

This upper level low will probably get out of our hair by Thursday or so, and a squirt of hot air will try to come in.  Its' uncertain, but Thursday might end up being a little on the hot side.

However, that's where the wrong way weather comes in. A so called "back door" cold front is expected to come in from the northeast. (Cold fronts normally come in from the west or northwest, that's why I'm calling it a wrong way front.)

It won't exactly get cold by next weekend after the wrong way front comes through, but at least it won't be super, super hot.  We'll just get more normal  to slightly warmer than average temperatures then.

I don't mean to imply the cut off low over us, or the back door cold front are extremely unusual. They aren't. Both happen from time to time in the spring and summer, so we're not getting anything totally weird.

Despite the breaks from the heat and dryness, the overall weather pattern  favors hotter and drier than normal conditions over Vermont and most of the rest of New England into mid-July.  If true, it means that current drought conditions over the region will unfortunately only worsen.

June Is The New July In Vermont

A hot, steamy day in Burlington, Vermont in 2018.  In June
we've re-written the heat records of June in recent years. 

I noticed quite a June trend in recent years in the weather record books for Burlington, Vermont.

The last several years have totally transformed the listed record highs in the second half of June.

The National Weather Service has been keeping track of the weather in Burlington since the 1880a.  records.

Over the more than 100 years from around 1885 to 1994, the warmest it ever got in Burlington during June was 96 degrees.

Since 1994 just the last quarter century or so, it has gotten to 96 degrees in June at least another 11 times including twice last week.

And let's not even talk about the record for longest June heat wave - six days in a row - set just this past week.

We've almost totally re-written the record book for June highs since 1991. In the last 14 days of June, eight of the daily record highs have been set just since 2007.  All but one of the record highs in that period came after 1990.

We tied the record for the second hottest reading in Burlington with a high of 100 degrees on June 19,1995.  It was only the third day on record it had been 100 degrees in the Queen City

We still get record daily lows in Burlington, of course.  I did find a single recent daily record low in June -  a reading of 36 degrees on June 2, 2003. But other than that, I can't find a daily record low in June newer than one set on June 24, 1988 when it was 40 degrees.

Consistent with climate change, daily record highs have been exceeding record lows, though of course you can still get cold snaps in a warmer world.

By my quick count - and somebody can check this if they'd like - I see 29 daily record highs tied or broken in Burlington since July 1 2017 and just five record lows tied or broken.

We're not expecting any record highs or lows in the next few days, of course. But fasten your seat belts, we're sure to have more record warm episodes to come.

Weather Surprises Keep Popping Up Nearby And Beyond

Storm chaser Simon Brewer, who usually spends his time in the
Great Plains chasing tornadoes, had to travel to Glens Falls, New York
to capture this impressive wall cloud, that did produce a tornado. 

Although I don't have super shocking weather news to bring up today, there are still plenty of reports to confirm the weather is always surprising, in small and big ways.

First of all, I'm a little surprised I have to make this correction: 

Unlike what I said in yesterday's post, "no tornado is known to have touched down in that area," a tornado DID in fact touch down in that thunderstorm with the impressive wall cloud around Glens Falls.

The National Weather Service office in Albany New York confirms that Glens Falls storm, and presumably its wall cloud, DID produce a tornado.

The tornado was an EF-1 with winds of between 75 and 110 mph. It damaged at least one home and sheared off and uprooted many trees not far from Interstate 87 in Glens Falls. It actually crossed that busy highway, but luckily, it was a bit weaker by the time it hit that Interstate.

I'm impressed by how wide and long-tracked the tornado was for this far into the interior Northeast. Usually tornadoes are narrow and very brief.  This one was at one point as much as a quarter mile wide and the tornado traveled a total of 8.6 miles before lifting.

This was the second time within two weeks that a tornado touched down close to the southwestern Vermont border. In both cases, the tornado's parent thunderstorm moved into Vermont, caused straight line wind damage.  This time, Poultney was pretty hard hit by those winds.

WASHINGTON/OREGON STORMS

Speaking of surprising severe thunderstorms, it was eastern Washington State and Oregon's turn to endure supercells and damaging storms. It's fairly rare for conditions to come together in this part of the country for a lot of severe weather, but they sure did on Saturday.

Winds with these storms gusted as high as 97 mph in Washington, 85 mph in Oregon and 83 mph in Idaho.  I'm unsure if any tornadoes touched down with these storms. I'm sure local National Weather Service offices will be checking on that. There were certainly plenty of reports of damage in this area.

QUEBEC/CANADIAN YO-YO WEATHER

We here in Vermont have certainly cooled down from that record heat we and Quebec had last week.

That heat spread into much of eastern Canada as the week closed. Record highs included 93 degrees in Bathurst, New Brunswick,  31.8 in Gaspe, Quebec, 84 in Gander, Newfoundland and 82 in St. John's Newfoundland.

Up in Quebec, where temperatures were in the 80s and well into the 90s,  things had gotten ridiculously cool by this morning. Snow was reported in the Laurentian highlands this morning.

Don't worry, that snow won't work itself nearly this far south. We're done with snow until autumn.  But it will be remarkably cool for the season, with high temperatures in most of northern Vermont not making it past 60 degrees today. That's more typical for late April.  Monday will be quite cool as well before a warming trend kicks in to bring us up into the seasonable 70s by the end of the week.

The secondary cold front that brought in today's cool weather also managed to surprise me last night. It was expected to only produce sprinkles.  But there was widespread rains last evening across northern Vermont.  It wasn't super heavy, but my rain gauge in St. Albans, Vermont collected 0.12 inches of rain, and I was expecting nothing more than a trace.

Transition Out Of Heat Brings Vermont/Northeast Severe Risk Today

This image from the National Weather Service in South Burlington
shows much of Vermont and New York under a slight risk
of severe storms today (areas in yellow).

Today will be the last day of the unseasonable, record breaking  heat and humid that has enveloped northern New England and southern Quebec.

The price for this transition will be the risk of severe thunderstorms.

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has a large chunk of the interior Northeast away from the coast under a slight risk of severe weather. This includes all of Vermont except basically the Connecticut River Valley, which is under a marginal risk.  

A slight risk for severe storms is level two out of five on the alert scale for dangerous weather. A slight risk means that scattered severe storms are possible, but they would generally be not terribly long lived. An isolated intense storm could develop, too.

I'm thinking it's possible part of the slight risk zone could go up a step to number three on the alert level, which is "enhanced" risk.  That would mean a somewhat more widespread outbreak.  I would emphasize this idea of an upgrade to level three enhanced is JUST speculation on my part and NOT part an official National Weather Service forecast.

One thing that would help big storms get going is if sunshine  between now and early this afternoon helps destabilize the atmosphere. Satellite images early this morning showed a fair number of breaks in the clouds over Vermont and upstream in New York.

The main risks with today's severe weather threat in Vermont and much of the rest of the Northeastsare strong straight line winds and downbursts.  These could be enough to cause local damage to trees, power lines and maybe even structures.  Most of us won't see anything that bad, but a lot of us will hear thunder, see lightning and probably get a gusty downpour or at least a shower our of it.

There is even a remote chance of a brief spinup tornado once again from around Montreal south through the Champlain Valley and on down the eastern slopes of the Appalachians all the way to North Carolina.

There is some spin - changing wind direction with height - that could create some rotating thunderstorms. Remember, though: Just because a thunderstorm is spinning doesn't always mean it will produce a tornado. It's something to watch today, just in case.  Don't count on a tornado, though. It's a very, very low chance.

Another thing to consider today is the risk of so-called training thunderstorms. That's when a line of thunderstorms, like boxcars on a train track, go over the same spot over and over again. These storms can cause torrential rains and flash flooding.

The risk of this happening today is fairly low, because it's been so dry lately.  It would take a helluva lot of rain to set off a flash flood. It's still one more thing to keep an eye on, though.

There will probably be several rounds of showers and storms this afternoon and tonight affecting different parts of the state at different times.  Storms will probably start to ramp up in New York State by early afternoon and spread eastward into Vermont.

Everybody will get rain, but there will be winners and losers. Some places will get a nice, needed soaking and a few places will get a pathetic light showering. It's a crap shoot that's impossible to predict in advance. I'm rooting for a nice drenching here in dusty St. Albans, Vermont.

All this will leave us with cooler and drier weather on Saturday. A second cold front will pass through Saturday evening. It will turn quite chilly for the opening days of June, as has been advertised for days now.

A few places might not get past 60 degrees for highs Sunday and Monday, which is a far cry from the 90s earlier this week.  Also, if there are clear skies on any of these nights, a few colder spots would be at a risk of frost.  Most of us will be fine, though.

All-Time Vermont Heat Record Could Fall Today

We can say it: Sure is hot out there!

Record heat and dry weather in St. Albans, Vermont on Tuesday.
May  is awfully early to need to start watering well-established
perennial beds, but that was the case in this very dry month.
Record heat is making the dryness worse. 

Several record highs fell in and around Vermont on Tuesday, and today could be even hotter.

First, here are some of Tuesday's records:

Burlington reached 92 degrees, tying a record set exactly a decade ago.  Montpelier also tied its decade old record of 87 degrees.

Elsewhere, Buffalo, New York reached 93 degrees, breaking the record of 88 set in 1944. Yesterday's 93 degrees was the hottest it's been in Buffalo on any date since July 4, 2018. Rochester, New York also set a record for the date of 93 degrees.

The quote, unquote low temperature in Burlington this morning was 72 degrees. If it stays above that level through midnight tonight, it will be the warmest "low" temperature for the month of May on record. The warmest low on record for May in Burlington is 70 degrees, on three dates in the past.  

Not only are temperatures here in Vermont starting out warmer in the morning than they did yesterday,  the atmosphere as a whole is a tiny bit warmer than it was on Tuesday.

This sets the stage for a possible real record setter.  The National Weather Service in Burlington early this morning was forecasting a high of 94 degrees in Burlington, today.  That would break the all time record for May of 93 degrees, set in 1977 and 2017.

Montpelier's all time May record of 90 degrees is also definitely threatened.

May heat waves have gotten more frequent in recent years.  Temperatures reached into the 90s in May of 2010,  2013, 2016, and 2017.

In 2017, it was 93 degrees in Burlington, tying that all time May high temperature that might be broken today.

The heat is exacerbating the dryness out there.  It's been 12 days since we've had any measurable rain. I found myself yesterday watering a well established perennial bed in May, the first time I've had to do that so early in the season.

Isolated thunderstorms could develop, especially over mountainous terrain today, but the vast majority of us won't see any rain.

The next good chance of rain is Friday and Friday night, when some cold fronts will come through.  There could be locallly  heavy rain with that, but the spots that get the heavy rain will probably be relativey few and far between. But all of us do have a shot of geting a least a little rain heading into the weekend.

By Sunday and Monday, temperatures will actually be fairly far below normal for early June.

Upcoming May Heat Wave Could Bring An Odd Weather Record

Like yesterday, more comparison photos. One of my frozen gardens
in St. Albans, Vermont on May 9, this year.,.........

Kudos to WPTZ-TV meteorologist Tyler Jankoski, who alerted us to one of those weird potential records that fascinate us weather geeks.

This is Vermont, afte rall, so there's been measurable snow in Burlington during several Mays in the 128 years of weather records there.

There have also been several Mays with temperatures of 90 degrees or hotter. But those two things have not happened during the same May in this past century and quarter.

Until likely this year. Barely, though.

On May 9 this year, 0.1 inches of snow accumulated at the official National Weather Service site in South Burlington. Now, there's a decent possibility that temperatures in Burlington could reach 90 degrees Tuesday, and possibly Wednesday and Thursday. That would be a new one for May!

I've been comparing this month a lot to May, 1977, when basically the same thing happened. It snowed in most of New England that year on May 9 - the same day of the month it snowed this year. However, Burlington only received a trace of snow in May, 1977, so it wasn't measurable there.

Same garden this morning as we ramp up toward 90 degree
heat later in the week. 

By May 21-23, 1977, the temperature was in the low 90s.  It was only one of two official May heat waves in Burlington. (It's officially a  heat wave in these parts if the temperature is 90 degrees or warmer on three or more consecutive days).

And on May 23, 1977 the temperature reached 93, to establish an all-time high temperature for the month of May.  That record was subsequently tied in 2017.

It's unclear whether we'll get three days in a row with 90 degree temperatures this upcoming week. It's even more doubtful we'll get to 93 degrees or past that, but you never know.

However, it's amazing how weather has repeated itself so precisely in May, 1977 and 2020.

I'm not sure I'm loving the idea of such hot weather already. Sure, I detested the snow earlier this month and have really enjoyed the sunny, warm, but not hot conditions over the past week.  It will turn more humid during the upcoming hot spell as well, so it will be uncomfortable.

Fortunately, it looks like we'll continue the pattern of May, 1977 this year. That year, in 1977, high temperatures cooled to the 60s and 70s during most of the final days of that month. Longer range forecasts suggest the same will happen this year.

Not that history will keep repeating itself - it probably won't - but the subsequent summer of 1977 was for the most part coolish except for one week of exceptional heat in mid-July that year.

Chilly Spring Around Here Is A Global Exception

Most of the world, with the exception of much of Canada and half
the United States was warm in April. It will be regarded as the
second warmest April on record for the world as a whole. 

It was another frosty morning in Vermont, the last of a string of them.

The warming trend has arrived in the Green Mountain State. But of course, this being 2020, it turns out the warming might be tamped down a bit by a stalled area of low pressure along the East Coast next week.

We'll see about that, but at least it won't be cold anymore. No more frosts, no more snow

While we here in the Northeast shivered through large chunks of April and the first half of May, the rest of the world broiled.

Global numbers for April are in and it was more or less tied for the hottest April on record, at least on a global basis.

NOAA's Centers for Environmental Information place April, 2020 as the second hottest on record, just an itty bitty skosh cooler than the record holder, April, 2016. Other measurements call last month THE hottest. All measurements basically come up with the same numbers for the month.

Central and eastern Canada, and the northeastern third of the United States were practically the only cool spots in the world during April.

As Bob Henson in Weather Underground's Category 6 blog points out, there were areas of incredible heat this past April.

Kyrgyzstan, China and Mongolia all set all time records for April heat.  Unseasonable wildfires ripped through eastern Siberia. Cuba reported all time record high temperatures, not just for April, but for the entire year. Southern Florida wilted in June-like heat.

The global temperature trends make it all but certain this year will globally be one of the top five warmest on record.

By the way, there is no discernable impact on carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now that much of the world's economy is shut down by Covid-19.  We are still spewing enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to increase concentrations of this main greenhouse gas.  It's just that the rate at which it's increasing in the atmosphere has probably slowed, for now at least.

Discover Magazine notes that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, as measured on top of Hawaii's Mauna Loa reached an all time high of 416.82 parts per million in April, which exceeds the previous high in April, 2019.  For a variety of reasons, carbon dioxide concentrations in the air cycle yearly, with an annual peak in April.

The International Energy Agency expects global carbon dioxide emissions to decrease by 8 percent this year, not enough, really, to significantly alter the forward path of climate change. Scientists are conducting flights around major cities along the East Coast to further study how these Covid shutdowns are affecting carbon emissions.

One intriguing thing to watch: Particulate polllution has decreased with these Covid-19 economic shutdowns. These little particles block a little bit of sunshine from getting through which has had the effect of tempering climate change a bit.

Will this year be hotter globally because of reduced particulate pollution, with more sun getting through?   Scientists are interested in finding out more, that's for sure.

Top Vermont Weather Events Of The Decade 2010a

An iconic, old Vermont house destroyed by Tropicql Storm
Irene in 2011.

I'm a little late to the game here, given it's a week into the new year, but here's my list of Vermont's top 10 weather events of the decade that just ended at basically one minute before midnight, December 31, 2019.

I'm interested to see what people will think of my ranking.  My list is surely colored by personal experience, where I was living in that decade in northwestern Vermont, and what made an impression on me.

So, here are my nominees and what happened during those rather momentous wather events.

1. Tropical Storm Irene Flood Disaster, August 28-29, 2011

Hurricane Irene, not the worst hurricane ever as it came ashore at Cape Lookout, North Carolina with top winds of 85 mph.

But as it made its way northward the next day, with its huge slug of wet air into New England, it unleashed torrential downpours on an already sodden Vermont, unleashing the state's worst weather disaster since the Great Flood of 1927.

In a few places, it was as bad or worse than 1927. For instance, my late father who was still around in 2011 an a lifelong resident of West Rutland,  said Irene's flood crest was a little lower in town than in 1927, but the Otter Creek in nearby Center Rutland was higher than in 1927.

By the time in reached Vermont and New Hampshire, Irene was "downgraded" to a tropical storm.  However, tropical systems moving inland often create serious floods. That was the case here.

Irene killed six Vermonters, which is terrible, of course. Yet in these times, weather warnings from the National Weather Service and elsewhere are terrific. This storm was warned well in advance, with strongly worded statements from the NWS.  Which left us a silver lining: People got out of the way, and the death toll was so much less than the 84 deaths in Vermont the 1927 caused.

Farmstand owners and workers and volunteers frantically try to save
pumpkins and other merchanes amid rapidlyu rising
Mad River waters in Waitsfield, Vermont during Tropical
Storm Irene, Auguist 28, 2011.

The statistics, courtesy of Vermont Businss Magazine,  are staggering.  More than 500 miles of state highways and 200 state bridges were wrecked. It cost about 200 million to fix that damage

More than 2,000 municipal road segments were damaged, as were 280 town bridges and 960 culverts.   In the immediate aftermath of the storm, thirteen towns were without passable roads leading in and out of town.

The resilience of Vermonters shined bright during and immediately after the disaster. Volunteers arrived in droves to the hardest hit towns and mucked out muddy basements, cleaned houses, cleared debris, and offered food, money, supplies and moral support in droves.

By the time Vermont's all important fall foliage season arrived about six weeks after Irene, most roads were open, and much of the state looked like it was back to its old self, even as flood victims quietly continued trying to pick up the pieces.

One terrific example of this came on the Rachel Maddow show just under three weeks after Irene.  She showed what wiped-out Route 4 in Mendon looked like the immediate aftermath of Irene, and what a marvelous job construction crews did rebuilding it in less than three weeks.

2. Spring Flooding April-June, 2011

Lamoille River floodwaters cascade through trees near Fairfax,
Vermont during severe flooding in April, 2011.

The year 2011 was really the year of the flood in Vermont. A few months before Irene, in February and March, snow lay deep in Vermont, especially in higher elevations.

A  record large snowstorm in early March didn't help.  Water content in the snow was exceptionally high.

Minor flooding began in late March, and waxed and waned throughout the spring. On Vermont rivers, the worst flooding came on April 26-27 and on May 26 and 27.  Meanwhile, through all this, Lake Champlain reached record, destructive flood levels. More on that in a minute.

The first high flood, on April 26-27, was part of the same storm system that caused arguably the nation's worst tornado outbreak on record in the southeastern third of the nation.

Here, unseasonable waves of thunderstorms, some borderline severe, dumped heavy rain atop of snow that was still deep in the higher elevations. The melting was fast because of mild temperatures in the 50s and 60s. By early morning on April 27, the Lamoille River reached its fourth highest level on record, causing damaging floods along the river from above Johnson down through Milton.

The second wave of flooding struck as part of a severe weather outbreak on May 26-27.  The National Weather Service in South Burlington described the storms as a parade of mini-super cells that trecked across northern New York and through central and northern Vermont.

The storms prompted some tornado warnings in central Vermont, but none were known to have touched down. Baseball sized hail was reported at Duxbury,

Overnight on the 26th, the storms jelled into a train of storms that dumped up to seven inches of rain on central Vermont. This led to serious flooding, especially in the Winooski River Valley from Plainfield all the way to Lake Champlain.  Barre and Montpelier were especially hard hit, with numerous buildings damaged and roads wiped out.

Five to seven inches of rain fell on saturated soil in a band from around Barre to near St. Johnsbury, causing the extensive floods.

The series of floods inland over Vermont and New York during the spring of 2011 caused easily the worst flood on record for Lake Champlain.

At Burlington, Lake Champlain reached a record crest of 103.2 feet on May 6, 2011 easily exceeding the previous record of 102.1 feet in 1869.  

Camps destroyed by record Lake Champain flooding in May, 2011.

An estimated 500 Vermont homes were severely damaged by the flooding.  Extensive damage was reported in New York and especially southern Quebec.

In Quebec, the Richelieu River is the main outlet for Lake Champlain.  With the lake at record high levels, that river inevitably reached record high levels, too, flooding hundreds of homes.

Lake Champlain is a pretty big lake, so strong winds can stir up some big waves. Much of the destruction was caused by large, battering waves striking the shore.

The spring flooding helped set the stage for Irene a few months later.  The soil was still very soggy by June, and continued rains during the summer kept it that way. Then Irene's rains came.

Flood, Wind Storm October 31-November 1, 2019

Winooski River in Winooski, Vermont in high flood,
November 1, 2019.

This was probably Vermont's most destructive storm since Tropical Storm Irene.  After a very rainy October that saturated soils, a strong storm passed northeastward across the eastern Great Lakes into Quebec.  

This put Vermont into the warm side of the storm, the side in which deep tropical moisture rode northward from the Gulf of Mexico.

On Halloween night, the storm dumped three to five inches of rain across the northern half of Vermont in just a few hours, creating flash floods that damaged or destroyed dozens of culverts and road segments. Many homes were damaged as well.

In Burlington, 3.30 inches of rain fell as temperatures reached a record high of 71 degrees late in the evening of October 31.  Streets flooded, stalling cars. A landslide off Riverside Avenue nearly took a couple buildings with it.

Sections of two rivers in northern Vermont - the Lamoille and Missisquoi - reached record crests, flooding more buildings.

Behind the storm on November 1, strong west winds gusting as high as 65 mph cut power to?????  homes and caused damaged to roofs, other structures and trees.

3. March, 2017 Pi Day Storm 

Stuck cars amid near zero visibility during the Pi Day blizzard
of March 14, 2017.

An easy contender for one of the most intense snowstorms in Vermont history hit on March 14, 2017.

 The so-called Pi Day Storm (because it hit on Pi (3.14) dumped more than 30  inches of snow in parts of northwestern Vermont and New York.

Burlington's snow total reached 30.4 inches, which is the second deepest snowstorm on record and easily the biggest March snowstorm on record for the Queen City.

During the afternoon of March 14, snow fell at the rate of up to five inches per hour.  A foot of snow fell in Burlington in just over four hours. People who were foolhardy enough to go to work that morning pretty much could not drive home that late afternoon.

Thankfully, the storm was well-forecast by the National Weather Service, so most people had hunkered down at home to wait the storm out.

Also, the snow was relatively dry and powdery, so there were no issues with power lines and trees.

Even so, the western half of the state basically shut down during the blizzard.

4. May 2013 Flood and Snow, With More flooding June, July 2013

If you look  carefully you can see a swimming pool  beneath muddy
flash flood water on July 4, 2013. This storm was toward
the end of a nearly two-month siege of heavy rain
and flooding in Vermont. 

Vermont got locked into an incredibly wet pattern in mid-May of 2013, and it turned out to be something we couldn't shake until we got well into July.

The result was repeated flash floods and incredibly wet soil conditions that took a toll on farming throughout the state.

The rains came around the third week in May. Burlington received a whopping 7.47 inches of rain in the six days ending May 26. That's twice the normal amount for the entire month. Rainfall of that intensity was common in the northern half of the state during this period.

On May 21 through 23, the heavy rain came in the form of thunderstorms, some of which formed into a train of repeated storms over north-central Vermont.

The result was a swath of flash flood damage in northwestern Vermont, especially around Underhill and Cambridge.

On May 25, unusually cold air swept in and changed rain to snow at mid and high elevations, leading to some incredible snow totals for so late in the season. It was Memorial Day weekend, after all.

The summit of Whiteface Mountain, New York was buried beneath 30 inches of snow. In Vermont, Jay Peak had 18 inches, and the summit of Mount Mansfield had 13.2 inches.  At lower elevations in Vermont, Walden reported six inches,  Greensboro, 4.5 inches, Topsham, 3.5 inches and Troy, two inches.

Repeated flash flooding continued through June and into early July.  The floods would hit individual towns here and there through the period as the rest of the state endured continued soggy conditions.

In late June, a torrential thunderstorm flooded a several mile stretch of southbound Interstate 89 in Williston and Richmond and caused other property damage in northwestern Vermont.

Huntington was hit hard on July 3 On July 4, more flash flooding caused additional extensive damage, especially to local roads in an area centered around Jericho, Underhill and Richmond.

Total rainfall in June at Burlington amounted to 9.86 inches, which was just 0.06 inches shy of the wettest June on record. Essex Junction reporte 10.48 inches for the month.

5. July 4, 2012 Storms

Flooding in Burlington, Vermont after a very severe thunderstorm
on July 4, 2012.

Two severe storm complexes moved southeastward across parts of Vermont on the afternoon and evening of July 4 causing widespread wind damage and some flash flooding.

A third storm, a supercell, caused damage in northwestern New York that afternoon.

In Vermont, the first storm complex of the day formed near the Quebec border just north of Jay Peak and moved into the Northeast Kingdom during the mid-afternoon.

Strong straight line winds caused lots of tree damage throughout much of that area. Winds gusted to 70 mph in Walden.

The second, more serious storm complex formed southwest of Montreal and traveled southwestward down the Champlain Valley. The storms arrived just before planned fireworks festivities and other events, sending people scrambling for cover. Luckily, storm warnings were both timely and strongly worded, so no serious injuries were reported.

The storms did pack probably the strongest punch for a storm since the extreme severe storm outbreak and Colchester EF-2 tornado of 1983.  Winds hit 75 mph at Diamond Island, 70 mph in Colchester and 63 mph in Burlington.

There was widespread tree and power line damage. The storm produced intense rains. That caused flash flooding that damaged several buildings in and near downtown Burlington and stranded some cars. Nearly 1.4 inches of rain fell in Burlington in less than an hour.

6. December, 2014 Snow

A very wet, heavy and deep snowstorm struck Vermont in mid-December dumped six to 20 inches of snow that was basically the consistency of wet cement.  Damage was especially heavy in parts of Rutland County and the Champlain Valley.

The storm was considered by some the most destructive to Vermont's power lines since either Tropical Storm Irene or the Great Ice Storm of 1998.

7. Southwest Vermont Supercell, May, 2014

This is likely one of the most damaging single thunderstorm on record in Vermont (Outbreaks of many thunderstorms on the same day across Vermont were likely costlier).

The supercell thunderstorm developed in the southeastern Adirondacks around 2:30 p.m and barreled southeastward across Addison and Rutland counties before weakening in southeastern Vermont tha evening.

The storm produced a roughly three to four mile wide, 40 to 50 mile long stripe of hail and wind damage, with wind gusts to 74 mph near Bridport and very damaging hail, some golf ball sized or larger, especially in and around Rutland and Proctor.

8. Hot March, 2012

Vermont was affecting in what was very likely the nation's biggest March heat wave. The record heat extended from the northern Plains to the East Coast and on up into southeastern Canada.

Temperatures were as high as 84 in Montpelier, which tied the statewide record high for the month of March. It was 83  in Springfield and Union Village Dam. It wss 81 degrees up in the Northeast Kingdom in St. Johnsbury

Burlington had daily highs of 76. 79.80,81 and 81 on March 18-22. The month was a whopping 12.6 degrees above normal.

9. Hot February, 2017

Unprecedented springlike heat reached Vermont in late February, 2017 establishing some incredible new monthly records. On February 25, Burlington reached 72 degrees, beating the monthly record by a full nine degrees. (That record had been set just two days earlier.).  The 72 in both Burlington and Bennington established a new statewide record high for February.

10. Cold February, 2015

Winters have trended mild most of the time in Vermont over the past decade. However, a big exception was February, 2015.

Burlington ended the month 13.9 degrees colder than normal, enough to be the ?/coldest February on record. Sixteen of the 28 days were below zero.

Also Rans

There are other contenders for the top 10 weather events of the decade. Some that come to mind are the record hot summer of 2018, that killed six Vermonters. That's the one that maybe really should have been on the list.

Other biggies are the March 6-7 storm of 2011, which I briefly mentioned. It caused some flooding with heavy rain, which turned to heavy snow to the tune of two feet in northern Vermont.

Others include a severe storm outbreak in May, 2012 which included one tornado; dense smoke in Vermont on May 31, 2010 due to Quebec wildfires; Burlington's deepest single snowstorm, 33.1 inches as the decade opened on Jan 2-3, 2010; destructive ice jams and flooding, in January, 2018; severe thunderstorms and wind damage on July 8, 2014; and the supercells in northwestern Vermont and severe thunderstorms elsewhere on May 4, 2018.

Burning Wood In Vermont: Climate Change Friend Or Foe?

The McNeil wood burning electric generating plant in Burlington.
Photo by Bear Cieri, via Seven Days.

A lot of Vermonters burn wood to stay warm in the winter.  It's kind of a tradition, really.

In the age of climate change, is this a good idea? On the one hand, wood is renewable.  Chop down trees for firewood and new trees grow back.

But the new trees are at least temporarily smaller.  And if the rate we chop down trees exceeds new growth, that's not carbon neutral.  Wood burning also emits other pollutants, especially particulates, which are a health hazard.

All this means there's two sides to looking at this. Inside Climate News collaborated with the Weather Channel recently took a pretty deep dive into Vermont's wood burning culture.

About a quarter of us Vermonters use wood as their primary heating source. Vermont touts wood burning as a way to cut the use of fuels that worsen climate change.

"With the capabilities to burn wood that we have now, with sophisticated equipment, it's our local homegrown renewable energy source," Emma Hanson, the wood energy coodinator at the state Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation, as quoted by Inside Climate News and the Weather Channel.

We Vermonters are smug about our wood burning, too. Aren't we special and carbon neutral because we burn renewable stuff instead of fossil fuels. We're doing our part for climate change, right?

Maybe. Does burning wood in Vermont really ease climate change in some small way or make it a bit worse?

The conclusions I draw from this Inside Climate News/Weather Channel collaboration is that it depends. If you maintain the percent of the state covered by forest and don't cut down too many trees, it's probably close to carbon neutral.  That's especially true of a lot of wood pellets are made from sawmill waste instead of trees cut down just to burn for heat.

But the news collaboration says that black carbon and methane are also released when burning wood, so that makes things not exactly carbon neutral.

By the way, we burn a LOT of wood.  When the McNeil electric generating plant in Burlington goes full tilt, it can burn 76 tons of wood in an hour, according to Seven Days.  Much of that wood is recycled from discarded wood pallets and Christmas trees, but a lot comes from logging operations, too.

Hardwood trees go off to sawmills for furniture and lumber, but the limbs and bad tree trunks go in the chipper and are shipped to McNeil and other wood-burning electric generating plants.

By the way, the Seven Days article from October is a very good read, a nice deep dive that weighs the good and the bad of Vermont's wood burning and how it relates to climate change

There is one more problem with burning wood.  It releases fine particulates in the air, which of course is a form of pollution.  Emissions from wood stoves, and especially pellet furnances have gotten much more efficient and much less polluting than in years past, but they still emit pollution.

In the winter, we often have inversions, in which cold air is trapped in valleys and warm air aloft forms a lid over that cold air.  Which means wood stove emissions in that valley just sit in air within that valley, and air quality gets worse and worse until the inversion breaks and winds can blow that yucky air away.

There are sometimes air pollution alerts in Vermont during the winter, especially around Rutland, which sits in a bowl shaped valley. Emissions from both cars and wood stoves makes the air there unhealthy sometimes.

Yes, Vermont is being all nice and "renewable" when it comes to burning wood, but it's certainly not perfect.  Of course, it is hard to find alternatives that don't cause some harm.  At least we're not all using coal to heat our homes, right?