Sunday's Squirt Of Hot Air Will Be Nasty

The middle of the nation is still broiling under a relentless heat wave, and a squirt of that very hot air looks like it will make it to Vermont on Sunday.    

The color shading on this map has most of New England outside of
Maine in the 95-100 degree range Sunday afternoon. Click on
the image to make it bigger and easier to see.  If you look
closely, this particular map has a foreast high of 99 degrees
in Burlington, Vermont. We shall see. 

The good news is the hot air will be flushed out by a cold front by Monday, though it won't exactly be "cold" behind said weather front. 

Temperatures here will remain above normal, but  not torrid, like the kind of weather expected in parts of the Plains and South, and below the Mason-Dixon Line along the East Coast.  

A warm front passed through yesterday, with disappointingly light showers in the morning.  We had a gorgeous evening, though, but the warm to hot air is now being established.  Today will be definitely on the warm side, with highs well into the 80s, with a few spot 90 degree readings in the warmer valleys.

Tonight, especially in the Champlain Valley where a south wind will prevent radiational cooling, it will be on the stuffy side.  I imagine the "low" temperature in Burlington tomorrow morning will be around 75 degrees or so.

All the ingredients are coming together for a very hot Sunday. Temperatures through a thick layer of the atmosphere will be at near record high values. 

For the Champlain Valley, the wind will be coming out of the southwest.  It'll come down the slope of the Adirondacks in that scenario.  Air flowing down the slopes of a mountain gets compressed, which heats it.  

As usual, the air column over us does get cooler with height.  But at around 8,000 feet overhead, says the National Weather Service there will be another layer of warm air which would prevent any cooling thunderstorms to develop on Sunday. 

If you want to cool off, here's a photo of cars stuck on the hill near
my St. Albans, Vermont house during a March, 2017 blizzard

Taken together, all this means an we should endure an expected high in the mid to upper 90s in the Champlain Valley on Sunday and highs of 88 to 95 in pretty much the rest of Vermont. 

One or two models or forecasts I've seen predict a high of 100 degrees in Burlington Sunday. I suppose that's possible, but I see it as pretty unlikely. 

To nobody's surprise, a big chunk of Vermont and surrounding areas is under a heat advisory on Sunday, so take it easy!  Do your outdoor work very early in the morning, and retreat to air conditioning if possible by afternoon.  Have your nice drinks of water or other refreshing non-alcoholic beverage handy, too.

I'm saying non-alcoholic, not because I'm on some sort of temperance movement. It's just that alcohol can exascerbate the effects of heat. 

The only saving grace regarding the heat tomorrow is that the air will mix in the lowest several thousand feet of the atmosphere. That will tend to lower the humidity just a bit for a time in the afternoon. And most of us will have a steady breeze, instead of having to endure still, hot air 

The record high in Burlington Sunday is 98 degrees set in 2013.  That's a pretty high record, so it will be tough to beat. Montpelier's record high for the date on Sunday is 92 degrees, so that one is in jeopardy. St. Johnsbury's record high is 95 degrees, so we'll see about that. 

That cold front is coming through later Sunday night or early Monday.  The timing is such that we probably won't see any severe thunderstorms with it.  Any rain that does fall Sunday night or early Monday will unfortunately be only scattered a brief.

A few spots might get a decent dousing from some embedded downpours, but this won't be any kind of widespread rain. 

Behind the cold front, it will be dry and only a little warmer than average for the first half of the week. Other weather disturbances give us a risk of some showers later in the week but temperatures will still remain mostly in the low 80s for highs.  So that's not terrible. 

Flash Flood In A Drought? Happens Often, Actually. Even Here In Vermont

Flash flooding in Burlington, Vermont back in 2012. Very localized
flash flooding can occur even during very dry conditions,
if the downpour is torrential enough. 

I've been whining since at least May about how dry it is here in Vermont and surrounding areas.

Despite a bit of recent rain, the southern half of Vermont is in a moderate drought, while the northern half is abnormally dry, not quite a drought, according to the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor. 

So why does the subject of flash flooding keeping popping up during this weather regime?

The reason: Tis the season for local downpours. It's the summer doldrums, when the humidity is highest and scattered thunderstorms often move very slowly, or sometimes not at all.

The best way to end a drought or a dry spell is to get an area wide, steady, soaking rain.  A torrential downpour will mostly just run off.

We've seen that a few times already this summer in Vermont.  The more intense thunderstorm rains can overwhelm the drainage in a particular area pretty quickly.  Plus, if the thunderstorm parks itself over a particular spot for an hour or two instead of moving on as usual, the rain can get pretty extreme.

We saw some flash flooding around Starksboro in late June from a stalled thunderstorm while surrounding towns remained dry.  I spotted some minor flash flooding in downtown St. Albans during last week's thunderstorms.  A flash flood warning went up very early Sunday morning for a small area of the Adirondacks due to a pocket of heavy rains.

You'll get a situation where it  rains so hard and so fast in one town that there's washouts and high water on small streams.  Meanwhile, two towns away, people are watering their dusty, wilting gardens.

The reason I bring all this up today is that, interestingly, the National Weather Service's daily Excessive Rain Outlook puts almost all of Vermont and New Hampshire, northern New York, western Maine and central New England in a slight risk zone for flash flooding over the next 24 hours.

A slight risk zone means there's a 10 to 20 percent chance of rainfall heavy enough to trigger flash flooding within 25 miles of any point within the slight risk zone.

These risk levels are akin to severe thunderstorm risks. Both are a five point scale going from marginal, to slight, to elevated, to moderate to high risk. So Vermont is at level two of a five point scale later today and tonight.

As the slight risk implies, there might well be no flash flooding. Based on current forecasts, there might be a few areas in Vermont that actually get  no rain at all between now and tomorrow.

Most of us will see some showers and storms as an upper level disturbance moves slowly into the region.  Moisture will feed into this from the southeast, forecasters are telling us. Also, an upper level disturbance consists of a pool of colder air aloft, so the temperature contrast will increase between ground level and several thousand feet above of us. That encourages showers to form.

If any locally torrential rains develop at all, I bet any instances of that would be isolated at most. The forward motion of the showers and storms will be slow, which is why there's that slight risk guidance on flash floods.

While the the National Weather Service's  U.S. level guidance has that slight risk of a pocket or two of flash flooding around here, the local office of the National Weather Service in South Burlington is less bullish with the idea.

The local office definitely has showers and a few isolated thunderstorms in the forecast today thruogh Tuesday, there's no mention of torrential rains. The South Burlington office of the NWS in this morning's forecast discussion correctly describes the expected showers as beneficial, as we definitely need the rain.

The bottom line: Most of us should see some rains in the next 24 hours that won't amount to anything too spectacular.  There's a low risk somebody could get unlucky with too much water.

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.

A Few Of My Favorite Thunderstorms

A thunderstorm looms over an Addison County,
Vermont farm house in 2013

It's one of those lazy days of summer in which I don't feel like doing much, or thinking about anything.

Since there's a chance of scattered thunderstorms late this afternoon and evening, I'm just going to throw up a few of my favorite Vermont thunderstorm photos in recent years.

We tend not to get those super dramatic storms like in the Great Plains and Midwest, but Vermont summer storms are impressive, but maybe in a more subdued, artistic fashion

Today's storms are unlikely to be severe, but they might be on the strong side in a couple places. They might even approach severe limits east of the Green Mountains, but those would be very few and far between.

If these storms develop, and it it IS an if, I hope they'll at least be photogenic, like past storms I've seen.

Very likely you've seen them before, but they're worth another look.  Click on each image to make them bigger and easier to see.

I'll even throw in a video at the bottom of this post.

So here we go:

A distant thunderstorm at sunset a few years ago.
Thie photo was taken in St. Albans, Vermont.
The storm was in northern Addison County,
Vermont, so quite a ways away. 

A menacing shelf cloud over St. Albans Bay, Vermont, July 2013.

Chaotic skies over St. Albans, Vermont May, 2014

Starksboro, Vermont, June 2015

Developing thunderstorm looking west from St. Albans, Vermont
July, 2016

A thunderhead north of St. Albans, Vermont creates a profile
portrait, July, 2019

Developing thunderstorm at sunset, June 2020

Now a video: One of the most intense, favorite thunderstorms I've experienced, July 4, 2012. I feel bad for the dude on the bicycle 18-19 seconds in:

Nation's Flash Flood Season Is In Full Swing

A flash flood near St. Albans, Vermont in 2014.  A stalled thunderstorm
caused this one. 

Now that we are full on into summer, the peak of severe thunderstorm season has passed, but we're into what I regard as peak flash flood season.

We can and do often get severe storms and tornadoes in the United States through the summer. But big outbreaks of severe weather are now less common.  That's because there are no - or at least few - big storm systems with immense clashes of cold and hot/humid air to generate tornado barrages.

Instead, smaller weather fronts and weak low pressure areas meander sluggishly, or sometimes not move at all through much of the rest of summer.

There's usually plenty of very humid air to work with around these weak, slow moving systems. The result is torrential downpours.

If these downpours don't last super long, this is a good thing, as it keeps crops and gardens watered down, and tamps down the risk of wildfires. Often, though, you can get several inches of rain in just a couple hours. And these downpours sometimes tend to linger in one place, compounding the trouble.

Many of the culprits behind these flash floods, especially in the middle of the nation, are caused by something called Mesoscale Convective Systems, or MCS's. 

These are huge complexes of thunderstorms that regularly develop late in the day somewhere in the Plains or Midwest and continue on all night.

These things are very common in the summer and all things considered, have a lot of benefits. They keep the corn belt well watered during the critical growing season.

Some of the storms are really intense in these MCS's though. They can dump tremendous amounts of rain in a short period of time and cause almost daily pockets of flash flooding in the summer.

Yesterday, an MCS caused flash flooding east of St. Paul, Minnesota.  This morning, one is causing flash floods in Illinois. 

Other areas of flash flooding could develop today and tomorrow in parts of North Dakota, Kentucky,  and mountainous areas of Idaho and western Montana.  Flash flood risks are usually scattered in random fashion like this during the summer in the United States.

Slow moving cold or warm fronts, or stationary fronts, can also unleash flash floods. In these cases, thunderstorms move along the same path, one after another, over the same area like boxcars passing by on train tracks.

These are called training storms literally because they resemble a train moving down the tracks.

Weak low pressure systems can also cause cause flash flooding by generating showers and thunderstorms rotating over the same area. Early season tropical storms can cause similar problems.

Even areas that are drier than normal - and in drought - are prone to flash flooding this time of year. If it rains hard enough, creeks, streams and river can become overwhelmed with runoff, as can city streets where the storm drains can't handle the deluge.

Most of Vermont is now in drought or at least abnormally dry.  But an area of thunderstorms prompted flood advisories in some sections of southeastern Vermont yesterday.  And there's a marginal risk - very slight - of flash flooding today in much of Vermont today and tomorrow due to the risk of slow moving storms.

As is typical with most flash floods, any risk in Vermont would be limited to very localized areas, while surrounding areas just a few miles away stay relatively dry.

Climate change is probably worsening flash floods and making them more frequent.  A warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapor.  That means more water is available for downpours when something triggers a storm, such as a stalled front or MCS.

The resulting downpours are heavier than they otherwise would be, so the flooding is worse. And more frequent.

Vermont, like many mountainous areas, is especially prone to flash floods because a stalled thunderstorm over the Green Montains can send torrents of water down the slopes, ripping away roads, bridges and sometimes houses.

Also, our small urban areas can become flash flood zones during heavy thunderstorms.  Some nasty ones have happened in Burlington in July, 2012 and in Rutland in 2009.

At least some localized flash flooding happens in Vermont almost every year. Even dry ones.

So while we pray for continued rains this dry summer, let's just hope it won't be too much of a good thing.

"Pulse" Storms Make For Gorgeous Summer Skies

A small, isolated storm formed over the Adirondacks around
sunset last evening, as seen looking toward the southwest
from St. Albans, Vermont. 

One of the many things I like about summer is the sky is far more interesting and beautiful than in the winter.

Summer is the time of year when scattered showers and thunderstorms are more likely, without those dreary, boring overcast skies that come in the colder seasons.

Such was the case last evening when isolated thunderstorms erupted over mountainous terrain of northern Vermont and the Adirondacks of New York.

These dramatic looking, but usually harmless and brief thunderstorms often form during these hot, humid days.

There's really no weather systems to create updrafts that would form organized lines of clusters of long lasting storms.    But the atmosphere in these conditions is primed for storms, if only there were a trigger.

That trigger is the mountains. The strong June sun helps creates updrafts that also help cause light local breezes.  If things line up just right, one of these breezes hits a mountain slope and is forced to rise.

That breeze going up the side of a mountain can be just enough to trigger a storm.  That upslope breeze becomes a rapidly rising column of air, which forms almost immediately into a towering thunderstorm, the kind we saw here and there last evening. They go from nothing to immense, often in just minutes

Since these clouds are so tall, they can be seen from very far away. People in the Burlington area saw a gorgeous white tower erupt to the northeast early Friday evening. That storm was near Greensboro, almost 50 miles away as the crow flies.

Beautiful isolated storm last evening in
northern Vermont. Photo via Twitter
by Charlie of Mystery Springs
@SlowWaterMvmnt

Unlike in some hot spells, when haze obscures the best views, the skies Friday were more clear, making the beautiful storms more striking.  They were isolated, so looking east, the low angle sun turned the clouds brilliant white, surrounded by a deep blue background.

Some lucky bastard up near Greensboro was probably treated to a brief downpour for their garden, and maybe a lightning strike or two.

These so-called "pulse" storms die pretty much as fast as they form.  Remember, there's no real weather system, or cold front, or boundary to continue the updraft.

Once they move beyond that mountain that caused the initial updraft in the first place, the storm collapses. The process from initiation to dissipation can take less than an hour.

I did say these pulse storms are usually harmless. But there is one moment - when they're dying - when they can become momentarily dangerous.  The storm collapses, often in a very localized gush of wind and heavy rain.

This collapse could become a very local microburst, in which wind is strong enough to cause damage in a very small area.  One end of a street might have fallen trees from this type, while a mile away, there was just a gentle breeze.

Timing out these collapses is hard, and since they're so local and quick, they're often over and done with by the time the National Weather Service can issue a storm warning.

On some occasions, a pulse storm can keep forming in the same location all afternoon and evening, and just not move. In those cases, you can get a small area of dangerous flash flooding while immediate surrounding areas remain dry.

These two hazards only sometimes happen. More often than not, a pulse storm will quickly collapse and die with no danger involved. That's why they're called pulse storms. They quickly form, then quickly fade. It was just a quick pulse.

After we lost the Greensboro storm last evening, a couple others formed in the Adirondacks, contributing to a gorgeous sunset as the orange light lit up the towering clouds to our west and south.

If you missed these beautiful storms last night, not to worry. The weather pattern is kind of stuck in this hot, humid, still and featureless set up.  This will favor more scattered, slow moving and brief "pulse" storms today, Sunday and Monday.

They tend to start forming in the early to mid afternoon on these hot days, and fade with the setting sun.  The storms tend to avoid large valleys, so we in the dusty Champlain Valley will just be bystanders, begging in vain for just a little rain from these brief showers.

A weak cold front will approach us during the upcoming mid to late week.  That will provide enough forcing for more sustained, and somewhat more widespread showers and storms starting perhaps on Tuesday and continuing into Wednesday.

Don't Count On Summer Warmth To Squelch Coronavirus

Coronavirus has spread to most nations (blue shading) and will
continue to envelope the world  Viruses often wane in the
 summer, but don't count on that with th coronavirus. 

As all of us know, the coronavirus pandemic we're enduring is much worse than seasonal flu we get every year.  Many more people will die from this than the regular flu, which is why we are all in a panic.

This virus has some simularities to the flu virus though.  The usual flu the world gets every year tends to wane in the summer, as warm weather seems to hinder its spread.  That begs the question: Will we get a similar warm weather break with the coronavirus?

The answer seems to be: Don't count on it, but maybe. Even if it does wane in the summer, that won't solve our problems.

As National Geographic reports, recent research indicates many viruses are more likely to stay intact and travel further in cold, dry air.  These viruses tend not to spread well in warm, humid air.   Some scientists think that low humidity, - you know the dry indoor air we deal with in the winter - makes mucus in the nose function less efficiently.

That mucus helps block viruses and bacteria from getting into your body, and the cold air might weaken that barrier, National Geographic notes. 

Additionally, summer tends to be sunnier than winter, and viruses usually don't do well in sunshine.

Of course, summer doesn't give complete protection from viruses. People still get sick in the summer.

This conronavirus now torturing us is new, so scientists really don't know whether it will wane in the upcoming warm weather in late spring and summer.  We are totally NOT off the hook, I can tell you that.

The current pandemic is seen around the world, including the Southern Hemisphere, where summer is just ending. (Actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson recently announced they have the virus, and they caught it in summertime Australia).

It's unclear if the coronavirus will get worse in the Southern Hemisphere as their winter sets in.  The bottom line is scientists really don't know if the coronavirus will wax and wane with the seasons.  Plus, viruses circulate all year in the hot, humid tropics, so summer isn't exactly a disinfectant.

Dr. Marc Lipsitch, Director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, writes that  "new" viruses like the current coronavirus have an advantage.  Pretty much nobody is immune to it,  unlike "old" viruses that have been circulating for years.

New viruses can jump from host to host, person to person freely, without any interference from warm summer weather.  The new viruses like the one in the current pandemic have plenty of low hanging fruit to seize.

Older viruses, not so much.  Lipsitch writes: "Old viruses, which have been in the population longer, operate on a thinner margin - most individuals are immune, and they have to make do with transmitting among a few who aren't. In simple terms, viruses that have been around for a long time can make a living - spreading through the population - only when the conditions are the most favorable, in this case, in winter."

Even if summer gives us a slight break from the coronavirus,  it could easily come roaring back in the autumn.

Jeffrey Shaman, a Columbia University researcher on the flu-weather connection thinks that the virus will continue to rapidly expand in the United States and elsewhere through the month of April, and might finally start to decline in late May or June. This, according to a report by Bob Henson in the Category 6 Weather Underground blog. 

It we get lucky and the coronavirus does wane in the summer, that buys us a little time to get a handle on it. But even so, it would probably come roaring back in the autumn, before humanity has had a chance to develop a vaccine and innoculate people around the world.

One ominous precedent, according to Henson in the Category 6 blog, was the great pandemic of 1918. Sporadic cases popped up in March of that year, but seemed to subside.  Then the pandemic roared to life, killing 195,000 Americans in just the span of a month in October, 2018.  The pandemic would go on to kill many more.

Whether or not this coronavirus ends up being a seasonal thing, a lot of scientists say it's here to stay, and will circulate around the globe perhaps forever, always sickening and killing people.  That's why it's so important to develop a vaccine against this thing to limit the damage and prevent the vast majority of the world from continuing to all victim to the disease year after year.

Scientists are working intensely to develop a vaccine, but one that works is more than a year away, likely more than that.

I don't offer this report just because I want to scare people. It's just to tell you we are in this for the long haul.  Keep washing your hands, folks, and keep up the social isolation.

Yesterday's Cold Front Was Beginning Of End Of Summer

Won't be long until things start looking like this.

I was miserable working outside late Thursday morning in Burlington, Vermont. The air was still with no wind, the humidity was horrendous and sweat was pouring off of me with the intensity of a downpour, I swear.

Suddenly, a breeze pushed in from the west and the humidity vanished almost instantaneously. A cold front had arrived. The dew point, a measure of how humid it is, dropped from an oppressive 66 degrees to a comfortable 54 degrees in just an hour.

I continued to work - much happier now - well into the afternoon. It's amazing how a shot of cooler air can help one's ambitious.

Cold fronts and bouts of lower humidity always come through Vermont during the summer. This one, though, felt like the first hint that summer will end.

Oh sure, there will be more warm to hot days as we finish out August and head into September.  And the humidity will eventually creep back up again. But the average temperature is now falling with shorter days. We'll be getting into what Vermonters call "fair weather."  Kinda even today and tomorrow.

Fair weather is not necessarily the sunny skies the term implies, but in this case the skies will be mostly blue.

Fair weather is that kind of in-between temperature you get in late August and early September when it's not really warm, but not really cool. You wear a t-shirt in the afternoon and snuggle into a hoodie in the evening. This kind of weather comes when local fairs do their annual runs, hence the term.

In this case, the next few days will feature highs in the low to mid 70s under mostly to partly sunny skies. Nights will get into the 40s in many areas. Bring those sweaters and hoodies with you!

You can see other signs of the changing seasons. Some of the weaker sugar maples show hints of color, a preview to the big annual foliage show nature puts on every year.

This has been the second summer in a row in which cold fronts have been lacking in Vermont. It's been consistently toasty.

There are summers in which we feel cheated out of them. You know, the ones where it never seems to get hot, and always rains.

This summer and last featured plenty of true summer weather. I usually feel wistful when "fair weather" hits, confirming that summer is ending. But we had our share this year. I'm ready for autumn.

Arctic Summer Has Been Too Much Like What We Normally Get

X marks the spot where the North Pole is on this map. Red box
points to where there was lightning recently. 

Time to check in once again to the not-so-Great White North, meaning the Arctic, which continues to have an extraordinarily hot summer.

You've seen some posts this summer noting how hot it is up there, but the news keeps coming. Alaska beach weather. Arctic wildfires. Summer thunderstorms rattling around the North Pole.

This in an area that is normally bleak and chilly despite the usual 24-hour a day sun in the first half of summer.

LIGHTNING NEAR NORTH POLE

Here in Vermont, we endured lightning strikes every summer.  That's just normal this time of year around here. But recently. lightning was also striking within 300 miles of the North Pole, which is really something.

In general, if you want a thunderstorm, it's fine to have cold, dry air aloft, but you need relatively warm, humid air near the surface.  We get that here in Vermont in the summer, so we have thunderstorms. As does pretty much everybody else in the mid-latitudes.

The Arctic has always had plenty of cold, dry air around. But warmth and humidity, at least compared to what it normally is up there, is usually scarce. Which means so are thunderstorms.

It's possible there has been lightning that far north before, but nobody that I've found knows of it. And one thunderstorm doesn't prove climate change. But this is odd. And warm.

It does make sense that lightning could become more common in the Arctic. There are signs it already is getting more frequent.  When the Arctic ocean is more ice covered, that stabilizes and chills the air, squelching any attempts at the billowing clouds that can produce lightning.

When there's open water, it can collect more heat, creating rising air currents and produce thunderstorms under the right conditions. Arctic sea ice is at its lowest level on record for this time of year, so it's kinda not surprising they had a weird thunderstorm up there.

The thunderstorms occurred in an area that was frozen over. But open water was just 150 miles away. The storms apparently got going there, over the open water, then moved north. 

ALASKA HEAT UPDATE

The ever helpful Category 6 weather and climate blog has given us a nice update on this summer in Alaska, which statewide, was the hottest on record.

The records are incredible, but the town that takes the cake in my opinion is Kotzebue, along the coast in northwestern Alaska. May, June and July there were the hottest on record. They have not had a single cooler than normal day since February 14! The last time Kotzebue had a cooler than normal month was two years ago.

That pretty much the entire state of Alaska was record warm in July is particularly incredible considering how vast it is. Superimpose Alaska on the Lower 48 and it covers the entire middle of the nation.

So far, the warm Alaska summer has extended through the first half of August.  Another heat ridge might build up there over the coming week or two, which would prolong the odd hot summer in Alaska.

SEA ICE AND OUR WINTERS

At least one new study suggests that melting sea ice is NOT
making our winter in Vermont more harsh. The debate continues....

As I've mentioned in previous blog posts here, some climate scientists have been wondering if the loss of Arctic sea ice have been making winters here in Vermont, elsewhere in the United States and in Europe harsher.

The theory is that the loss of sea ice makes the jet stream wavier and helps get it stuck,  causing cold air to plunge down on us from the north.

A new study questions this theory.  As ScienceDaily points out, the study says that although low winter Arctic ice levels and tough winters here often coincide, the low sea ice isn't having a big influence on these winters.

With or without climate change, Arctic sea ice levels fluctuate year to year. Sometimes there's not much ice, other times there's quite a bit. The overall trend is down for the ice, but it's not a steady drop over years and decades.

Atmospheric weather patterns tend to promote particularly relatively small amounts of sea ice in the Arctic during some winters. Those same weather patterns cause cold snowy winters in eastern North America and western Europe.

This won't be the final word on this issue. I'm sure the scientists will continue studying and debating this one.

Hit And Miss Showers Missing Some Parts Of Vermont Too Often

Parts of my gardens in St. Albans, Vermont.  The flowers are blooming
only because I've had to water frequently. And, unlike last year, I've
gotten lucky: A couple rounds of hit and mostly miss showers
and storms hit me in the past week or so. 

As darkness fell last evening around my place in St. Albans, Vermont, I was still out there tending my gardens, when...splish, splash. It suddenly began to rain. At a fairly good clip.

What a pleasant surprise! I knew there was a chance of a few scattered showers, but I figured there would be more misses than hits. It turns out there were more misses than hits, but I got lucky.

 It was only about a quarter inch of rain, but I'll take it. Most places in Vermont got nothing, or next to nothing.  

We've had a lot of warmer than normal weather since late June at least, and that tends to make things dry out faster. In the summer, there's rarely a nice general soaking rain. It's always a bunch of showers and thunderstorms, with winners getting a nice soaking and the losers, well, losing out.

The rain has been generally more scattered and sporadic this summer than usual. Between the heat and the lack of storms, it's getting dry. Not nearly as bad as last year, when much of Vermont was in a drought, but still dry.

I have a feeling that the next U.S. Drought Monitor, which comes out weekly on Thursdays, might start popping up an "abnormally dry" status in parts of Vermont, which is their lowest status in a five-tier ranking of how dry it is. Currently the U.S. Drought Monitor doesn't have any part of the Green Mountain State listed as dry.

Since July 14, Burlington, Vermont has only had 0.8 inches of rain. The rough rule of thumb is you should get about an inch of rain per week to keep things nice and wet and lush in the summer. Certain areas of the Burlington area have gotten less than that. I was working in a client's garden on the Burlington/South Burlington border yesterday and it was basically a dust bowl.

I had trouble with another South Burlington client in June, as parts of their property were a swamp and inaccessible from all the rain. Now their lawn is brown and dry.

Here in St. Albans, I'll be back to watering my gardens as soon as tonight, even with last night's rain. A torrential downpour this past Wednesday dried up quickly, and my garden plots were dusty by Friday afternoon.

We're not expecting much in way of rain anytime soon. Although there are daily chances of showers and thunderstorms Tuesday through at least Friday as a series of seasonably weak weather systems pass through.

It'll be hit or miss with these, too.  Once we get toward into the autumn, storm systems will generally transition into ones that bring more widespread, steady rains, so we have that to look forward to. Or, the remains of some tropical systems can start giving us better rains in the late summer or autumn, but that's very iffy.

The sunny weather of late has certainly been fantastic to enjoy the outdoors, so we have that to be thankful for.  I might be complaining about a relative lack of rain, but it has been a gorgeous, if at times toasty summer so far.

Classic Summer Weather And Classic Summer Storms, Finally

Dark and beautifully patterned clouds Wednesday in a
thunderstorm that was approaching South Burlington, Vermont.

The last few days have finally brought us classic Vermont summer weather: To my mind, it's perfect.

This weather features quite a bit of sun, with puffy clouds thrown in. Temperatures are now often reaching the 80s, with some noticeable but not extreme humidity.

And there's finally summer storms thrown into the mix. Towering cumulus and thunderstorms are easily my favorite type of cloud.

The form an endless array of distinct shapes. They're often dramatic. You need your camera with you at all times in a Vermont summer, in case the sky gives you a treat.

One bonus is that although Vermont can does get severe and damaging thunderstorms every summer, we're not as prone to super scary storms as the Midwest and South. Often, we get the beauty and the drama without the destruction.

Plus, the tallest thunderstorm towers can often be seen when they're as many as 100 miles away, if there's no mountains to block your view. Which I think is pretty cool.

Early this Thursday afternoon, for instance, I could see the tops of some distant thunderstorms from my perch in St. Albans. The storms were well into Quebec. How far up north? Radar showed they were about 60 miles north of Montreal when I spotted them. Montreal is 65 miles north of me. So these storms, barely visible through the slightest haze, were roaring 125 miles away from me.

More on those storms in a minute.

Yesterday brought the first significant, dramatic thunderstorms of the season to my neck of the woods in northwestern Vermont, and I couldn't have been more pleased.

Gorgeous but threatening skies as a thunderstorm approached
South Burlington Wednesday. 

The storms prompted severe thunderstorm warnings in a wide area along the shores of the northern half of Lake Champlain of New York, most of the Champlain Valley of Vermont and on into central Vermont.

Actual reports of severe weather were scant, which is great. Despite the excitement of having a severe thunderstorm warning, that turned out exactly as meteorologists predicted.

Ingredients were there for isolated, but not widespread severe weather. It was a little warmer than forecast yesterday. Burlington reached 86 degrees Wednesday. That was the hottest temperature so far this year, though it was nothing unusual for late June.

Humidity was moderate. The sun, the heat and the modest humidity helped destabilize the atmosphere, allowing for thunderstorms. A weak boundary approached from the St. Lawrence Valley of New York.

It doesn't take much to form thunderstorms this time of year, and there you go. On the other hand, Wednesday's air wasn't super unstable and there were dry layers up there, so that prevented a lot of severe weather.

Storm clouds over South Burlington Wednesday look like a painting.
Like all photos in this post, I did no editing or augmentation.

However, there was a long north to south band of thunderstorms with this. Most cells in this band were below severe levels, but a few spots in this band looked like they had the potential to reach severe limits.

You couldn't tell which isolated spot in the path of this band would get a brief period of severe weather, so the National Weather Service had to issue a blanket severe thunderstorm warning for most people in the path of the storms.

All this is to remind you that every time you get a severe thunderstorm warning this summer, take it seriously and get inside. You never know where under that warning the winds and/or hail will get particularly dangerous

In the end, there were reports of some damage in Essex, New York. A tree toppled in downtown Burlington. I saw very minor flash flooding and a few twigs down in Charlotte, Shelburne and South Burlington, so nothing major there.

The clouds with this band of storms though! They made me very happy. Especially since there wasn't a lot of damage to report.

MORE STORMS AND SUMMER

This afternoon is once again very warm and vaguely humid. That would maybe mean the chance of additional photogenic storms, but you need a trigger, like that weak boundary yesterday.

Updrafts near the mountains could trigger a few isolated showers and storms in the Green Mountains and Adirondacks late this afternoon, but no biggie.

There is a weak weather front in Quebec which is triggering those thunderstorms up there that I mentioned. As of this writing, at 2 p.m. Thursday, there's even a severe thunderstorm warning in northwestern Maine, due to the same weather front. That boundary might come close enough to the Vermont and New York border to set up the chance of isolated storms this evening.

But the sun will be going down by the time that boundary tries to cross the International Border, so potential energy for storms will also be going away. People way up north in Vermont might hear a rumble of thunder and see pretty clouds again this evening, so that's good.

Friday it's more of the same. Just a chance of late day storms.

This post is getting a little long, so I'll postpone a discussion about Saturday and Sunday until tomorrow morning. Let's just say there's a chance both weekend days could grant us some photogenic skies again, if things work out right. It will be unsettled, and possibly stormy so we'll see!

Summer Creeps Into Vermont, Right On Schedule

Clouds build over the Adirondacks on a full-on summery day last
year, as viewed from South Burlington, Vermont. Summer
weather is finally, grudgingly coming into the Green Mountain State
as the Summer Solstice also arrives

The Summer Solstice officially arrives just before noon Friday in our neck of the woods. For once, the timing of the solstice and the arrival of summer weather roughly coincide here in Vermont.

We haven't had much truly summer weather yet. We haven't had many days that got into the 80s not a lot of humid days, not a lot of summertime thunderstorms.

But that is beginning to change.  Unevenly, but it's happening.

As you might have noticed, the last few days have been seasonably warm and pleasant, at least in northern Vermont. (Southern Vermont has had to contend with occasional showers.)

Today will remind us of typical summer weather, too. It'll be partly sunny, and there is a chance of afternoon thunderstorms. It doesn't look like any storms will be severe, and not all of us will get a storm. It will be the usual warm season scattered stuff as a weak system comes through.

At least part of Thursday will feel slightly humid as a stronger system approaches. A good slug of rain will come through Thursday night, especially in central and southern Vermont. NOAA's Weather Prediction Center has Vermont and most of the rest of New England under a slight risk for excessive rain Thursday night. However, if there is any flooding, it will be minor and localized, at least in Vermont.

We will get a brief interruption to full-on summer weather on Friday, solstice day, and Saturday, the first full day of summer. Both days will be a little on the cool side, but nothing odd of this time of year.

Then, back to summer. Sunday looks sunny and warm. Monday might be a bit humid, and we get into the chance of thunderstorms again Monday and especially on Tuesday, at least as it looks now. It is too soon to tell how extensive next week's storms might be, if they happen at all.

Summer has been really reluctant to arrive this year, but all indications look like it is finally here.

Quick Taste Of Summer: Humidity, Storms Briefly Come To Vermont

There is a marginal risk of severe thunderstorms in the Northeast
Monday, including Vermont (dark green shading). That big
red blob in the Plains represents a decent chance of
tornadoes on Monday, some of which might be quite strong. 

Our first real taste of summer is coming, briefly to the North Country later today through Monday in the form of noticable humidity and the threat of thunderstorms.

A warm front was approaching Vermont early this morning. With it are showers and a few embedded thunderstorms. Most of the rain today will come this morning and early afternoon and mostly in northern parts of the state.  

It's going to be tricky figuring out high temperatures today. It depends upon how far north the warm front gets. At least in southern sections, though, you'll notice warmth and a touch of summer humidity.

With that, there is a risk of scattered thunderstorms this evening, again especially in southern Vermont. A couple storms in this region have a chance of being a bit on the strong side, with gusty winds, lightning and downpours.  Scattered heavy downpours are likely across central Vermont today as well.

If that's not a sign of summer, nothing is.

Tonight will be the first warm, humid night of the year. It might not be a great idea to leave the windows open, though, because there will be a continued risk of showers and maybe a thunderstorm or two,

Monday could be an interesting day. Before a cold front arrives in the evening or overnight, warm, humid air will be in place. If you're working outside, you'll feel the humidity. Especially because we're not used to it yet. Drink plenty of fluids.

A series of disturbances in the atmosphere, plus that approaching cold front, will interact with that humidity to touch off more showers and storms. This will bring our first real chance of severe thunderstorms to Vermont this season.

I said chance because this isn't cast in stone. If skies clear during the day more than expected, that would add some instability to the air, increasing the chance of strong to severe storms. Even without the clearing, there could still be a strong storm or two. For now, NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has us in a marginal risk zone for severe storms on Monday.

If there are severe storms, they won't be all that widespread. A few towns could get some damaging wind gusts, but most of us won't. Just be weather aware. Go inside if you hear thunder. If a severe thunderstorm warning goes up in your area, do the usual thing and get into a sturdy building.  Consider postponing a drive until the storm passes.

Even if a thunderstorm that hits your area isn't severe, there still could be very heavy downpours, local street flooding and plenty of cloud-to-ground lightning. Again, just be aware of what's coming down the pike in terms of storms.

The National Weather Service in South Burlington says the best chance of strong storms on Monday will come between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday. Things will settle down quickly by sunset.

At least our severe weather threat in the Green Mountain State isn't extreme. A separate, strong storm is setting up a good chance of a big tornado outbreak in and around Oklahoma on Monday. Some tornadoes might end up being particularly strong, so that bears watching.

Monday is also the anniverary of the deadly EF-5 Moore, Oklahoma tornado of 2013, which killed 24 people, injured hundreds and caused about $2 billion in damage.

This same area is under the gun for possible strong tornadoes Monday.

Australia Is Having A Wild Start To Summer

Huge hail piled up in Sydney Australia just
before Christmas. Photo via News
Corp Australia

First the hail, now the heat.

It's summer in Australia, and the weather this time of year Down Under tends to be volatile. You get severe thunderstorms with epic hail and winds, big time heat waves, droughts and scary wildfires.

These summertime hazards in Australia seem to have been getting more intense in recent years, and this season is off to a bang for sure.  

It started just before Christmas in Sydney.  A hailstorm it, and it was the worst in a generation. See the videos at the bottom of this post.

The storm really caused a LOT of damage. The Guardian reported:

"Tennis ball-sized hail smashed homes and cars in Sydney's west while golf ball-sized stones battered the city's inner suburbs an hour later...

Reports of 'extensive damage' to cars and homes had been received from Sydney's west to Bondi Beach."

The damage mostly consisted of smashed windshields, banged up cars and roofs with holes and pockmarks.  Since the hail hit in a highly populated area, this is turning out to be a really expensive disaster.

According to Reuters,

Lots of cars in Sydney, Australia looked like this after the worst
hailstorm in 20 years just before Christms. 

"Australian insurer Suncorp Group Ltd said on Thursday it has received about 24,800 claims following a Sydney hailstorm last month, with the figures likely to rise over the coming weeks as customers return from holidays. "

The insurer expects total claims to be close to $500 million.

Following the hail, a heat wave settled in to much of  Australia. If you want to warm yourself up a bit in the midst of a cold-ish Northern Hemisphere winter, read on.

Obviously, heat waves are not unusual for the Land Down Under in December and January, but this one is especially nasty.

During the final week of December, the temperature soared to 120 degrees in Marble Bar, Australia which is within three degrees of the all-time high temperature record for the entire nation.

Since Christmas, the Australian heat has been waxing and waning a bit, but is generally hanging tough. Meteorologists are predicting a hotter and drier summer than normal for vast stretches of Australia.

In southeastern Australia, Melbourne caught a brief break from the heat over the New Year's holiday when high temperatures fell into the 70s for a couple days. But the heat returned, pushing temperatures well above 100 degrees by Friday.  This was considered a one in ten year heat event.

To combat increasing heat waves, Australia is making efforts to green
up its cities, including on this Sydney building. 

This doesn't bode well for wildfires, which are often a dire problem in many areas of Australia.

One wildfire in Tasmania, a large island off the southeast coast of mainland Australia, a wildfire turned skies eerily dark over the city of Hobart, which was 60 miles froom the fire.

Like everywhere else in the world, heat can be more intense in Australia in urban areas, where concrete, buildings and asphalt collect and concentrate the heat.  

As heat waves intensify in Australia, in large part due to climate change. the country is beginning to look at how to mitigate these "urban heat islands."  I tried and true solution is to plant more trees and greenery. Poorer neighborhoods in particular tend not to have a lot of trees and grass. Plus some municipalities resist trees, because of course they can topple and cause damage in storms.

However, the push is on to make Australia literally greener to combat these intense heat waves.

Here's some of those hailstorm videos I talked about:

First, the very noisy hail in a parking lot trashing scores of cars:




Just as noisy in a Sydney office as hail crashes through the sky lights. Note how many hailstones are on the carpet:





Here's the hail churning up Sydney Harbor:

Another New England Round Of Heat, Humidity

I heard a few people in past week say they're relieved summer heat and humidity in Vermont and surrounding areas is finally over.

Um, no.

We've got at least one more round of oppressive weather to go. You'll notice it will generally get hotter and more humid during the course of the weekend.

Today won't be all that bad. Most places will get into the 80s, but the humidity will be moderate. It won't make you wilt.

Tomorrow might actually be a couple degrees cooler, but it will be more humid so it will feel worse. A weather disturbance will zip by to our north in the afternoon and evening, so that will probably trigger sone scattered showers and thunderstorms, especially north of Route 2.

Then the real heat hits. Expect hot weather and high humidity Monday through Wednesday. At this point, Tuesday looks to be the worst day. Many valley locations could reach 90 degrees, and the humidity will be high.

Wednesday looks hot and humid, too. This spell of hot weather might put Burlington, Vermont over the edge enough to make this August the hottest on record. That's iffy, but it's worth watching.

By Wednesday afternoon,  a cold front will be approaching. More scattered showers and thunderstorms look like a good bet.

Cold fronts in late August often have a little more oomph than ones earlier in the summer, and it could be the case with this one.

If all works according to plan, the humidity will be swept away by Thursday and temperatures will cool down into the upper 60s to mid 70s by day. There's a good chance quite a few places away from Lake Champlain could get into the 40s Thursday night.

Heading into September, we might not be done with summer yet. There are signs it could turn hot and humid again during the first week of the month.

HURRICANE LANE UPDATE
Just a quicky here: Strong upper level winds tore Hurricane Lane apart very quickly in the past 24 hours. It's down to a tropical storm, if that, frankly. The remains of Lane are still dumping torrential rains on Hawaii and severe flooding is ongoing in some places, especially the Big Island and Maui.

A few weather stations reported have reported more than 40 inches of rain so far from the storm, which really is incredible

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.

A Slightly Autumnal Feel To The First Day Of Summer

It's officially astronomical summer, and time to enjoy the great outdoors
This photo was taken during a heat wave a few years ago. But this year,
the first day of summer is actually on the cool side in Vermont.

Today's the first day of astronomical summer, the longest day of the year. It feels, however, just a bit like the autumnal equinox. It is a slightly chilly start to summer here in Vermont.

But don't worry! That doesn't mean the entire summer will be cold.

Actually, this cool first day of summer is quite pleasant from my perspective.

You can do anything outdoors and not melt from the heat. The sun is out, so it's not that cold, but the humidity is low, and there's a breeze. What's not to love?

Highs today will be in the upper 60s to mid 70s, which actually is only a little bit below normal for this time of year and certainly nothing all that unusual.

The coolness will linger off and on into the weekend and early next week. Tonight, temperatures will get down into the 40s across the entire region. So a good night for sleeping. Some of the cold hollows in the Adirondacks and Northeast Kingdom of Vermont could get into the 30s. I wouldn't even be surprised to see a touch of first night of summer frost in places like Saranac Lake, New York.

Temperatures will rebound nicely to normal summer levels Friday, but clouds and eventually showers moving in for Saturday and Sunday will keep temperatures on the cool side. On Sunday, another cold front arrives, which will keep temperatures a bit on the coolish side early next week before it warms up again.

Of course, we're talking about astronomical summer. Meteorological summer is considered to run from June 1 through August 31. For the record, June so far in Vermont has had temperatures averaging pretty close to normal.

Do You Still Like Winter? You Should Have Been In Newfoundland This Week

A lovely view of Gander, Newfoundland on Thursday.

Summery weather has engulfed most of the United States. Even in New England, it's going to be in the 80s today, and relatively mild all through the holiday weekend.

There are still probably a (very) few of you out there who miss winter, I know.

The Killington Ski Resort is finally closing down for the season Saturday so hitting the slopes is soon out of the question.

But winter manages to hang on in a few spots, and if you were up in northern New Brunswick and especially Newfoundland, you had a nice blast of winter this week.

Ground zero was Gander, Newfoundland. Now, that city is not known for its tropical beaches and balmy sunshine. Still, what they got this week was quite a blow.  Check out the video at the bottom of this post.

Springtime on an outdoor deck this past week in Gander, Newfoundland.

Thirteen inches of snow fell on Gander on Thursday, which is a lot, even for them. This was the city's second largest snowstorm on record for May, and the biggest for so late in the season. It was also the biggest snowstorm in Gander this, um, winter.

Normally this time of year, high tempertures in Gander in the mid to upper 50s with lows in the upper 30s. Not balmy, but not frigid either.

Instead of buying outdoor grills and deck chairs, people in Gander scrambled for snow tires and snow shovels, which of course aren't in stock this time of year.

Schools shut down because of the snow, and businesses opened late because of snow-clogged streets.

Northern New Brunswick, really not that far from Maine, got snow, too. In New Brunswick, trees were already starting to leaf out when the snow hit. Bathhurst, New Brunswick picked up 2.5 inches of new snow.

The forecast for Gander and the rest of Newfoundland and environs still isn't great. Environment Canada says high temperatures in Gander today are forecast to be only around 40 and in the upper 30s on Saturday. More light snow might come down tonight. Ouch!

It's been a nasty weather pattern in far eastern Canada lately anyway. Record low temperatures occurred in parts of northern Quebec and western Labrador last week.

Meanwhile, in Vermont, there's still skiing at Killington Resort, although
they'll close down for the season on Saturday. 

This weather pattern has contributed to some really nice May weather in Vermont and the rest of northern New England.

The dip in the jet stream that has caused the ugly spring weather up in northeastern Canada has suppressed persistent clouds and rain to the south over the Mid-Atlantic states.  

Vermont is also too far south to get the brunt of the cold air from Canada, so temperatures have been either close to normal, or warmer than normal under the frequent May sunshine.

The temperature in May so far is averaging about five degrees warmer than normal in Burlington so far this month. Caribou, Maine, closer to the cold Canadian air, is only running less than a degree above normal this month.

Back up in Gander, there is still a bit of hope for spring. Temperatures should rise to near normal up there toward the middle of next week.

Here's a video of Gander on May 24. Looks like a nasty January day in Vermont, but nope, May 24: