Much Of Nation Choking On Smoky Air From Western Wildfires

This map shows smoke conditions across the nation this past Wednesday
Notice even here in Vermont we had some smoky haze.

Yesterday was one of those classic, bright, blue, beautiful summer days here in Vermont.

Visibility was excellent. Green mountains in the distance seemed so clear and distinct you felt like you could reach out and touch them.

The sky was a brilliant deep blue, small clouds gleamed white in the sun, and just breathing felt so refreshing.

Not so in much of the rest of the nation. Especially in the western half, where all those wildfires have been belching incredible amounts of smoke into the atmosphere. Like it has done often in recent years, this smoke is traveling across the nation, across the Northern Hemisphere, really, joined by smoke from wildfires in places like Canada, Siberia, even Scandinavia.

Yes, it's not just the people close to the wildfires that are being affected, though obviously they have it worse than the rest of us. We don't have to evacuate our homes, worry about walls of flames racing down the forested hillsides in back of our houses.

But when the smoke arrives, it's not good for us. We're still in the clear in Vermont, for now, but we have seen some haze from the western wildfires already. Note that the map in this post shows some smoke over us on Wednesday. And of course, it was rather hazy that day. That cold front early Friday shoved the smoke south of New England, for now.

A smoky haze obscures the view of the Adirondacks from the
Burlington, Vermont waterfront last August. A wave of
wildfire smoke from the western U.S. was passing through at the time.

Particulate pollution -  which is really the smoke pollution - is pretty high today in broad areas of the West and Midwest.

Minnesota, many hundreds of miles away from the western wildfires, is under an Air Quality Alert today. Special weather statements are up in many areas, including the Dakotas, for a smokey haze that's reducing visibility.

This haze isn't good for anybody's health. Elderly, newborns and people with pre-existing conditions like COPD and emphysema are at risk. Wildfires are harming the health of people thousands of miles from where the actual flames are.

People are describing the extreme western wildfires as the "new normal" partly because climate change has made wildfires bigger, stronger and more erratic.

The new normal also means more hazy times for the rest of us. Even here in Vermont. The atmosphere out there is clean and clear as I write this early Saturday morning. But the haze will be back, sooner or later, any day now, and we'll have to get used to more days in which our Green Mountains fade behind a greyish, bluish haze.

Enjoy the clean air while you have it.

Enjoy The Cool: The Muggies Will Return

This schematic from The Weather Channel shows what's coming
back in the next few days.  A dip in the jet stream centered near the
Great Lakeswill once again steer very humid air up the East Coast,
makingus Vermonters wilt once again. 

This Friday morning felt a little better out there in Vermont. It was still warm, still just a bit humid, but really not bad at all. Much nicer than recent days.

Enjoy today, which will turn out pretty sunny, and a lot less sticky than the rest of this week has been. Tonight will be gloriously cool. Throw open those windows and let that 55-degree or so air in!

This won't last. The same persistent weather pattern that has kept the East wicked humid and in some places very wet is returning.

An unusually deep dip in the jet stream will once again set up in the eastern Great Lakes or western Applachians and the Bermuda High will assert itself off the East Coast. This has happened a lot since mid-July and it is a pretty weird setup.

It all means muggy, tropical air will once again stream north all the way to southeastern Canada. It won't be wicked hot next week, but the air will once again feel very heavy up here in Vermont.

It's cooler and less humid today because a series of weak cold fronts have been coming through since Wednesday night. The last of them came through Vermont early this morning.

The cold front will never get far from us. It will hang up over southern New England then start slowly drifting north over the weekend.

Once again, the best chances of heavy rain will be mostly to our south. One system along this warm front will go by to our south Saturday, raising a flood threat in parts of southern New England, bringing showers to southern Vermont, but leaving northern areas dry.

Since Vermont will be north of the warm front, the coolest day since mid-June is in store for southern Vermont. Under clouds and showers, temperatures there Saturday afternoon might not get out of the 60s. Northern Vermont will get sun, so it will be in the 70s to near 80 there.

From there, the humidity and warmth seep into Vermont gradually, making next week another rough, muggy time frame.

Overall, next week, there will be chances of showers and thunderstorms everywhere in the East, including here in Vermont, but the heaviest rains still seem like they will fall on saturated southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic states.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly who will get flooding next week in the East as the most torrential downpours can set up just about anywhere.

Also, I'm  not sure when this pattern will break down, so don't get your hopes up too fast for a break in the muggies after today.

Meanwhile, a torrid heat wave grinds on out west. Some relief will come to parts of the Pacific Northwest by Monday. But heat warnings, fire alerts and air quality advisories from all that smoke from existing wildfires is making things miserable going into the weekend from California to the western Dakotas. Virtually all of Montana is expecting near record heat.

It's been quite a summer, as they say.

This Hawk Knows How To Handle A Hot Summer

This hawk stayed with a backyard sprinkler to cool off during a
record heat wave in Massachusetts a month ago.

The video in this post was taken in early July, Pittsfield, in western Massachusetts. The region was in the throes of a record heat wave at that time.

Everyone was headed to the beach, the water, anywhere cool. I turned on the sprinklers in my gardens and weeded the vegetables in the "rain."  

The Pittsfield hawk in the video below had the same idea. Pretty cool!

One bit of good new for those tired of the heat and humidity is we're in for a brief break. Today will be vaguely less humid than the past couple of days, and a cold front coming in this evening is going to put us in patch of cooler, dry air.

Temperatures in many parts of northern New England won't get out of the 70s Friday, and temperatures amid the lower humidity Friday night will get down into the 50s, with 40s in the cold spots.

The warmth and humidity will gradually return over the weekend, though Saturday and Sunday won't be too, too bad. But signs point to more humidity next week.

The hawk might have to go back to the sprinkler. Watch this wild, awesome video:

Downpours Everywhere, Except Where I Live

After the Toronto Blue Jays game, fans couldn't get to their cars
because the entrance to the parking garage was flooded as
the city became engulfed in flash flooding. Photo by
Fred Thornhlll/Canadian Press

In this humid stretch of weather, which really began more than a month ago, the wet air has let loose with some decent rains, and sometimes dangerous flooding almost everywhere in the eastern United States and southern Canada.

Where I live in St. Albans, Vermont, though, I'm still living in drought.

Despite the humidity, I can't seem to catch a break. It never rains. Or if it does, it's just a sprinkle.

How can such wet air not yield rain?

I've watched all summer as thunderstorms approach, and fall apart before they get here. Swaths of rain hit east and west and south and north of here, but can't seem to reach my neck of the woods.

I'm not sure what's causing this tiny drought. Just a pocket in northwestern Vermont where it doesn't rain. Drive twenty miles in any direction from my place, and the soil moisture is decent.

Last evening, Burlington got a quick downpour with two-thirds of an inch of rain. Here in St. Albans? Nada. The Burlington showers just stabilized the air where I am, so no precipitation here.

I suppose the dryness is better than flooding. Lots of places have had lots of water this summer. The latest victim is Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which had its worst flood since a really devastating one in 2013.

Parts of Toronto had close to four inches of rain in just a short time Tuesday evening. Many roads shut down, and police and fire crews rescued many people from cars.

As the Toronto Star reports, there was a scary close call when two men got stuck in a flooded elevator in a building basement. The water in the elevator was six feet deep with only a foot of breathing room when rescuers arrived. The two guys in the elevator had minor injuries and are going to be OK.

The Toronto Blue Jays game ended with a power failure, a leaking roof that soaked some seats, and fans' inability to get to their cars because the entrance to the parking garage was flooded.

There is a risk of more downpours today in and around Toronto, so they'll have to watch out for that.

Here in Vermont, there's a 50/50 shot of showers and thunderstorms today and this evening. I bet my last dollar it won't rain here in St. Albans, though. If it does, it'll just be a teasing sprinkle and not a good soaker.

Sigh.

Here's a video of street cars submerged in Toronto.  Yeah, too much rain there:

Hail Kills 2 Animals, Injures People At Zoo; Also Local Severe Update

Baseball sized hail trashed this car in Colorado Springs Monday. 

A terrible hailstorm hit a zoo in Colorado Springs, Colorado Monday, killing two animals and injuring 14 people. Five of those injured people had to go to the hospital.

The storm, featuring hail the size of golf balls and even softballs, pelted the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Although there were severe thunderstorm warnings ahead of this storm, there was no time to protect all the people and animals.

CNN reports that a 13 year old caped vulture named Motswari was killed in the storm, as was a four-year old Muscovy duck named Daisy. Other animals were injured, a few severely.

Hard-to-watch video shows giant hailstones pelting terrified bears, though it turns out the bears got through the storm with no serious injuries.

Of course, there was also massive damage at the zoo and elsewhere around Colorado Springs. Most of the cars in the zoo parking lot were left undriveable due to smashed windshields and major dents.

Video at the bottom of this post shows the furiosity of the storm.

There's no rest for the weary in Colorado. More severe thunderstorms, some with gigantic hail, are expected again today. Flash flooding is a worry in some areas as well.

Hail almost as big as a softball in Colorado

VERMONT, NEW ENGLAND STORMS?

Here in New England, it's still warm and humid, and a weak cold front is approaching from the northwest. That sets the stage for showers and thunderstorms this afternoon. Some could be strong or even locally severe.

It doesn't look like it's going to be a huge outbreak by any means. In northern New York and northern Vermont, a dying area of showers and a few thunderstorms this morning stabilized the atmosphere, so it's beginning to look like severe activity is less likely in these areas.  

It could still happen, but it just looks less likely. It depends upon whether the atmosphere can regain its instability if the sun reappears for a time later this morning or early afternoon.

Central and southern Vermont, the Lake George area and parts of central New Hampshire look like the most likely places for strong storms today.

Again, nothing widespread, but keep an eye to the sky and listen for possible warnings. The biggest threats are strong, gusty winds, intense lightning and torrential downpours that could cause quick street flooding in towns and cities.

There was already one local episode of severe weather last evening in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Strong thunderstorm winds knocked down several trees along Route 114 in Norton.

At least there won't be any more record highs today in Vermont. At least I don't think so. Burlington had a record high of 95 degrees Monday, besting the previous record set in 1947. That was the 13th day this year with a 90 degree reading. And a lot of these 90s were more than just barely there. Eight of the 13 days were at 93 degrees or more.

Here's that Colorado hail video:

Heat Waves Likely Being Powered By Global Warming

Blame it on climate change.

Punishing heat and drought this year wrecked this German
sunflower field

The heat waves that have been plaguing much of the Northern Hemisphere this month really do seem to have been boosted by climate change.

The sheer number of heat waves, and the fact that so many records are being broken, is evidence that we might be in a "new normal" of summer temperatures.  

Of course, heat waves occur every summer. The past is full of humdingers, too.

For example, in the Dust Bowl 1930s often saw temperatures in the 110 to 120 degree range through vast areas of the Great Plains.  Just like this year, punishing heat waves hit both New England and Old England (Great Britain) in July, 1911.

This year, however, the heat has been popping up with unusual frequency and intensity throughout much of the Northern Hermisphere. (This is not a global heat wave, as some would have it. The Southern Hemisphere is in winter, so no heat there to speak of. Plus, some places in the North have escaped the worst of the heat.)

Still, the record heat waves have hopscotched the Northern Hemisphere at a dizzying pace this summer. England, Scandinavia, Quebec, Japan, North and South Korea, Texas, California, Siberia, Germany, and yes, here in Vermont.

Today will be the 13th day this summer with temperatures in the 90s in Burlington, Vermont. That in itself is not a record in this record breaking summer, but it's more tha double the average number of 90s per summer. And the season isn't even over yet.

ATTRIBUTION

Although it's hard to pin a single weather event on climate change, scientists are starting to get better at making that determination. For instance, the Guardian recently had this reporting on the European heat wave:

"The heatwave searing northern Europe was made more than twice as likely by climate change, according to rapid assessments by scientists.

The result is preliminary but they say the signal of climate change is 'unambiguous'. Scientists have long predicted that global warming is ramping up hte number and intensity of heat waves, with events even worse than the current one set to strike every other year by the 2040s."

The Guardian had this money quote: "Serious climate change is 'unfolding before our eyes,' said Professor Rowan Sutton, director of climate research at the University of Reading. 'No one should be in the slightest surprised that we are seeing very serious heat waves and associated impacts in many parts of the world.'"

In the past, I've talked about how a warming Arctic might be messing with the jet stream, causing it to move more slowly, and get stuck in patterns that leave certain regions trapped under the same weather regime for months.

Evidence is mounting that this jet stream problem is related to climate change. The jet stream is fueled by the contrast between a cold Arctic and hot tropics. The Arctic is warming up faster than everywhere else, so the contrast between hot and cold is lessening. Less contrast means a weaker jet stream.

"Heat waves over northern hemisphere continents in recent years fit the hypothesis that rapid Arctic warming is playing a role," Jennifer Francis of Rutgers University told New Scientist. 

 This summer has left many scientists stunned at how many hot temperature records have fallen. According to Axios:

"Climate scientists told Axios that while they are not surprised by the simultaneous extremes observed so far this summer - reports have warned about this for years - they are taken aback by the severity and number of extreme events.

'Even for somebody who understands extreme weather and how climate change affects extreme weather, what's happening this summer is incredible,' said Bernadette Woods, chief meteorologist and climate matters program director at Climate Central, a non-partisan climate science research and communiciations group."

ECONOMIC PAIN

The worst part about heat waves is obviously the fact that they kill. Heat is often the deadliest weather disaster possible. Wildfires are another deadly and destructive side effect of climate driven heat waves.

But even if you lucked out this summer and live in a place that stayed relatively cool (Hello Upper Michigan!) you are still probably going to suffer from the heat.

As Bloomberg noted recently, some commodity prices are rising because of the hemispheric heat. Grain prices are rising, in large part because heat and drought in places like Texas, Russia and other parts of Europe.

In some places, the hot, stagnant conditions mean river water is too warm to cool electric generating plants. And the lack of breezes brings wind turbines to a standstill.

Anyone who works outside knows that higher temperatures affect productivity. I know from my gardening business that I'm not working as hard as I'd like during this long, hot summer.

Even people who work in air conditioned offices are less productive during heat waves, NBC News reports.

Suicide rates rise in heat waves. Heat waves make us dumber, too, often slowing the brain by 13 percent.

Nothing good can come from these heat waves. But we are stuck with them. And they're going to get worse in coming years and decades.

New England Remains Weird Tornado Alley, And The Secret Queens, New York Twister

Extensive tornado damage in Webster, Massachusetts Saturday.

More tornadoes hit New England Saturday morning, continuing an incredible year of severe weather in the region. Meanwhile, the nation as a whole is having a quiet, relatively calm tornado year.

Here's a statistic that's pretty wild: New England has had 12 tornadoes so far this year. Oklahoma, the  heart of tornado alley, has also had a total of 12 tornadoes this year. There have been years in which Oklahoma has had more than 12 tornadoes in a week.

Small sized Connecticut is really tornado ground zero this year. They've had six twisters. There have been three tornadoes in Massachusetts and three in New Hampshire. So far, Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont have had no tornadoes, but they've had close misses

Here in Vermont, on two occasions, on May 4 and possibly on Friday, tornadoes touched down in western New Hampshire near the Vermont border from storms that were already rotating as they passed over the Green Mountain State.

The yellow and red streaks in this map show where there were
rotating thunderstorms in New England Friday and Saturday.
Most of the time, the rotation does not result in tornadoes,
but occasionally it happens. Notice the streaks of rotation
in far southern Vermont. No tornado reports, there though. 

Another May 4 storm showed significant rotation and seemed ready to drop a twister in far northern Vermont. But the circulation passed near the high hills and mountains around Jay Peak, and the rotation was disrupted. Thankfully, no tornado.

SATURDAY TWISTERS, MAYBE FRIDAY, TOO?

Two tornadoes hit New England Saturday. The first, in Woodstock, Connecticut, was weak, short lived and caused little damage. However, the supercell that caused the Connecticut tornado dropped a stronger one on the towns of Webster and Dudley, Massachusetts. 

A pair of buildings in Webster were so damaged by the EF-1 tornado that they had to be torn down. Other homes and businesses also suffered damage. It was almost an EF-2 tornado, as the National Weather Service office in Boston, Massachusetts said it had 100 to 110 mph winds. EF-2 tornadoes have winds of 111 to 135 mph.

Friday, a funnel cloud was spotted not far from Keene, New Hampshire. A photo that looks like a funnel touching the ground near Troy, New Hampshire circulated on social media. If it was indeed a funnel that landed, it would be New Hampshire's fourth tornado this year, and New England's thirteenth.

The rotating storm that prompted the New Hampshire funnel earlier very briefly had a particularly strong circulation in a remote area west of Putney, Vermont. If a tornado touched ground in that spot, it's likely nobody would know about it since no-oe was around and the spot is likely not easily accessible. Some tree damage was reported in southeastern Vermont Friday,  but that damage looks like it was caused by straight line winds, not a tornado.

MORE SEVERE WEATHER?

More severe storms are possible in far northern New England Monday, and in much of the region Tuesday and possibly Wednesday. Nobody is talking tornadoes at this point, but the way this year is going, who knows?

Monday's possible storms will be created by a weak weather disturbance brushing past the Canadian border. With very hot, humid air in place, isolated strong to locally severe storms could erupt late in the afternoon or evening north of Route 2 in Vermont, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and northwestern Maine.

Possible funnel cloud or brief tornado near Troy, New Hampshire Friday.

A cold front approaching from the west will start to run into the hot, humid air Tuesday. Depending on when the front makes its approach, that could trigger additional strong storms. But if the cold front holds off more until Wednesday, the storms are less likely.

On Wednesday, the cold front will still be drifting through eastern New England, possibly triggering strong storms there.

QUEENS, NY SECRET TORNADO

Another tornado touched down late Thursday night in Queens, New York. I'm calling it secret, though the National Weather Service did its due diligence. They issued a tornado warning for that area before the twister touched down.

Mystifyingly, for such a populated area, no TV station that I know of in the New York metro area cut into regular programming to announce the warning. That lack of action is dangerous, since people would be out and about in such a populated area.

I know people get annoyed with severe weather warnings interrupting television programming, especially when the storms aren't particularly close to the person watching the tube. But there's no technology for television stations to limit their warning broadcasts to a small specific area. And I'd rather people be warned about incoming danger, even if I don't immediately learn who won the latest episode of "America's Got Talent."

The lack of broadcast warnings in New York might be due to the fact there was no time for hyping the oncoming bad weather. There was no tornado watch issued hours beforehand, because forecasters knew any severe weather would be brief and localized.

In the end, the Queens tornado was rather weak, an EF-0 with 70 to 85 mph winds, says the National Weather Service in New York. It caused some siding and roof damage on a few buildings, and knocked down dozens of trees, especially in a local park. No injuries were reported.