Rare Three Week Vermont Warm Spell To End

It's been remarkably warm in Vermont this October, in case you haven't noticed.

Flowers are still blooming in my St. Albans, Vermont
yard, long after frosts usually wipe them out.
It's been a warm October so far.  

There haven't been any extremely warm record highs, but the mild temperatures have been incredibly consistent.

Friday was the 22nd consecutive day with warmer than normal temperatures, as recorded at the National Weather Service office in South Burlington.

That's the longest stretch of unbroken warmth I've seen in ages. (I'm not sure what the record is for the most consecutive warmer than normal days, but this must be pretty close)

October so far in Burlington is running 7.5 degrees warmer than normal. If the trend would keep up, we'd end up with one of the warmest Octobers on record.

It shows out there. I see rose bushes are blooming like mad, lawns are still green and need mowing despite the coating of fallen leaves, and people are still retrieving tomatoes and cucumbers from gardens in warmer areas of Vermont, especially near Lake Champlain.

Pretty impressive for the second half of October.

However, and this is a big however, all good things must come to an end. Some cooler than average weather is heading toward Vermont. Today, Saturday, will be our last warm-ish day, with highs in the lows 60s, as opposed to normal readings in the mid-50s.

After a couple nearly normal days (weatherwise, that is, I'm not going to get into our personal lives), it will turn decided chilly in the second half of the week. High temperatures will only make it into the 40s, which will feel especially cold since we're not used to it.

The last time Burlington had a high temperature under 50 degrees was during that remarkably cold, rainy spell on Memorial Day weekend.

It's also going to snow a little in the mountains late in the week, and I wouldn't be surprised if a wet snowflake or two makes it into the valleys.

For perspective, highs in the 40s are chilly for late October, but not record breaking. Record lows this time of year are in the upper teens and low 20s, we've had days this time of year when high temperatures never got out of the 30s, and snowstorms happen on occasion

For those of you dreading the cold, then, look at it this way: It could be worse.