October Weather Was More Or Less Normal In Vermont, Believe It Or Not

Some foliage managed to cling to trees on a Richmond,
Vermont hillside despite the fact we've gotten to November.  

November is getting off to a mild start in Vermont this year, with highs forecast in the 60s, possibly touching 70 in the warm spots midweek.

So we catch a break.

Many of us are saying that really IS a break, since October seemed a bit wintry.

After all, lots of gorgeous "snoliage" photos circulated, which showed peak autumn foliage across much of the state dusted with snow at midmonth.  

The reason October felt so cold and wet and stormy is because it was so warm and dry heading into the month, so anything felt wintry

The weather stats coming back for Vermont in October show a month that was just a bit cooler, and a bit drier than normal.

At Burlington, October was just a third of a degree cooler than normal - basically a rounding error. Other parts of Vermont were chillier, with Montpelier coming in at 2 degrees cooler than normal and St. Johnsbury 1.7 degrees on the nippy side.

A snow squall dusts some fall
foliage in St. Albans, Vermont
on Oct. 18 2015. Despite
this wintry weather, October
was only slightly cooler than normal. 

Those kinds of departures from normal are not incredible, for sure.

Precipitation was pretty unremarkable in October as well. Burlington was a little less than half an inch on the dry side. (There's normally roughly 3.6 inches or rain during October).

Other locations in Vermont clocked in at about an inch below normal. Kinda dry, yes, but not exactly an extreme drought.

That wintry precipitation that brought our snoliage photos wasn't abnormal, either. Valley locations in Vermont typically get a dusting of snow in October, and the mountains usually get a few inches.

If it seemed stormy, maybe it was because of the wind. The last 15 days of the month featured eight days in Burlington with gusts over 30 mph.

Still, as November opened Sunday, there was a surprising amount of lingering foliage left in the Champlain Valley. Definitely well past peak, but still more colorful than the stick season totally bare branches that normally greet us as November opens.

That's because September was so warm that foliage season definitely ran late. November, as I noted, is off to a remarkably warm start too, so if any flowers survived the frosts of October in your garden, they might hang on for just a bit longer. Enjoy!