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| OK, it probably won't look like this in Burlington, Vermont Thursday morning, but the tip top of Mount Mansfield could be white with snow. This photo is from a large snowstorm in March, 2011. on |
Don't worry, this won't be an 1816 Year Without A Summer general snowfall across most of the state.
But the highest mountain peaks could be white come Thursday morning.
If Mount Mansfield gets snow, it will only be the fourth time that happened in June there since they started keeping records up there in 1954.
The culprit is a big shot of cold air, very unusually cold for this time of year coming in from Canada and setting up as a deep pool of low pressure in the upper atmosphere.
Basically it's a big storm that's high above the Earth's surface, but not down here.
This whole thing is a redux of that spring pattern we had in April when we had bouts of unusual chill parking over New England.
The cold will be introduced today in the form of a strong cold front and possibly some strong or even a few scattered severe thunderstorms in New England, including Vermont.
The temperature in the air high above is already crashing. Meanwhile, it's not cold yet down here. Plus the sun is as strong as it gets this time of year.
That means that as the cold front comes in, it'll set off some thunderstorms. The contrast between the warmth surface and the chilly air aloft will help some of the thunderstorms to billow up into strong ones.
That means a few places will get small hail and gusty winds. A couple places in Vermont, especially the eastern half of the state will get a severe thunderstorm, which could bring damaging wind gusts of 60 mph.
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has a marginal risk of severe thunderstorms across pretty much all of New England and a slightly higher risk of severe weather in central New England.
Then the cold air plunges in. High temperatures across much of Vermont and the rest of northern New England will only get into the 50s Wednesday, Thursday and probably Friday.
On the bright side, it will be too cloudy for frost at night in most places, though there could be some frost and freezes in the cold hollows of northern Vermont Friday night.
It should be in the mid-70s this time of year. High temperatures in the 50s are normal for April.
It will be pretty cloudy as well. That strong June sunshine will heat the ground feebly, causing rising air. That means lots of clouds, many scattered light showers and that risk of snow showers on the mountain peaks.
This cold wave is going to last a long time for early June. Three days in the 50s will probably hurt your tomato and pepper plants. Those veggies crave sunshine and warmth, which we won't get for awhile. (They'll probably bounce back later in the month, when and if it gets warmer.)
This weekend, it will turn a tad warmer, but still be quite a bit cooler than normal, with highs only in the 60s to near 70.
This cold wave is probably payback for May. Each of the last nine days in May had high temperatures of 80 or more, the longest such streak on record for that month.
The heat continued into early June, as four of the first six days got to 80.
It won't be 80 degrees again for quite awhile. Enjoy autumn in June, I guess.
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