If You Hate Sunshine This Is Your Time Of Year

The sun broke through the clouds ever so briefly just before sunset on
Tuesday, lighting up some lingering fall foliage. It's been very cloudy
lately and that state of affairs will mostly continue. 

The annual cloudy season here in Vermont got off to an early start in October.

The last couple of weeks of last month featured lots of overcast skies and gloom. Now that we're into November, we get to keep the clouds.

This month is usually the cloudiest month of the year, though it's basically in a statistical tie with December. At least normally.

True to form, November started off overcast and I see scant chances for sun in the immediate future.

Sunday does look like it will feature some sun, and maybe Monday morning, too. But clouds are going to predominate.

So will the rain.

It's been raining in much of Vermont since yesterday afternoon. The rain is becoming more showery today. A line of gusty downpours, possibly accompanied by a lightning strike or two, might clip southern Vermont later today.

The atmosphere is pretty dynamic over the Northeast, so a new storm will get going tonight and Saturday in New England.  There is something called a negatively tilted trough setting up over and near the region, and that is a recipe for creating a strong storm system.

A negative trough is a dip in the jet stream that is tilted northwest to southeast. Often when this happens, there's a lot of warm, moist air racing in from the southeast and a rush of cold air can often go over the top of this warmer air. The result is a lot of lift and instability. Storms under this scenario can definitely strengthen fast.

The one on Saturday looks like it will be a fast developer. As the storm passes through New England, it will be getting strong really quickly. That will unleash a period of strong winds Saturday afternoon and evening.

High wind watches are up for all of southern New England, extending up into southern Vermont and New Hampshire and coastal Maine. Winds could reach 60 mph in these locations. In the rest of Vermont, we could easily see wind gusts in the 45 to 50 mph range Saturday and Saturday night in many spots.

Winds will quickly die down by Sunday and we will get that break in the weather I mentioned. But more storminess is on the horizon, as another strong low pressure system gets going in the middle of the country and heads towards the Great Lakes.

There could be some severe weather in parts of the Midwest with this on Election Day next Tuesday, which is something we need to watch. Here in Vermont, this storm means lots of clouds Tuesday through Thursday. Although there might be a few breaks in the overcast, we can also expect a fair bit of rain and wind during this entire period.

Yeah, it's November all right.