Soggy Vermont April Ends; May Begins Wet

The sun pokes out briefly between showers in St. Albans on April 10.
It was a wet April in Vermont. 

If you thought April in Vermont this year seemed soggy and damp you were absolutely right.

Rainfall was definitely above average, with some areas in the northern part of the state seeing nearly two inches more precipitation than average.

As we know, there was also a lot of snow to melt in the mountains, so we did have some pretty substantial flooding, especially at midmonth.

Some counties in Vermont might actually be declared disaster areas because of the high water. Stay tuned on that one.

In general, it was a little on the cool side during April, but not by much. Unlike most of the rest of Vermont, the Champlain Valley was actually a tiny bit warmer than normal, and a little drier than much of the rest of the state. Burlington clocked in with an April average temperature of 45.5 degrees, which was 0.7 degrees warmer than average.

Rainfall in Burlington was "only" 3.53 inches, which was about 0.7 inches on the wet side. Meanwhile, places further east like Montpelier had 4.24 inches of rain, and St. Johnsbury had nearly five inches.

April showers do bring flowers! A crocus blooms in
Burlington, Vermont on April 13. 

The opening day of May will continue this wet trend. Lots of us were treated to a very nice sunrise this morning, but by afternoon, it will likely be raining.  And cold. Highs today will stay in the 40s, which is 15 degrees below normal.

We could get up to an inch of rain in many parts of Vermont and northern New York by Thursday morning. This will likely aggravate Lake Champlain flooding.

The lake level had a peak of just under 101 feet on Monday and was down an inch or two to 100.87 feet this morning. Flood stage starts at 100 feet.

The rain later today and tonight will make rivers rise a fair amount, though they are quite unlikely to flood. But the added water flowing into Lake Champlain will probably force the water level up above 101 feet. At that point, you start risking real damage, especially if you get a windy day stirring up large, battering waves.

A smaller storm Friday and an fairly active weather pattern next week will dump some more rain on our wet landscape, so the high water on the lake will only slowly recede as the month goes on.