Welcome To Autumn! What's With This Humid Warmth?

A bit of foliage last Sunday over northwest Vermont.  It's gotten
even more colorful over the past week.

Astronomical autumn officially arrived at 3:50 a.m. this morning, but it sure didn't feel like it here in Vermont.

After a rather summery day, south winds and clouds kept temperatures up overnight to welcome autumn. And I mean way up. 

Much of the Green Mountain State was in the 70s as dawn broke on this first day of autumn. Usually, the high temperature this time of year is in the upper 60s, so as you can see, it was balmy.

And humid. Dew points were in the 60s, which equates to a rather muggy July morning.  Certainly not like the third week in September.  

While this early morning warmth  and humidity is definitely unusual for this time of year, it's not unheard of. It can get more extreme. You might remember an unprecedented three-day heat wave with 90 degree temperatures in late September, 2017 as an example.

Plus, this morning's warmth won't last. A cold front is on our doorstep, and will pass through by this evening. A good part of today will be warm and rather humid, with highs staying in the 70s in the northwestern part of our area and getting into the 80s as you go south and east.  A few places in southern New England could reach 90 degrees today.

Despite this weekend's warmth and this morning's mugginess, fall foliage is coming on faster than it has in recent years. By traditional standards its right on schedule. But the past few autumns have been super warm, so foliage was late. I guess not this year.

The next cool down gets underway in earnest tonight. But don't expect anything super chilly in the near future.

Normal temperatures this time of year are falling fast day by day. Tomorrow will feel a bit chilly, but temperatures will be right around normal. (It'll be in the 60s during the day.) There will be a few showers around, but it won't rain all day.

We could use the rain, though. I mentioned the other day the weather pattern is still favoring rather sunny, dry weather in our neck of the woods. The U.S. Drought Monitor has a good chunk of Vermont under abnormally dry conditions. That's not drought, but we could be heading that way if things stay dry.

I don't mean to be alarmist, though. Our wells aren't going to go dry.  There will be several chances of rain in Vermont over the next week or so, though each episode will probably feature scattered showers with light amounts of rain.

As we get later into the fall, we typically get into larger, more drenching rain storms, especially from about Halloween into November. So that will help, if things go according to plan.

With that eastern North American ridge firmly in place, expect temperatures on most days into early October to be near or above normal. There could easily be a few cold days, but most of the time, it will be mild.