As You Know, November Was Brutal Here In Vermont

The weather story of November, 2019 in my St. Albans, Vermont yard.
Tree debris left by the November 1 storm buried in snow, making it
difficult to remove.  This was easily the coldest November since 1996.

In this age of global warming, without thinking, you sort of expect temperatures to be on the warm side, or at least  not too far from normal.

But of course, there's a difference between weather and climate. You might be in a general warming trend, but weather still happens. So do odd weather patterns. And persistent ones. Sometimes the roll of the dice keeps bringing you onto the cold side.  

That was certainly the case here in Vermont in November.

It was easily the coldest November since 1996. In some places in the Green Mountain State, it probably made the Top 10 list of coldest Novembers. Plus, it was snowy in most of the state. November could have easily passed as December.

Let's dive into the stats. The mean temperature for the month was 33.0 degrees in Burlington, just missing the Top 10 list of chilliest Novembers.

Only nine days managed to be warmer than normal.  In an era where daily record highs outnumber daily record lows, we reversed that trend this November. There were record lows on three days, including a reading of 9 degrees on November 13, the coldest for so early in the season.

That's an impressive record, given Burlington's records go way back to the 1880s. (The longer the period of record, the less likely you are to break a record, since you've had tons of chances to be super warm or super cold over the course of more than a century.)

This was also the second November in a row Burlington had a "coldest for so early in the season" record. In  November, 2018, it was 1 below in Burlington, the earliest subzero reading on record.

With 12.5 inches of snow, Burlington missed out on being one of the top 10 snowiest Novembers, but this early winter is certainly off to a snowy start. (The top 10 snowiest Novembers had accumulations ranging from 14.9 to 24 inches).

As of November 30, snowfall is running 7.1 inches above normal for the beginning of the winter season. Of course, anything can happen, as we can normally expect more than 80 inches of snow in a typical winter.

Other places in Vermont were actually colder than Burlington, both in actual temperature and how far it was below normal. Montpelier had a mean November temperature of 28.8 degrees which was 6.6 degrees colder than normal.

St. Johnsbury was also quite frosty, with a mean temperature of 29.8 degrees, or 6.3 degrees below normal. Morrisville and Springfield were both also more than six degrees chillier than normal in November, 2019.

Precipitation was mostly below normal in Vermont, except in the Champlain Valley, where it was wetter than normal. Precipitation was mostly within an inch of where it should have been, except in southeastern Vermont, where it was pretty dry.

In Burlington, the year 2019 has a good shot of cracking the Top 10 list of wettest years, but barely.  As of November 30, there had been 41.88 inches of rain and melted snow so far in 2019. We only need 0.3 inches of precipitation in December to make this year the 10th wettest. That will surely happen. There was already another 0.09 inches of precipitation Sunday, so we're almost there.

This November will also be remembered for the storm that began on Halloween and continued into November 1.  It was probably the most destructive Vermont storm since Irene in 2011.

Parts of Vermont will likely be declared a federal disaster area from this storm, due to the flooding and wind damage it caused.

In my 57 years in Vermont so far, I've been blissfully immune somehow from the disasters and extremes Mother Nature can fling at our state. Sure, I suffered some minor flash flood damage in 2011, and some other minor inconveniences over  the years, but I really got hit with this storm.

By "really hit," I know I'm being dramatic, because me and husband Jeff didn't exactly go through much loss and suffering. Still a favorite tree on our property fell and destroyed one of our vehicles.

Other falling trees ripped away our electrical box, causing damage to electronics inside the house, including the furnace, power cords, and a few appliances.

So yeah, between the storms and the unusual cold, this was not my favorite November. Serves me right for waxing poetic about how this September and October were probably among my favorire months I can remember. No good weather in Vermont goes unpunished, I always say.

The sharp November chill in Vermont and much of the United States was an aberration globally. Most of the world was hot. Final stats aren't in yet, but November, 2019, will probably go down as one of the Top 5 hottest Novembers on record for the Earth as a whole.