Hot Spell Will Feel Hotter Because We're Not Used To It

Lilacs in front of my St. Albams, Vermonnt house. Hot weather
is making them come and go too fast. 

There was definitely a vaguely humid feel to the air this morning in St. Albans, Vermont as we got off to the start of a three, or even possibly four day spell of toasty weather.

At this point, temperatures look like they will be at near record levels this afternoon and tomorrow, with highs reaching 90 degrees or maybe even a little above that in the warmer valleys and 80s elsewhere in Vermont.

The record high for today in Burlington is 92 degrees and the record high Wednesday is 91, so those will be challenged. The all time record high for the month of May is 93 degrees, set in 1977 and 2017. There's a low chance that could be tied or broken.

Yes, it will be humid during this, but not as humid as during the worst mid-summer heat waves. Dew points are a good measure of how muggy it feels. Today and tomorrow, dew points will be in the low 60s.

Anything over 60 starts to feel humid for most people. If the dew point were at 70 degrees, that's oppressive and awful.

Of course, us humans get accustomed a bit to a consistent type of weather. This will be our first hot spell, so it will probably feel worse than it actually is.  So if you're going to be outside working or playing, be doubly aware that you need to drink plenty of water and rest when you need to.

One bummer about the early season heat is that it makes flowers come and go so fast.  Apple blossoms appeared and disappeared behind my house in just four days because it was so warm. My lilacs were barely starting to blossom Friday. Now they're already in full flower and will probably fade away by the end of the week. Oh well.

Lakes, especially bigger ones like Lake Champlain, are still cold, so you want to be careful boating.  If you fall into the water, you're in trouble.  The water is so cold it's paralyzing, and you could drown quickly because of that.  Consider postponing that boating excursion until later in the summer. Or at least stay wicked close to shore.

The cold Lake Champlain water will have an interesting effect on local weather today and especially tomorrow.

The chilly water will generate lake breezes, so it will be much cooler on the immediate shore of the lake than inland just a bit.

The collision between the cool lake breezes and the hot air over land will essentially form boundaries, which are little weather fronts dividing the cool lake air and the hot land air.  These little "weather fronts" might create just enough lift to trigger widely scattered showers and thunderstorms near them.

This hot air is pretty unstable,  but there won't be a lot of lift in the atmosphere, so any storms will need a trigger, like those lake breeze boundaries. Once these thunderstorms get going, there's a slight chance one or two of them will get strong.

But they won't last long, and the vast majority of us won't see these thunderstorms. But they are another hazard to watch out for if you're near the lake.

Chances for showers and storms increase late in the week, especially on Friday as a cold front approaches. It will remain warm and humid both days, but there's a lesser chance of either day making it to 90 degrees.

A relatively brief shot of unusually chilly air will come in for the the last day of the month Sunday, and the first couple of days of June.  It' might actually be cold enough for frosts in the colder valleys Monday morning, so if you're considering putting in your tomatoes in the cold spots, I'd wait a bit until we see how that upcoming cool spell plays out.