Upcoming May Heat Wave Could Bring An Odd Weather Record

Like yesterday, more comparison photos. One of my frozen gardens
in St. Albans, Vermont on May 9, this year.,.........

Kudos to WPTZ-TV meteorologist Tyler Jankoski, who alerted us to one of those weird potential records that fascinate us weather geeks.

This is Vermont, afte rall, so there's been measurable snow in Burlington during several Mays in the 128 years of weather records there.

There have also been several Mays with temperatures of 90 degrees or hotter. But those two things have not happened during the same May in this past century and quarter.

Until likely this year. Barely, though.

On May 9 this year, 0.1 inches of snow accumulated at the official National Weather Service site in South Burlington. Now, there's a decent possibility that temperatures in Burlington could reach 90 degrees Tuesday, and possibly Wednesday and Thursday. That would be a new one for May!

I've been comparing this month a lot to May, 1977, when basically the same thing happened. It snowed in most of New England that year on May 9 - the same day of the month it snowed this year. However, Burlington only received a trace of snow in May, 1977, so it wasn't measurable there.

Same garden this morning as we ramp up toward 90 degree
heat later in the week. 

By May 21-23, 1977, the temperature was in the low 90s.  It was only one of two official May heat waves in Burlington. (It's officially a  heat wave in these parts if the temperature is 90 degrees or warmer on three or more consecutive days).

And on May 23, 1977 the temperature reached 93, to establish an all-time high temperature for the month of May.  That record was subsequently tied in 2017.

It's unclear whether we'll get three days in a row with 90 degree temperatures this upcoming week. It's even more doubtful we'll get to 93 degrees or past that, but you never know.

However, it's amazing how weather has repeated itself so precisely in May, 1977 and 2020.

I'm not sure I'm loving the idea of such hot weather already. Sure, I detested the snow earlier this month and have really enjoyed the sunny, warm, but not hot conditions over the past week.  It will turn more humid during the upcoming hot spell as well, so it will be uncomfortable.

Fortunately, it looks like we'll continue the pattern of May, 1977 this year. That year, in 1977, high temperatures cooled to the 60s and 70s during most of the final days of that month. Longer range forecasts suggest the same will happen this year.

Not that history will keep repeating itself - it probably won't - but the subsequent summer of 1977 was for the most part coolish except for one week of exceptional heat in mid-July that year.