Sept. Weather Pattern Gorgeous For New England; But For Rest Of Nation, Not So Much

Gorgeous sunset over northwestern Vermont last Sunday. This is a photo
I took from a hot air balloon.

We here in Vermont and the rest of the New England have been blessed by what has so far been a gorgeous September.

With few exceptions, we've had lots of sunny, pleasant days. Temperatures have generally been a tad cooler than normal, but not by much. Aside from a couple windy days that brought down a few branches, nothing bad has happened. 

This pattern is going to continue, except with some re-arrangements that will make warmer than normal temperatures more likely into early October. There will be episodes of rain and or wind thrown in for the next couple of weeks, but the sunshine seems like it might dominate.

This weather situation has been great for us. For much of the rest of the nation, not so much. On two occasions already this month, the pattern has steered two tropical systems into the United States, with destructive results.

After leveling the northern Bahamas, Hurricane Dorian sideswiped coastal North Carolina, causing a major storm surge flood on Oracoake Island. Then, as we've been talking about all week, Tropical Storm Imelda unleashed another epic flood disaster in Houston and other parts of eastern Texas.

The pattern has also emphasized storminess in the central and northern Plains. Record flooding hitting parts of South Dakota and Iowa earlier this month, and tornadoes swept through Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

It's not getting any better out in that part of the nation. The remnants of Isabel, plus moisture from tropical storms off the west coast of Mexico, combined with a cold front, are expected to unleash more dangerous flash floods today in the central United States, especially in parts of Kansas and Missouri.

Flash flooding and a possible tornado hit eastern North Dakota overnight. Meanwhile, the remnants of now-Hurricane Lorena, which is near Baja California, could unleash flash floods and severe thunderstorms in Arizona early next week.

A big, fat ridge of high pressure mostly centered in the east-central United States has been responsible for this pattern. Under this ridge, in the South and Tennessee Valleys, heat has broken hundreds of records and many cities look like they will have their hottest September on record.

(The fact that the high pressure ridge in the jet stream has been generally centered just west and south of New England has allowed cooler pushes of air to sneak down the front side of the ridge through Quebec and Ontario and on into New England).

With the ridge in the east, there's a corresponding dip in the jet stream over the western United States. That has produced some rare thunderstorms in places like Seattle this month.

There are signs that the jet stream dip in the West could sharpen in the coming days, opening up the possibillity of unusually strong rain storms for this early in the season, and an odd amount of early season snow in parts of the Rockies.

So yeah, us Vermonters can really rejoice in the great weather we've had,  considering we've been almost surrounded by all kinds of yucky and even dangerous conditions.

Enjoy it while you can, because I have an adage that has always worked: No great weather in Vermont goes unpunished. We will get our comeuppance soon enough. What form that will take is anybody's guess.

Hey Vermonters! Enjoy Your First Spring Weekend!

With weather like this, we'll start seeing stuff
like this in Vermont soon enough.  

March in Vermont is known for its mud, changeable, often ugly weather, dampness, clouds and yuckiness.

Not this weekend.

We Vermonters are going to enjoy our first truly springlike weekend of the season.  A little earlier than average, but we'll take it.

It kind of fits anyway. We move our clocks forward tonight to start Daylight Saving Time, which is a quintessential rite of spring.

Today, Saturday, will probably be the better of the two days, but you won't complain about Sunday, either.

Under mostly sunny skies, temperatures will rise quickly from this morning's frostiness to highs in the 50s to low 60s, which might flirt with a few record highs.

It might be a bit breezy, especially in the Champlain Valley, and a few clouds will probably come in this afternoon, but it will be delightful. Especially for March.

A cold front will come down from Canada and pass through Vermont tonight and Sunday morning, but don't worry, this cold front is a wimp. Nothing Arctic about this one.

It will be cooler Sunday, with highs ranging from the mid 40s north to mid 50s south. That's still a lot warmer than normal for this time of year. There will be a fair amount of sun to help, too. The wind will come out of the north, but it will be a light breeze, nothing fancy.

So you'll want to get out and enjoy.

However, it is March, so expect the weather to deteriorate by Monday, with a slug of light to moderate rain coming through.  There's a good chance it will be mixed with snow and sleet in the morning, especially north and in the mountains.

Temperatures will continue warmer than normal all next week, though there will be periodic chances of showers.

But as nice as this spring weather is be forewarned: It's only mid-March, and there's always the chance of one or two more Arctic blasts, or a snowstorm or two before spring truly gets here.

Most, Least Pleasant Weather Spots In the United States Ranked

Over on Buzzfeed, I stumbled upon a link to a comprehensive interactive map that tells you how pleasant the weather is where you live in the United States, relative to everyone else.

What I would regard as a pleasant
day in Burlington, Vermont in April, 2012.
However, by the criteria in the "pleasant"
ranking, this day was not so nice because
the mean temperture was below 55 degrees.  

The map enumerates how many pleasant days there are per year in a given location.

The criteria is subjective, but here it is: A pleasant day is one in which the mean temperature is between 55 and 75 degrees. Pleasant days must also have a low temperatures warmer than 45 degrees and a high temperature cooler than 85 degrees

There also can't be any appreciable precipitation on a pleasant day and there can't be any snow on the ground.

The "pleasant weather" map was compiled by Kelly Norton, a designer and software engineer in Atlanta, Georgia. The data for the rankings come from NOAA Global Summary of the Day daily archive. 

For the record, the city with the most pleasant weather, at least by this criteria is Los Angeles, with 183 pleasant days per year. This is followed by San Diego (182), Oxnard, Calif (166), Simi Valley, Calif, (156) and San Francisco (153)

The place with the least pleasant weather is McAllister, Montana with 14 pleasant days per year. That's followed by a three way tie for second least pleasant between a spot northeast of Reno, Nevada, Clancy, Montana and Douglas, Wyoming, with 15 pleasant days a year.

Not surprisingly, northern Vermont, where I live, ranks low in the pleasant scale. Burlington has 37 pleasant days a year.  It's nicer where my in-laws live in Yankton, South Dakota, with 44 pleasant days.

Of course, everybody has their own criteria as to what pleasant weather is. Hell, I imagine a storm chaser thinks a day with a tornado is a pleasant day, or a skier things a blizzard is pleasant.

My idea of pleasant weather changes with the season. This time of year, in February, pleasant would be a snowy night and a sunny day, with lows near 20  and highs in the upper 20s with light winds.

In April and May, a pleasant day to me is a breezy, sunny one with highs in the low 60s. In the summer, I like it sunny, with low humidity and in the low to mid 80s.

What's your idea of the most pleasant weather you can get?

Summer Returns In A Softer Late August Fashion

As advertised, much of the Northeastern United States will have an extended period of fine August weather today through the middle of next week.

Sunflowers and other plants enjoying the
pleasant weather in St. Albans Thursday.  

True, there might be a few scattered showers across northern New England today, but the sun will be out most of the time.

And dry, warm, and not terribly humid weather will make anything you do outside this weekend a joy. (Except maybe if you plan to jog 15 miles in the midday sun or something)

This will be Summer Light.  Sort of a kindler, gentler version of summer heat.

Though you can still get big, too, too hot heat waves this time of year, they are a little less likely than they were in July.

So you usually get what we've got coming this weekend. Warm enough to go swimming and enjoy the beach, absolutely. But not so torrid that walking out the door is like getting a blowtorch to the face.

It's a nice time of year, really. There's not quite as many biting insects, the woods are relatively dry for hiking, the flowers are still blooming and the vegetable gardens are producing like mad. Zucchini, anyone?

It's the time of year for one last relaxing weekend of doing nothing before school starts, before the air gets too chilly for swimsuits, before you have an unpleasant discussion about how to pay for this winter's heating fuel.

So get out there and enjoy, and savor the end of summer.  The warm sunshine is too precious to ignore.