Storms, Heat Weren't As Bad As They Could Have Been, Cooling Trend To Start

One of the few strong-ish thunderstorms that developed
late Friday afternoon, see here over the northern
Green Mountains after dumping torrential rains
on Enosburg Falls. The storm weakened shortly
after this photo was taken, Severe weather didn't;t
really develop as forecast Friday, but it sure
was hot and humid and steamy. 

 Both the heat and the storms in Vermont on Friday didn't quite measure up to forecasts, but that's really OK. The alternative would have been worse. 

Storms tried to get going west of the Adirondacks early Friday morning and struggled as they moved east. They never did blossom until they hit the western slopes of the Green Mountains in central and northern Vermont. 

It looks like the mountains added a little lift to the atmosphere to strengthen the storms. The strongest storm developed a little northeast of Burlington. It was enough to knock over at least one tree in Jericho. That was the only report we've seem of a strong to severe storm.

Sure, some storms  had torrential rains. I noticed some minor street flooding in Enosburg Falls, for instance.. But it was certainly not a severe weather day. And many places remained dry. Here in St. Albans, we got a sprinkle, which was from the developing storm that eventually drenched Enosburg. 

Once the storms got into eastern Vermont, they weakened again. So it really wasn't the severe storm day we feared.

 A little disturbance  ahead of last night's alleged cold front was ultimately responsible for the storms that did form. The "pre-frontal trough," as it was called, is common ahead of summertime cold fronts. 

Clouds from that disturbance kept temperatures a couple degrees cooler than forecast. As if anybody noticed, as it was still hot and humid and gross.  (At any time yesterday, my sunglasses would fog up   if I stepped out of my air conditioned truck into our steamy atmosphere).

But it could have been a little worse.  But Burlington reached 92 degrees, not the record breaking 96 that was forecast. 

Montpelier did manage to break its record high for the dates, reaching 89 degrees. The old record was 88 set in 1949. But the hiogh temperature fell a little short of the predicted 93 degrees.

Now on to the forecast, and there are a couple more bumps in the weather road despite some really nice weather thrown in.

TODAY

It's a little hard to notice, but we're now in the "cool" air. Dawn broke with sunrise temperatures in the 60s across Vermont, with even a few upper 50s thrown in. It was warm, but still the coolest morning since Wednesday. 

Today itself will actually be a delight. The humidity will be lower than the past two days and temperatures will soar into the 80s with sunny skies. A beautiful day for just about anything outdoors, but still quite warm. Watch yourself if you're doing physical activity.

SUNDAY

Sunday afternoon and evening will bring on one of the bumps in our upcoming weather road. A pretty strong cold front will approach. You'll notice increasing humidity and increasing clouds as we head into the afternoon. We have two potential problems with this cold front. 

The first is the risk of severe weather. As is usually the case, just like we saw on Friday, we might not know for sure whether severe storms develop or not until shortly before they're scheduled. So far, NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has the best chances of strong or severe storms down in the Mid-Atlantic states with just a marginal risk in Vermont. 

But - as noted - the forecast could shift. Stay tuned to this bat channel for updates. If we do see anything severe, it would be in the late afternoon or early evening. 

The other problem is heavy rain and the risk of a few local flash flood problems, mostly north.  This won't be anything widespread, but a few spots could get bullseyed by a series of heavy downpours. NOAA has northern Vermont north of Route 2 under a marginal risk of flash floods tomorrow, 

A handful of places could get one, two, even three inches of rain in a short period of time. But most of us should see much less. In general, most places north will see about a half inch of rain, give or take ad the south should see a little less than half an inch. 

Again, this forecast could change and the amount of rain everyone gets should be super variable. Like yesterday's sprinkles in St. Albans and downpours in adjacent Sheldon. 

NEXT WEEK

It'll be much cooler, that's for sure. And mostly nice. Skies Monday and Tuesday should be at least partly sunny. Broader valleys would be mostly sunny. Highs should only reach the 70s with lows in the comfortable 50s.  Delightful unless you prefer the tropical heat we had yesterday. 

By Wednesday, showers could creep in ahead of our next big bump in the road. Thursday could turn rather stormy. 

Low pressure systems and storms are generally weak in the summer. Sure, you can get wild thunderstorms along otherswise wimpy cold fronts and near lame areas of low pressure, but the actual storm systems on the weather maps are usually pretty feeble this time of year.  

However, a strong storm for June looks like it would head at least sort of this way for Thursday. It's too soon to know exactly what this means for us, but depending on where the storm goes we could get quite a bit of rain, gusty non-thunderstorm winds or strong thunderstorms. Or maybe even nothing remarkable at all. Stay tuned!

Near Record Highs, Strong Thunderstorms In Vermont Today

A large part of the eastern U.S., including
most of Vermont, is under a level 2
slight risk of severe thunderstorms today. 
Level 2 out of 5 risk levels is 
in the yellow shaded areas. 

Heat and storms is the story today, as our hot weather peaks and a what is technically considered a cold front lurks to our west today.
 

We got a preview yesterday as the heat over-performed in at least some places. 

The heat over-performed a bit on Thursday, Burlington reached 91 degrees. It was a little sunnier than expected during the afternoon, which helped raise the temperatures a bit. .

Burlington tied the record for lowest high for the date Thursday, with a muggy low of 71 degrees. 

Storms were also thankfully more lackluster than expected on Thursday. 

A few small storms popped up here and there, but didn't amount to much, just some local downpours in a handful of spots. Then we get into today, which should be dreadful 

TODAY

Stormy and hot and humid is the word. Definitely a busy day. Most of us should get through much of the day without storms. They should become a problem later in the day.

Heat

The low temperature -  if you can call it that - this morning was 73 degrees in Burlington. If that holds through midnight, which is iffy, we'll have another record high "low" temperature for the date. 

That sets the stage or record highs, which we have a good shot at  being tied or broken. 

 The expected high temperature in Burlington is 95 or 96 degrees. The record high for today is 94 set in 2017. In Montpelier, the expected high today is 93 04 94 or so.  The record high there today is 88 degrees.

St. Johnsbury probably won't break their record high, but they should get close.  The record high there is 94 degrees, and the forecast high is in the low 90s.  In southeast Vermont, in the lower Connecticut River Valley, highs today are expected to be in the 93 to 96 degree range. 

Needless to say, heat advisories are in effect for low elevations in western and southeast Vermont. Other parts of the state don't quite it the criteria for a heat advisory, but it will be close.  It will be a dangerous day for vigorous outdoor activity. Stay in the shade if you can, drink plenty of fluids,  and stay in the air conditioning if at all possible.  

Today would be a great day to "kidnap" your elderly neighbor, relative or friend who does not have air conditioning in their house. Take them to a cool movie, or a restaurant with drafty air conditioning. They'll need it. 

Storms

We started this morning with a few showers and downpours across eastern Vermont, but that's not the main show. 

Things should begin to fire up  this afternoon.  The heat and humidity puts us on a hair trigger for fast developing storms.  It doesn't take much to set off some instant potentially strong thunderstorms in this environment.  

However, the actual triggers for storms today are  somewhat lacking. You need strong winds aloft that change direction with elevation to really get a severe weather outbreak going. 

We're sort of missing  the strong upper winds. Also, the "cold front" is coming through basically in pieces later today and tonight, so there's no big change of air. And it's barely cooler behind the front. 

All that is working against severe weather. But not preventing it. 

The models still disagree as of this morning about how many storms will form, and how bad they'll be, ad how they'll behave.  Something called the HRRR (a rapid refresh model that's updated every hour) has a fair number of storms, some possibly severe entering western Vermont by mid-afternoon. Other models wait until early evening to bring on the storms.  

The American computer model seems to think today will turn into something of a yawner. I'm not buying the American model, really. (The American model doesn't provide as much detail as some of the others). Other models bring in some potential strong storms, but not as aggressively as the HRRR. Pick your poison. 

I think the end result is a few of us will end up blasted by strong to severe storms. Many of us will at least hear thunder and get some rain, maybe a downpour.  Some towns will get nothing at all. 

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center pretty much has nearly all of Vermont in a slight risk for severe storms. That's a level 2 out of 5 risk. It means scattered severe storms are a good bet. Far eastern Vermont as of early this morning was in a level 1 marginal risk of isolated severe storms. 

This risk zone might be updated or changed later this morning. The key is the upper level winds. If they're even more lame than forecast, the risk of bad storms goes down. .If those winds increase, so does the risk of wild storms. Stay tuned on that as well. 

As always, we don't know who gets the severe storms until right before it happens. Between the heat, humidity and the storm risk, jettison your hiking plans.  Making today more complicated, the lack of high winds aloft means a severe storm could develop in a snap, then choke itself off quickly, only to be replaced by another strong storm not all that far away. 

Have a way to receive severe storm warnings. And, to be Captain Obvious once again, if you see dark clouds and hear thunder, it's time to get off the water, off the beach, out of the garden and head indoors.

Any storms that do form could have really torrential downpours. That could lead to isolated instances of flash flooding. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has placed us in a marginal risk zone for such floods. The vast majority of us will be fine, but again, you'll won't know where the damaging gullywashers will hit until they actually arrive.  

I'd say a storm could pop off anytime after about noon, but the best chances are from about 3 to 8 p.m. or so. 

WEEKEND

We're calling it a "cold front" coming through later Friday but that's pretty highfalutin way of describing the lame thing that's actually arriving. Sure, it will fire up some storms today, as mentioned. But when it's oppressively steamy out there, it doesn't take much to get storms going. 

The truth of the matter is it won't really be "colder" behind our cold front. The temperature will drop a few degrees, but it will stay awfully warm. It will be less humid, but not exactly bone-dry, either. 

Some details:

Saturday: 

Very warm and sunny, a perfect summer day in Vermont. Highs should get up into the mid and upper 80s, so it should be a nice beach or swimming hole day. A few puffy clouds might decorate the skies, making it all the more scenic . 

Sunday

Very warm to hot again. A few places in the lower Connecticut Valley and Champlain Valley could reach 90 degrees again. But a cold front will be approaching. A real one this time. It looks like the front will stir up a bunch of shower and thunderstorms again during the afternoon. We're waiting on more information, but for now, there's a chance of a few severe storms too. 

In fact, there might be a better chance of severe storms Sunday than we have today. We'll provide updates as we get closer to the event. 

EARLY WEEK

Behind the honest to goodness real cold front, it will, turn, obviously, cooler. But not cold. This won't really be weather whiplash. Instead, we'll see highs generally in the 70s for the first half of the week, maybe ticking up toward 80 degrees once we get toward Wednesday.   

A storm spinning up near Hudson Bay might swing a few light showers our way during the first half of the week, but it won't be anything to worry about. It'll be dry most of the time. 

TV Meteorologist Warns Viewers Of Tornadoes As Fire Burns In The Studio His Reporting From

Meterologist Noah Simmons was engulfed in smoke and
fire extinguisher discharge after a fire in the studio that
broke out when he was warning Fort Smith, Arkansas
area residents of impending tornadoes. At least the
green screen was clear, so you could see the radar images.

Have you ever seen that Gary Larson cartoon that shows a building that's on fire, floating down a river and about to go over a waterfall? The sign on that unlucky building says "Crisis Clinic."  

Meteorologist Noah Simmons must have felt like he was in that Crisis Clinic last Saturday.  He was tracking tornadoes that were menacing the Fort Smith, Arkansas area. Then a studio light caught fire.

Full video is at the bottom of this post, but we'll set you up with the run down. 

Since Simmons was dealing with two tornado warnings on Saturday night June 6. A studio light caught fire during this emergency, and producers worked to put the blaze out. 

"So we just had a fire in the studio, but we got two tornado warnings....So we got to keep tracking this and covering this live," as he covered his nose with a button down shirt as he was broadcasting. 

Most of the "smoke" viewers saw was discharge from fire extinguishers.

As People reported, Simmons first noticed some lights flickering in the studio "Five, 10 seconds later, I start to smell a bit of smoke....That's not normal.'

A few seconds later the light in the studio caught fire. 

Simmons was the only person in the studio when the fire started. That's why you see him sort of walk off camera a bit and say, "Guys, we have a fire happening in the studio right now." 

A producer came in armed with a fire extinguisher to douse the flames. The smoke and especially the stuff from the fire extinguisher made it hard to breathe, which is why you see in the video that he pulls his white button down shirt up over his mouth and nose. 

"When you're tracking two tornadoes at the time, I felt there was a need to keep going," Simmons told People .

The radar images showing the tornado-producing storms was clear as it was a green screen image not affected by the smoke. But Simmons, pointing out features on the radar screen,  appears to be in a thick haze.

Simmons said he had a tickle in his throat and watery eyes the day after the incident, but was OK. He said the station had been "gracious" in giving him medical attention.

As it turns out, three EF-1 tornadoes touched down around Fort Smith. EF-1 tornadoes have winds of between 86 and 110 mph. 

The television station in Fort Smith was not the only one dealing with very local disasters. On May 25, television station WDHN in Dothan, Alabama was hit by and EF-1 tornado that damaged the building as you can see in this video. 

Here's the video of meteorologist Noah Simmons dealing with tornadoes and in-studio smoke all at the same time.  Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 

Some Vermont Flash Flooding Reported; Hot, Humid Weather Today, Tomorrow With Storm Threats

Flash flood damage in Walcott. Photo by Ashelyn 
Burroughs via Facebook 

The humidity is here and we're already wilting. And getting pretty wet in the process. We have two more days to go in this oppressive spell here in Vermont. Followed by a warm weekend and several chances of thunderstorms. Some might be severe tomorrow.

So let's get into it. 

First of all, I mentioned the other day we've entered flash flood season. Vermont had its first instance of trouble yesterday amid the slow moving storms 

They were  hit and miss, and most of us were fine. But the National Weather Service in South Burlington had to issue a flash flood warning for a section of north central Vermont for heavy rains. 

Sure enough, flood damage was reported around Wolcott and Hardwick. Part of East Hill Road in Hardwick had to close for flood damage. So did a section of Bunker Hill Road in Hardwick. 

I was also concerned last night about a nearly stalled area of heavy rain along the International border near and east or Newport, but so far, I haven't heard of any trouble there. 

Now let's look at what's hitting us next:

TODAY

We started off nasty enough with gray skies, temperatures in the mid 60s to low 70s and dew points at similar levels.  

We'll get well into the 80s today as that humidity continues. A few places, especially in southeast Vermont could easily top 90 degrees.  A heat advisory for "real feel" temperatures in the mid-90s is in effect in the lower Connecticut River Valley from roughly White River Junction south. 

It'll feel almost as bad in the rest of Vermont. Usually the Champlain Valley is another hot spot, but clouds and showers might keep temperatures just under 90 degrees. We'll see.

Speaking of those showers and thunderstorms, they'll roam the state again today. I'm getting somewhat mixed messages from various sources and models as to how widespread they'll be. One model, the HRRR, was fairly blasé, firing up some southern Vermont storms and maybe an isolated one in central Vermont. 

Other models get up to 60 percent of us wet by late afternoon or evening via showers and storms. In any event, they won't be as widespread as yesterday. The flash flood threat is also very low, though there could be some isolated trouble again because some storms will produce torrential rains. 

FRIDAY

We have an exciting weather day ahead with oppressive heat and the risk of strong storms 

The atmosphere over Vermont will reach its hottest point of this stretch of misery on Friday. After a stuffy overnight, temperatures will soar to 90 degrees or more in many places, espeicalluy the Champlain Valley and lower Connecticut River valleys, where heat advisories are in effect again. The western parts of Rutland and Bennington counties are included in tomorrow's heat advisory. 

The National Weather Service is mulling whether to expand tomorrow's heat advisories, but will wait for more data before deciding whether to pull the trigger. 

It will be another very humid day. Definitely take it easy out there and don't work too hard. Three days of sticky, ugly weather accumulates the heat stress.  Plus, this is the first big hot, humid spell of the season, so we're not quite used to it yet. 

While you're suffering from the heat, you're also going to need access to weather warnings, especially in the mid to late afternoon and into the evening. 

It looks like conditions will be a little better to form severe storms than we thought yesterday. The instability will be super high, so that will be a factor. An approaching cold front will start to cool the upper atmosphere and increase winds aloft. 

All those are ingredients for severe storms. The winds aloft won't be super strong, which might be limiting factor. But at this point, at least a few severe storms with strong winds are a decent bet. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has us in a level 2 out of five alert level fort severe storms. 

WARM WEEKEND

This first cold front won't have much cold air behind it. Saturday and Sunday will feature highs in the 80s. It'll be somewhat less humid, though. Another cold front will come in on Sunday with more showers and storms. Depending on the timing of the front, we could see another risk of severe storms .

Decidedly cooler weather comes in for the first part of next week with highs in the near-normal 70s.  

 

Humidity,, Storms To Hassle Vermont For Next Three Days

Irises are a staple of June gardens in Vermont. This group
of purple irises in St. Albans was awaiting the 
expected showers and storms that are likely today'
through Friday. High humidity arrives, too. 

 Vermont's spell of spectacular June weather is over, at least for now. 

Tuesday was another winner.  A refreshingly cool start to the day yielded to highs in the 80s under sunny skies. Humidity was low. Perfect for whatever you were doing outdoors. 

Today through Friday, not so much. 

We woke up to clouds and haze and humidity that was beginning to creep upwards. As of 6:45 a.m, showers were already lurking in the Adirondacks. Humidity, clouds and showers, along with some sun, is the game for awhile around here.

Lets do the details: 

TODAY:

A small disturbance is working its way into the region from the west, along with a warm front of sorts. The result is a rising chance of showers, with a few thunderstorms rolled into the mess as we go through the day. The best chances of rain are late this afternoon and this evening. Despite the showers, we should make it to near 80 degrees today.

As is always the case with showers and storms, rainfall will be super variable, with one town on the road getting drenched and the next town over only getting a little.  

NOAA's Weather Prediction Center still has the interior Northeast, including Vermont in a marginal risk zone for flash floods today. That takes into account the risk for locally torrential downpours. That said, the overall risk for flash flooding today and tonight in Vermont is thankfully pretty low. 

But in general, forecasters think a half to three quarters of an inch is in the cards north, with maybe a quarter inch south by tomorrow morning.

THURSDAY

This will be the "nicest" of the three days of humidity we're focusing on. But most of you aren't going to love it. By tomorrow, dew points, a measure of how humid it feels out there, will continue to rise, reaching the upper 60s to near 70 by afternoon. That's oppressive. Since this will be the first real humid spell of the season, we're not used to it yet. So it will feel worse.

If you must work your butt off  outside, maybe don't work your butt off quite so much. And drink a lot of fluids. It can get dangerous. 

We'll have another smattering of showers and thunderstorms dancing around the landscape in the afternoon and evening, too. They probably won't as widespread as the stuff we'll get later today. Probably just half of us will get wet. 

The thunderstorms that get going tomorrow afternoon won't be severe, but a few of them will send a bucket full of torrential rain where they do hit. When it's as humid as we expect, you're going to get bursts of rain like that. 

FRIDAY

This will be the worst day of the stretch. It will be the hottest day of the bunch, and have the greatest threat of a few strong storms. 

There's still debate on how hot the actual temperature will be. If there's a lot of clouds and showers around morning and early to mid afternoon, we might not make it to 90 degrees. Sunshine will bring us to those 90 degree temperatures. 

Either way, we'll roast. Because of that humidity.  Dew points will stay in the upper 60s so hot. So hot, that the National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory Friday for the Champlain Valley of Vermont and New York, and western Rutland County. 

The heat index Friday between noon and 8 p.m. could be around 95 degrees. The rest of Vermont doesn't quite fit the criteria for a heat advisory, but trust me, it will be plenty uncomfortable statewide 

The next problem is the expected rising chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. With a cold front starting to approach, we might have enough atmospheric energy to produce a couple strong or isolated severe storms. 

So far, it looks like the best dynamics for severe weather will be just to our west in New York, but the forecast will be adjusted as needed.

COOLING TREND

Luckily, the heat and humidity won't last forever. A series of cold fronts will come through, each one dropping our temperatures a bit. 

Friday night's cold front looks like it might give us a warm, but less humid Saturday. After that, we'll have a chance of showers each day heading into early next week, but daytime temperatures will only be in the 70s by Monday and Tuesday.  

lt's Flash Flood Season In Much Of the U.S. No Big Threats In Vermont - Yet

Damage from flash flooding near Hinesburg, Vermont
in July, 2024. We're now entering prime flash flood
season, and Vermonters still have some PTSD from
the floods of the last three summers. Very slight 
chance of some local flash floods Wednesday night
in Vermont, but no big threats ---yet

Summer is the season of flash floods in the United States.

Such floods can happen anytime of year, of course. But summer, with its slow moving and/or intense thunderstorms, is the prime season. 

Sunday night, a flash flood emergency was declared in and around Huntsville, Alabama, where people had to be plucked from flooded cars. Water also got into several homes. 

We're already seeing some pretty big flash floods this week.  On Monday, rain fell at a rate of up to four inches per hour around Joplin, Missouri, and some people had to be rescued from inundated cars. Fox Weather reports. Downtown Seneca, Missouri was also flooded out. 

Flash flooding was reported in Texas, too.

Overnight, severe storms prompted flash flood warnings in central Kansas, where up to 5.5 inches of rain fell and another one to two inches was expected. Parts of the southeastern U.S. and Tennessee Valley are at risk for flash floods today.  

For Wednesday night, NOAA's Weather Prediction Center added a marginal risk for flash flooding in northern New York, all but far southern Vermont and northern New Hampshire. 

The agency said very humid air and a weather disturbance cold cause some instances of local flash flooding. 

Local meteorologists and myself are not too worried about flash flooding tomorrow and tomorrow night. We could easily see some gully washer downpours, but serious flooding looks doubtful. 

Most of us will get a half inch or less of rain Wednesday through Thursday. That doesn't scream "flooding."  But, thunderstorms could dump much more than that in small, localized areas.

Still, this is Vermont, and we have a long history of flash flooding. Our steep terrain in many areas encourages water to rush out of the hills during torrential rains. Climate change has raised the stakes, as downpours in a warmer world tend to be more intense. Warmer air can hold more water. That water can get released in the right conditions. 

Those "right conditions" in Vermont led to severe, destructive and deadly summertime flash floods in 2023 and 2024. Less extensive but still severe flash floods hit parts of the Northeast Kingdom last summer.

As a result, we're all gun shy and a little bit PTSD-wracked when it comes to flash flood risks across the Green Mountain State. Tis the season to keep a close eye on weather forecasts around here, especially if it's really humid and threatening to storm. 

 

June Heat Waves In Vermont Never Used To Be Much Of A Thing. Then Climate Change Came Along

A time/temperature sign in St. Albans, Vermont during
 a record breaking heat wave last June 23 

 With the potential of 90 degree weather coming toward the end of the week, depending on how numerous the showers and storms become, I started looking at June heat waves in Vermont. 

Once upon a time, June heat wasn't really a thing. Sure, it happened once in awhile, but we usually had to wait until July and August to feel the big strong blasts of summer heat. 

Not any more. Climate change apparently has something to say about when we Vermonters experience summer heat. 

The year 1988 seemed to be the beginning of a turning point for June heat in Vermont, at least as measured in Burlington.  On June 15, 1988, it reached 97 degrees in Burlington, breaking what was then the record for the  hottest June temperature on record. 

On June 16, 1994, that record was tied. Then on June 19, 1995, the temperature in Burlington soared to 100 degrees, shattering the June record.

The number of 90+ days in Burlington's June record books changed during that time period. Ninety degree June heat was relatively rare in the  first four decades of the 20th century. Ninety in June happened only 12 times in the 41 years ending in 1941. 

Between 1942 and 1993, 90 degree June heat became more frequent, occurring in 34 out of those 51 years.  Now, the heat hits in almost all Junes. In the 31 years since 1994, we only missed out on 90 degrees in eight Junes.

Another bit of stats, although I know this is already number heavy: In the 87 years ending in 1987, it had only reached 95 degrees three times in June. In a little less than four decades since 1988, it's been 95 degrees 13 times.  

In the 2000s, extreme June heat almost became the norm.   It's been 96 degrees or hotter in all but one of the past five Junes.  Sometimes June heat started in May.   On May 27, 2000, the temperature reached 95 degrees, the hottest May day on record, breaking the old mark by two degrees 

On June 6, 2021, it reached 95 degrees, and on June 7 that year it was 96 which was, at the time the hottest for so early in the season 

I say "at the time," because on June 1, 2023 it reached 96 degrees. 

All this June heat culminated in a heat wave last June. Depending on what part of New England you were in, either June 23 or June 24, 2025 was the hottest June day on record in all six New England states. Each New England state reached at least 100 degrees.

In North Springfield, Vermont, it was 103 degrees, breaking the previous statewide record for June, which had been 101 degrees. Burlington reached 99 degrees on June 23 last year, barely missing the record for the month by one degree. Plattsburgh, New York, at 101 degrees, was among numerous cities in the Northeast that set all-time June records. 

THIS WEEK

If it gets to 90 degrees this week, I doubt we'll see record highs, but of course you never know. You need lots of sinking, hot air to create the clear skies that produce record heat. Instead, this warm spell will be muddled by embedded weather disturbances. Those disturbances will likely create clouds and scattered showers and thunderstorms which could keep the heat down. But not the humidity, of course.

The details: 

Today: Nice! Near 80 degrees, sunny low humidity

Tuesday: Nice! Sunny, with highs in the 80s. Humidity will at least be reasonably.

Wednesday Not so nice. Showers, maybe a rumble of thunder. Cloudy, turning more humid. Highs in the 70s to around 80

Thursday/Friday: Partly cloudy, humid, risk of showers/storms. Highs in the 80s to near 90.

Beyond Friday, the weather models are still arguing among themselves as to what's going to happen. I'll let them fight it out, and provide updates as we get closer to next weekend. It's only Monday, after all. 

I don't know whether we will have extreme heat later this month or not, But climate change has loaded the dice. These are no longer your grandfather's cool, comfortable Vermont summers.