Weather Off The Rails Again: Huge Heat, Huge Fires, And A Winter Storm

I still can't get over the weather extremes coming up in Colorado over the next couple days. 

Here's a for instance:   

Graphic from CBS News shows the extreme
heat expected over the Southwest today.

This morning, Fort Collins, Colorado was simultaneously under an air quality alert for existing wildfires burning nearby, a red flag warning for the risk of new fires, and a winter storm watch for the expected snow on Tuesday.

The predicted high temperature in Fort Collins today is 97 degrees, and 90 degrees on Monday. By Monday morning at dawn, it is expected to be 30 degrees and snowing. 

Record highs are being blasted out in the Southwest like crazy.  

The National Weather Service office in Los Angeles was describing the heat there as "kiln-like."  At 3 a.m., the temperature was still above 100 degrees at Malibu Hill and San Marcos Pass, California. Burbank, California yesterday tied it's all time high temperature on record with 114 degrees. It was 122 degrees in Palm Springs. 

Phoenix, Arizona reported a record high of 115 degrees. The forecast high in Sacramento today is 110 degrees.

Predictably, with such heat, wildfires are also blossoming like crazy in the West.  One of the most dangerous, call the Creek Fire in California, trapped 63 campers on a lakeshore and injured many of them.  The California National Guard was finally able to airlift the campers out using Blackhawk helicopters, but a dozen people were injured by flames, at least two of them seriously, says KPIX in San Francisco. 

Temperatures will cool down a little bit in California later in the week, but Santa Ana winds in southern parts of the state are sure to spread more wildfires as the week goes on. 

VERMONT WEATHER ISSUES

While all hell is breaking loose out west, here in Vermont, at least for now, things are comparatively calm.

I was a little surprised by the strength of a weak weather system that touched off some showers and even some thunderstorms Friday night and especially Saturday.

The thought was any showers would be weak and isolated, but things got a little more rambunctious. Te weather was over-performing again. Thunder and lightning were not on my outdoor bingo card last evening, but that's what I got.  

Many places in Vermont got no rain or very little - these things were still pretty scattered. But some of us, especially in here in St. Alban got at least some measurable, welcome rain, around 0.25 inches between Friday evening and Saturday evening. Ground conditions are still dry, so we continue to need any rain we can get. 

Very, very little, if any more rain is coming until at least late Wednesday or Thursday. 

If you have Labor Day weekend plans, today is by far your best bet. It'll be cool (probably 67-73 degrees for most of us).  But it will be sunny, winds will be relatively light and all will be good. If you want to take that last boating trip on Lake Champlain do it today. Definitely DON'T do it tomorrow.

Here's why:

Yes, it will be sunny, with pleasant temperatures, but it will get awfully windy, especially on and near Lake Champlain.  Winds on the broad lake could gust as high as 50 mph, and lake waves will reach heights of four to seven feet. 

That's way too dangerous for small and even mid-sized boats. Stay at the marinas, please.

On land, winds in the Champlain Valley should gust to between 40 and 45 mph, so minor tree damage and isolated power outages are in the cards. 

This wind will largely be caused by a cold front stalling way to our west, and a building, warm extension of the Bermuda High moving westward toward us. We'll be in the squeeze play between the two, so it will get windy. 

The cold front causing that wintry weather out west will struggle to get here against that Bermuda High. It looks like it will finally limp through with some rain and thunderstorms mid and late week.  By the time it gets here, the air moving in won't even remotely be cold enough for snow. 

 Instead, it will probably bring pleasant, typical September like temperatures, though the weather could remain a bit unsettled behind that  cold front.