Glorious To Gloomy: That's Autumn In Vermont For Ya!

Gorgeous weather yesterday lit up the foliage around
my yard in St. Albans, Vermont and even made my
frosted and fading perennial beds look colorful

Thursday's weather in Vermont was as glorious as can be: Temperatures soared well into the 70s, and bright sunshine lit up the lingering fall foliage.  

Sure, it was windy in some places, especially the Champlain Valley, but who cares? It was gorgeous.

Autumn weather turns on a dime in New England, and sure enough, the character of today will be the polar opposite of Thursday. 

Expect it to be gray and dark, with occasional rain.  The air will stay chilly and damp all day.  Temperatures will stay stuck near 50 degrees all day. 

 We're rapidly heading into the cloudiest time of year, so expect more of this in the coming days and weeks.

A slow moving cold front came into Vermont last night, and is lingering in New England. Meanwhile, a storm system will move northward along the front.  This will keep the rain going, and it looks to be heavy at times in eastern Vermont, and into New Hampshire and Maine. 

That's a good thing, since the worst of this year's drought is in those neighborhoods. 

Recent rains have diminished the drought conditions somewhat in eastern Vermont, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor.  Things are steady in western Vermont, where it's not quite as dry to begin with. Today's rains will help a little more. 

We've actually gotten a little wetter to the point where the heaviest rain in eastern Vermont will probably cause streams and rivers to rise abruptly. I really doubt there will be any flooding to speak of, and even if there is it will be quite minor.  But at least the rivers are now able to respond to rain. Ground water has gotten a bit better, even if we still have a ways to go to bring that moisture up to reasonable levels. 

Since we're getting well into autumn now, the chances increase that some precipitation in Vermont would be snow, especially near the tail end of some storms.  Sure enough, the mountain summits in and around Vermont should see at least a couple inches of snow out of this.  Valley locations are safe from the snow. 

Although the sunshine will come back off and on over the next several days, the weather pattern is staying active, so expect more bouts with clouds and rain nearly every day through at least the next week.  

Tomorrow, Saturday, does look rather sunny in the afternoon after the early morning rain and mountain summit snow clear out. Don't expect those warm temperatures we had yesterday, though.  Daytime readings will stay in the relatively chilly 50s.