Vermont's Biggest November Heat Wave Finally Ends

After a week of record warm November temperatures, I'm 
still finding flowers in my St. Albans, Vermont gardens. 

 It was a humid evening, and I was working in my gardens.  Because of the warmth, I wore just a flimsy t-shirt and shorts. I still worked up quite a sweat. I was actually relieved when some light sprinkles started.  The rain drops gave me some needed cooling. 

This happened last evening. In northern Vermont. In November. Clearly a bizarre situation for this time of year. 

It is back to reality today, as temperatures will stay in the 40s to near 50.  Pretty close to average for mid-November. 

The last few days were clearly anything but.  As the warm spell got under way last week, I speculated that it could be the biggest November heat wave in the Vermont weather record books. 

I hereby declare it as such.

True, we never got to the hottest November reading on record for Burlington or the entire state. The highest it's been in Burlington is 75 degrees. In this warm spell, the city "only" made it as high as 72 degrees.

What the warm spell lacked in absolute high temperatures more than made up for in duration.  Montpelier had four record high days in a row.  Burlington had seven consecutive days at 67 degrees or higher. There had never been more than two consecutive days of 70 degree readings on record in Burlington. Until now. There were four such days. 

Some areas near us DID see all time records for November. Montreal had its hottest November day on record with a high of 73 degrees. The province of New Brunswick had a preliminary report of 77 degrees, which would make that New Brunswick's warmest November day.  

Here are some other wild stats about this warm spell, courtesy of the National Weather Service office in South Burlington. These records go back as far as the 1880s:

The average high temperature in Burlington for the past week was 70 degrees.  That would have been about average for mid-September. 

This past week, averaging the high and low temperatures, we end up with 59.4 degrees, easily the warmest week on record for any time in November. The previous record was 55.2 degrees in 1938.

The average daily low temperature for the week was exactly the same as what the normal high temperatures for the week should have been - 48.2 degrees.

Yesterday's low temperature of 60 degrees was the warmest on record for any date in November. 

 Another strange aspect of the warm spell was the sunshine. True, yesterday was cloudy, especially west of the Green Mountains. But we had a week of nearly wall to wall sunshine in Vermont. This time of year, we rarely get more than one sunny November day lost amid a sea of overcast days. Not this year. 

I don't see any signs of renewed warmth in our immediate future. In fact, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week look briefly wintry.  Then things will probably warm up to something near normal for November. Not great, but not as dreadful as it can be this time of year. 

Remember, though. This was a remarkable string of oddly pleasant weather.  No good weather in Vermont goes unpunished. We'll pay for this somehow this winter.  The gods will see to that.