Enjoy The Comfort Now; Hot Stuff Still Coming To Vermont. West Hot, Too

Places like this will probably be a good place to be here
in Vermont this weekend and next week, as hot weather
is coming for an extended stay

 The days of cool early season comfort here in Vermont are numbered. 

The heat wave that's being advertised for the weekend and next week could be one for the record books. 

Temperatures were in the 40s to low 50s across the Green Mountain State this morning and the humidity was delightfully low.  

Despite increasing clouds this afternoon, today will be a comfortable one, too. Temperatures could spike up to 80 degrees in spots, but the humidity will stay pretty low. 

Don't get used to it.  By the weekend, a lot of you will be whining about the heat. 

It'll still be on the cool side tomorrow with some showers around. Gawd, we need those! But you'll feel the humidity start to creep up during the day as well.

From there, the thermostat cranks up.   Low 80s Friday, mid 80s Saturday, then the hot weather is on.  

Signals are as strong as ever that we're in for a long spell of early season heat.  Parts of Vermont could easily make it to an official heat wave - three consecutive days or more of 90 degree temperatures. 

Forecasters are still going conservative, as they should, to be on the safe side. The current predictions call for upper 80s to around 90 Sunday through Tuesday and likely beyond that. 

However, a few forecast models really spike the temperatures up, probably around Monday, when readings could enter record territory. (The record high next Monday in Burlington is 94 degrees).

As is typical in a New England heat wave, there is the possibility of brief, slight relief from a back door cold front or two trying to sneak down from eastern Quebec.  Even if any of those cold fronts reach us, which is in doubt, they'll quickly wash out and the hot weather will reign supreme. 

The humidity during this hot spell will be up there, but not as high as it can possibly go, so that should help a little. But the hot sun, coupled with only moderate humidity, will really dry things out fast.  Any beneficial rains we manage to squeeze out between late tonight and Friday morning will pretty much be for naught. 

Drought or almost drought conditions will roll on, and likely worsen. 

I don't whether the intense heat will last past, say, next Wednesday, but forecasters are pretty confident above normal temperatures will continue into mid-month around here. 

Of course this isn't only us that's in for the heat.   These domes of hot weather tend to cover quite a bit of real estate and this one is no exception.  It'll be hot this weekend and at least into early next weeks from the Great Lakes through the Northeast and on into much of southeastern Canada. 

A separate heat zone has also been torturing the West Coast, especially California in recent days. Widespread temperatures in the 100s have hit the Central Valley. This, in turn, has jump started what experts fear will be another horrible fire season out there amid a long-lasting, deepening drought. 

The heat wave building in the Northeast will redirect temperatures, in the nation, so California should temporarily cool off over the next week or so.  But that's unlikely to last all that long.