Northern Vermont Keeps Missing Rain (Continued)

Nice wet, billowing clouds earlier this week in northern 
Vermont, but only brief showers, not the heavy stuff that
has erased drought in southern Vermont. 

 The Northeastern United States is by any definition, soggy.

Many cities are on their way to having the wettest July on record. Here in Vermont, the month's wet pattern extends through the southern half of the state.  

While the pattern is super wet on paper for the north, too, the rain has miraculously avoided that part of the state.  The drought goes on. 

The area that seems to avoid the rain includes northern Vermont, northern New Hampshire, parts of interior Maine and southern Quebec.

Sure, the pattern has allowed for some rain to finally fall in the north. But it's still running a little below normal. Every opportunity for rain this month - and there have been - gets screwed up across the north. 

A weather front doesn't set up close enough. A punch of dry air in the upper atmosphere comes through at the wrong time. A push of maritime air from the Atlantic Ocean comes in just in time to squelch some incoming storms.

Wednesday, the strongest storms and the heaviest rain hit southern Vermont, again, as the best instability stayed mostly south of Route 4. 

The priced the south paid was in the form of locally severe storms, with trees reported down in Wilmington and Vernon.

Drought hangs tough in northern Vermont (orange
shading) as heavy rains that keep hitting most of the 
Northeast steadfastly avoid the north. 

In the north, it was all pretty clouds Wednesday, with  some even prettier sun showers scattered about, but no soaking rains.  It did rain here in St. Albans this week.  A little. We had a half inch of rain over two days. But the ground is still dry, and the rivers and streams have little water in them. 

Thursday was dry, as we know. At least it was a nice summer day. 

Forecasts that look impressive for rain in northern Vermont a few days out don't pan out as the day draws near. 

For instance, earlier this week, it looked as if the front limping through today would give the whole state some serious rains. 

Today's forecast for rain? Yawn. 

Just some quick hit little showers here and there this morning.  A brief burst of rain passed through St. Albans, Vermont as a wrote this at 6:30 a.m today, so yay.

It won't last, as radar indicates, so maybe we'll get a tenth of an inch or so.  I'll take anything, of course, but I would have liked more. Some places in northern Vermont won't even be lucky enough to get a brief shower like I just did.  

Next up,  another super soaker Saturday night in southern Vermont and central and southern New England, with possible renewed flooding. In the north, meh. Maybe it will rain a little. 

These factors that have prevented rains north of Route 2 this  month all seem unrelated, but I have to wonder why it can't and won't really rain in the north, which is now the only part of the region that needs. 

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor, issued Thursday, tells the story. Drought and dry conditions in southern Vermont have eased or gone away altogether. In northern Vermont, the drought hangs tough. 

The drought in northern Vermont, already among the longest on record, appears as if it will go on indefinitely. 

The weather pattern that favors the very wet weather in the Northeast will continue into early next week before trending drier. 

Evening sunshine in St. Albans, Vermont Thursday after
a shower dropped a small amount of rain.

As noted, the next very wet storm for the Northeast will affect all of Vermont Saturday into Sunday morning. 

Current forecasts call for maybe a quarter inch of rain up by the Quebec border, but the way things are going, I bet they'll reduce that expected rainfall by the time the event draws closer.

Central and southern Vermont will get a good drenching - an inch or more. 

But, of course, northern areas will miss out again while the soaking continues south.  Some forecasts give us a good shot of rain in north of Route 2 on Tuesday, but we know what will happen to the forecast by Monday.

Pfft. 

You might remember the song, "It Never Rains In Southern California."  I guess you could also do a sequel, "It Never Rains In Enosburg,"  Or Swanton. Or Norton. Or Lowell. 

I guess you can have fun with those revised lyrics as you watch your well go dry and watch your neighbors down in Boston muck out their flooded basements.