Vermont Weather Running A Month Ahead of Schedule This Year. Also: Rain, Smoke, Cool Air

One of my gardens in St. Albans, Vermont already has that
"end of summer" feel to it, a month ahead of schedule. Look
closely and you can already see a few fallen autumn
leaves in the grass.

 A not so exciting rainfall passed through Vermont early this morning, to the delight of people north of Route 2 still mired in drought, to the annoyance of those in soggy areas south of Route 4 and to the "meh" of those in between. 

Northern areas got about a quarter inch of rain, with amounts trending closer to a half inch across central Vermont. 

What strikes me about the current weather, and the forecast, is how it feels like the end of summer, rather than the middle of it. 

The peak of summer's heat on average hits around the second or third week in July, about a month after the Summer Solstice. From here on out, it's downhill.  Slowly at first, then it picks up momentum as we go through autumn toward winter. 

The schedule this year seems off, though. 

The Vermont weather of 2021 keeps seeming to be ahead of itself by a month. Back in March, I had April crocuses blooming.  In April. leaves on the trees started popping open, like they usually do in May.  Once we got to May, we had some June-style early season heat and drought. 

June this year was more like July in Vermont, as the season's heat peaked a month early.  July has been like August in a way, as it has cooled off from those July heights. 

It actually feels like the end of August now.  In the Champlain Valley this morning, wind gusts have been up to 30 mph or more. That kind of weather is common as we get into September but not so much now. 

At or slightly below normal temperatures will give way to even cooler temperatures later in the week.  The second half of the week will feature highs only in the low 70s and nighttime temperatures in the 50s.  It'll be kind of like Vermont's County Fair season that hits in early September.

That time of year is also around peak fire season out west, but already, we've seen smoke from early season fires out there. And we will again. There's some smoke in the atmosphere today.  Forecasts call for it to temporarily worsen tomorrow, and we might be facing new air quality alerts, like we did this past Tuesday.  

The cool trend is forecast to carry into the first week of August. 

Of course, we don't know how long or even whether this "month ahead of schedule" trend will continue here in Vermont.   Strong summer heat could well establish itself once again later in August or early September. 

But for now, the weather has sort of a back to school and watch out for fall foliage and carnival type of vibe.  Maybe it's just me getting ahead of myself.  I'm certainly am not anxious for summer to end.