Temperature Records Smashed Sunday In Weird Temperature Gyrations; An Icky Monday Follows

Big changes to the March landscape with yesterday's
record warmth. This is a view of my St. Albans 
backyard at 11:40 a.m. Sunday.........

Record highs were obliterated in and around Vermont during yesterday's brief squirt of unseasonably warm air.  It was a strange Vermont weather day all around. 

Some of the records blew past previous record highs by 10 or more degrees, which is really impressive. Montpelier reached 68 degrees, blowing away the previous record of 55 degrees set in 1974.

Plattsburgh, New York shattered the previous record high by 10 degrees when readings there got up to 69 degrees Sunday.

Burlington had a record high of 64 degrees, besting the previous mark of 61 degrees set way back in 1894. That previous record was among the oldest standing records in Burlington's record books.

Other high temperatures in the region yesterday included 68 degrees at Springfield and 67 in both Rutland and Bennington.

The strange temperature gyrations and contrasts were at least as impressive as the records themselves. 

A warm front crossed most of the area from west to east at or  before lunch time.  However, Montpelier hit record highs before places further west, that should have warmed faster. It was 39 degrees at noon in Montpelier, then 48 degrees at 1 p.m. By 2 p.m. the temperature there had shot up to 63 degrees after the skies had cleared. 

Meanwhile, Plattsburgh, New York was at a relatively mild but unspectacular 50 degrees shortly before 2 p.m. The wind at 2 p.m. there was from the south or southeast, off Lake Champlain, which kept the temperature down a bit compared to other towns.

By 3 p.m., there had been a wind shift to the southwest at Plattsburgh, and the temperature there rocketed to 69 degrees.  It looks like winds were coming down the slopes of the Adirondacks into Plattsburgh.  The air in that flow compressed as it flowed downhill, and compressed air warms.  That and the fact that the wind was no longer coming off Lake Champlain probably explains the leap in temperatures.   

....and the same view of my yard just five hours later,
at 4:40 p.m. Sunday.

Burlington lagged behind with these temperatures. At 2 p.m. Burlington was already up to 54 degrees, but at 4 p.m., it was still only 57 degrees. That was still below the record high for the date and cooler than in  most places in Vermont. Which is odd, because Burlington is usually a hot spot.

I think there was a fetch off Lake Champlain that kept Burlington's temperatures in check. 

As the sun set and most places started to cool a bit, a surge of west winds with the cold front brought a gust to 52 mph into Burlington and caused temperatures to spiral up.  Warmer air aloft mixed down to the surface  allowing Burlington to reach its high of 64 degrees. 

It was also amazing to watch the landscape and sky change so rapidly during Sunday. My St. Albans, Vermont property went from completely snow covered at 11 a.m. to almost free of snow by 4 p.m. 

The sky went from rainy and gloomy in the late morning, to completely cloudless by early afternoon, to a turbulent looking sky that seemed to want to develop into showers and storms.

That never happened in northern Vermont. Things just didn't come together. But near and after sunset, some fast moving, gusty thundershowers raced eastward across Rutland and Windsor counties.  

Quite an amazing day for this weather geek. 

TODAY'S RAIN AND MIX

It was certainly back to reality early this morning under a thick overcast and cooler weather. As expected, last night's cold front stalled to our south and a new storm is riding northeastward along it. 

This storm should go near or right over northwestern Vermont by evening.

Out ahead of it, rain will spread it, but there's a decent chance it could be mixed with some freezing rain and/or a little snow, especially north and west. 

Still, it will be mostly a rain event, especially along and south of Route 2.

A flood watch is in effect through Tuesday morning in the northern half of Vermont.  That brief but huge heat wave yesterday really sent a lot of snowmelt water into streams and rivers. Since ice jams are still around on some rivers, the surge of water, aided by today's rain, might move them around. 

As that happens, new ice jams could form, causing local flooding. Other waterways could go into minor flood just from the runoff. 

Rain will turn to snow tonight for most of us before ending, but it won't amount to much. You could wake up tomorrow to an inch or two of fresh snow.

The weather after that looks benign until Friday and Saturday, when some type of storm is expected to come through. It's too early to know whether it will be mostly rain, or snow, or some horrible mix. Stay tuned!