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| Interesting satellite photo from Thursday afternoon as we experienced record heat. That milky appearance stretching from Ohio, up through New York, Vermont and the rest of northern New England is wildfire smoke from New Mexico. Those feathery clouds in Quebec shown tickling northwestern Vermont are high level moisture blowing from the tops of showers far to the north. A decaying storm was keeping things cloudy and cool in the Middle Atlantic States even as we in Vermont baked. |
These records, with the old marks are listed below:
Burlington: 89 degrees; old record 84 in 2004
Montpelier: 87 degrees, old record 82 in 2004
St. Johnsbury: 87 degrees old record 85 in 2004
Plattsburgh, New York: 85 degrees, 83 in 1956
Saranac Lake, New York: 86 degrees, 84 in 1911.
The Saranac Lake record is pretty stunning given how that Adirondack town is a notorious cold spot.
Today will be very similar to yesterday. There are subtle differences in the air from Thursday that, taken together, mean temperatures will be in the mid to upper 80s again. We still have a shot at 90 degrees in Burlington, it all depends on how the day goes.
Working in favor of a possible 90 degree reading in the Champlain Valley is that the overall air mass is just a wee bit warmer than yesterday. Plus, we're starting out much milder this morning than yesterday, so we won't have as far to climb to reach 90 degrees.
The low temperature in Burlington yesterday was 51 degree, compared to a low of 64 today. There's a little less wildfire smoke aloft than yesterday to dim the sun, but there might be more high clouds than yesterday, which would dim the sun a bit to prevent readings getting to their full potential.
Working against us getting to 90 degrees is the fact that the air is a little more humid than yesterday. Not oppressive, but it has inched up. Wetter air is a harder to heat than dry air. Also, there's a bit more of a breeze today, and those breezes can mix in some cooler air from above, or transport air that has been cooled by still frigid Lake Champlain inland.
It is cooler right along the shores of the lake. While Burlington was in the upper 80s Thursday afternoon, Colchester Reef was in the mid-70s.
Checking in once again with local forecasters, the meteorologists over at WPTZ-TV forecast Burlington's high today at 90 degrees. The National Weather Service in South Burlington is also forecasting a high of 90 degrees.
WCAX-TV meteorologists are forecasting a high of 88 degrees in Burlington today. Meanwhile, WVNY meteorologists are playing is slightly conservative with a forecast high of 87 degrees.
In any event, since record highs today across Vermont are mostly in the low to mid 80s, we'll have no trouble setting more records today.
Same is true for Saturday. It might be a couple degrees "cooler" Saturday as more humidity and a few extra clouds enter the picture. There could even be an isolated shower or thunderstorm over the mountains, but the vast majority of us will avoid those. Still, we'll have more record highs for Saturday.
Sunday will be "cooler" but it won't feel like it. It will be noticeably more humid, and temperatures will top out near 80 degrees. Showers and thunderstorms will arrive, as the first of a series of cold fronts approach. I hope most of us get soaked. We need the rain.
More showers come through on Monday, and then it's back to May weather. Summer will take a hiatus for a little while, with high temperatures in the 60s forecast for most of next week, after Monday.
It's not just us experience the heat. Huge areas of the Midwest also broiled yesterday with temperatures in the 90s. Traverse City, Michigan reached a torrid 96 degrees, the hottest ever recorded there in the entire month of May. It was also their earliest 90 degree reading on record.
While the entire northern tier of the United States will turn cooler for next week, most of the South will grind on with more hot, possibly record breaking temperatures.
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