Vermont June Was Coolish, Not Especially Wet And It Was Windy

A very narrow downpour just west of St. Albans, 
Vermont as July opened yesterday. Rainfall in
Vermont was similarly spotty in June. 

 Another Vermont month is in the climate books, as June turned out to be slightly cool and slightly dry in Vermont . The month leaves this summer so far very unlike recent past hot seasons. And there's little sign this will change soon. 

Most places in Vermont were pretty close to average temperature wise in June, with most places coming with a degree or so of what is regarded as normal. Remember, this is a "new normal"  based on average temperatures from 1990 to 2020.  

This June would have been a little warmer than average if we were using what was regarded as average a few decades ago.

For instance, this June had an average temperature of 66.6 degrees in Burlington.  Under the current "normals," this was 0.9 degrees cooler than average, as compared to the years 1990-2020.

But if we were using what was considered normal way back in the 1970s for instance, June, 2022 in Burlington would have been regarded as 1.8 degrees warmer than average.

While most places in Vermont were coolish, Montpelier still managed to end June with a temperature of 1.6 degrees above average.

Rainfall was on the light side in June across Vermont, especially in the south. Of course, we're in a new normal with this as well. We had a series of very wet Junes in the late 1990s and much of the first two decades of the 2000s.

So normal is wetter than it used to be. That's related to climate change, too, as scientists have said we would have wetter summers in general with climate change, though that would be interrupted by occasional droughts. 

In any event, this June, Burlington was a wet area as precipitation was only about a tenth of an inch shy of the "normal" 4.26 inches.

By the time you get to Montpelier, it was drier. The Capital had a June rainfall of 2.61 inches, compared to an average of 4.21 inches. 

In far southern Vermont, Bennington was wicked dry, only picking up 1.37 inches of rain. They should have had about triple that total.

This dryness means the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map is getting active for Vermont again. Around 70 percent of Vermont is now regarded as abnormally dry as of Thursday, up from about 26  percent a week earlier. Only the northwest regarded as having adequate moisture.  Official drought conditions have crept into a tiny sliver of southeastern Vermont as dryness in southern New England expands northward.  

A pretty cloud over St Albans, Vermont near sunset on
July1, 2022. If long range forecasts hold, July
in Vermont could end up being as mellow as June was.

I was also struck by how windy June was.  There usually isn't a whole lot of wind in Vermont during the summer, except of course near strong or severe thunderstorms. But eight days in June brought gusts to 30 mph or more to Burlington, and none of those winds were associated with thunderstorms. 

Severe weather was also very much on the light side in June in and near Vermont.  We only had a handful of episodes of locally strong winds with storms, and only one or two instances of large hail.  We had no substantial outbreaks of severe thunderstorms in June.   

Early indications are that for now, it's rinse and repeat as we head into July. I'm always cautious about long range forecasts, but for what it's worth, the first half of July looks like it will be similar to June.

Intense bouts of heat will probably hit large swaths of the western, central and southern United States, but we'll be left in a relatively cool flow of air from the northwest for the next couple of weeks.

If this pattern pans out as forecast, it means we might have a few warm, humid days thrown in, but in general, it will be slightly cooler than average with no real extremes in rainfall. Like I said, though, that forecast could change, especially as we get more than a week out from now.