Vermont's First Sustained Spell Of Very Warm Weather On Tap, But Still Avoiding Killer Heatwaves

The bank of hydrangea along my lower deck in St. 
Albans, Vermont getting a welcome, but light 
drink of water this morning.  Weather in 
coming days is forecast to turn warm and humid,
but extreme heat will continue to avoid Vermont 

 It'll be relatively cool today and tonight in Vermont. Enjoy it, because the first sustained spell of warm and humid weather in awhile is coming up next. 

On the bright side, those huge, record heat waves that keep cropping up this summer like mosquitoes at a swampy garden party will keep avoiding Vermont. The Green Mountain state weather will become a little uncomfortable, but thankfully not scary torrid. 

A disturbance in the atmosphere is keeping Vermont cloudy and kind of showery, at least in the north.  That'll help hold temperatures down in the 70s or most of us tonight.  Tonight will be nice and cool, too with clearing skies. Fifties or most of us 40s in the cold spots.

Friday and Saturday will be warm, as advertised, but actually not too bad. The humidity will not have crept up yet, so it won't be too oppressive. And the low humidity will encourage reasonably cool nights.

By Sunday, summer will be in full swing again. Temperatures will be way up in the 80s, and you'll feel the humidity creeping in, too. 

It's possible extra clouds and a few showers and storms on Monday will hold temperatures in the low 80s, but it will still be humid.

At this point, it looks like we'll have to wait until a cold front arrives around Thursday to once again escape the very warm, muggy conditions.

This weather pattern is typical of the summer doldrums that are common this time of year, but also highlights an odd but again, not weird contradiction. 

On one hand, it's getting too dry in most places. Drought is expanding pretty fast in New England. Part of Massachusetts is now in severe drought, according to U.S. Drought Monitor. In Vermont, it's drying up fast, too. 

Last week, the tiniest possible sliver of southeastern Vermont was considered to be in drought. This week, the entire eastern third of Vermont is in drought. Last week, 71 percent of Vermont was abnormally dry. This week, only a few pockets along the immediate shore of Lake Champlain are escaping that abnormally dry designation. 

So we need the rain. Warm, humid air can generate drenching thunderstorms. So, maybe, yay! 

However, those weak winds in the humid air can make thunderstorms just sit over the same spot for way too long, causing very localized, but destructive washouts and flash floods.  

We'll have no such issues today, as the showers (and possible garden variety thunderstorms) mostly in northern Vermont will not be nearly heavy enough to create any issues.  

A weather disturbance Monday could trigger some torrential downpours in spots on Monday, especially in the southern half of Vermont. Most of these storms will be welcome.  However, there's an outside chance a few could sit in one place for too long with too much rain, causing very local incidents of washouts, small stream flooding, that sort of thing.

That prediction is far from a slam dunk, so it's just something to keep in the back of your mind. There could also be additional local torrential downpours Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the humid air.