Three Days Of Murk Yield To Sunny Rest Of Week. Also Whopping Western Heat, Northeast Rain Update

Zinnias brighten a gloomy September afternoon in 
St. Albans, Vermont on Tuesday. Brighter weather
is on the way. 

After three days of murky weather in northern Vermont and a soaking rain in southern parts of the state, we'll gradually go back to sunny, late summer weather until early next week. 

Early this morning, it was already clearing up near the International Border. Here in St. Albans, there were only a few clouds, mostly to the south as of 8 a.m. 

The further south you go in Vermont, the longer it will take today for the clouds to scour out. It'll probably stay cloudy all day in Bennington and Windham counties. 

Despite three days of clouds, some areas of northern Vermont have little to show for it in terms of rain. Burlington collected just 0.12 inches since Sunday, so that doesn't do much for the too-dry conditions. 

Up in St. Albans, my place received a fairly paltry third of an inch.  Montpelier eventually did better, despite a dry Sunday, with 0.7 inches. 

Further south the rain was much better. Rutland had 1.3 inches of rain. Bennington managed to get about an inch of rain out of this episode. Springfield, which has been really dry,  rejoiced in a little over 1.5 inches. 

This was pretty much it for rain for awhile, aside from a possible very isolated light shower tomorrow. Temperatures will warm up to near summer levels late week and the weekend. Nights for some areas will stay above 60 degrees and the warmer valleys will feel toasty in the low 80s Friday through Sunday at least. 

A slow moving, evolving weather pattern might line up Vermont for much needed additional rain during the middle of next week, but that prospect is iffy at best. I guess we'll just have to stay tuned. 

TORRID WEST, SOGGY NORTHEAST

That heat wave in the West peaked in many areas, especially in California with unprecedented hot temperatures. Even hotter than I reported yesterday. 

Downtown Sacramento reached a terrible 116 degrees, its hottest day on record. Other California cities reporting new all-time high temperatures include Santa Rosa, 115 degrees;  Livermore, 116 degrees; Ukiah, 117 degrees and San Jose, 109 degrees

The extreme heat is forecast to continue in northern California through Friday.

Meanwhile, far southern California has a bit of weather whiplash coming. Hurricane Kay is expected to brush agains Mexico's Baja California as it heads north. From there, Kay will keep heading north but weaken as it approaches an area just off the coast on the Mexico/California border.

The storm is expected to throw a huge batch of moisture into areas near and east of San Diego and all the way to the southwest corner of Arizona, in and near Yuma. 

East winds ahead of the storm will probably cause downslope winds that will keep areas near San Diego at record high temperatures through Friday. Then the system's real moisture kicks in, with flooding rains possible Friday night and into the weekend. Rains could spread as far north as Los Angeles.

The rest of California will remain parched and dry.

Much further north, in the northern Rockies, dry lightning and strong winds are creating an incredibly hazardous fire situation today.  Dry lightning is from thunderstorms with little or no rain. Cloud to ground strikes can start many fires, which would then spread rapidly in the erratic and gusty thunderstorm winds. 

In parts of Montana today, winds of up to 60 mph, that dry lightning and super low humidity are making the situation extremely scary.  

Meanwhile, in the Northeast, rain is tapering off after some wild totals, south of Vermont of course. 

Rainfall totals included an incredible 11.3 inches in Cranston, Rhode Island and eight inches in Providence.