Record Shattering Late Autumn Heat Wave Ending In Vermont, At Least For Now

The last golden leaves of autumn cling to a tree in St.
Albans, Vermont Wednesday during record breaking late
season heat. 

 The spell of oddly warm, humid weather we've just had pretty much snuck up on me, but the whole episode was pretty impressive for late October. It was really one for the record books. 

Many records for warmth fell in and around Vermont on Wednesday.  I already mentioned the record high low temperature of 59 set on Tuesday.

Wednesday, the records became an avalanche that rewrote the books. 

Here's a rundown:

Burlington, Vermont reached 78 degrees, breaking the record high for the date of 75, back in 1963. That high of 78 was also the warmest for so late in the season.  The low temperature in Burlington yesterday was 59, also a record for warmest low temperature.

Essentially, Wednesday was a pretty normal day for late August, not late October. 

St. Johnsbury reached 70 degrees, breaking their record for the date. Montpelier didn't break a record high did have a record high low temperature of 62 degrees, breaking the old record by a whopping nine degrees.

Over in New York, it almost hit 80 degrees, as Massena hit 79 for a date record. Plattsburgh tied its record high of 75 degrees. 

A striking thing about the warmth was it was accompanied by unusual humidity for so late in the season, as I noted in yesterday's post. Dew points were near 60 degrees. That meant that Burlington was both hotter and more humid on Wednesday than Houston, Texas and New Orleans, Louisiana. 

The record heat in Vermont and New York came as a sort of semi tropical system dumped heavy rain on eastern New England. That system brought warm, humid air to New England. Another weaker storm swirled over Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

This set up caused air to sink between the two storms. That was over us.  That encouraged the sky to partially clear, and the sun helped heat the already warm atmosphere even more. The sinking air probably also warmed a bit more due to compression.

Eastern Vermont was slightly cooler but still warm and muggy as that ocean storm sent rain and clouds northward up the Connecticut River Valley for a good part of the day. 

Up until now, this autumn had been a departure from the past six or seven falls, each of which featured spells of record high temperatures. 

Satellite image from Wednesday afternoon shows plenty
of breaks in the clouds over Vermont between two
storm systems. That clearing contributed to the
record high temperatures in the region. 

This year, we had our share of warm autumn days, but we weren't breaking records until now.

A sharp cold front has moved through Vermont, decisively ending the record heat. We've already had our high temperatures for the day as it was near 60 just after midnight.  It'll stay near 50 for the rest of the day with a chilly northwest wind. 

Tonight will be the coldest night of the autumn so far, but it won't be all that much colder than average.  Burlington and most of the rest of the Champlain Valley will have its first frost and freeze of the season tonight. 

Pretty remarkable that it's October 27 and I'll be able to harvest a couple tomatoes, some snow peas, lettuce and spinach ahead of the frost today in my St. Albans, Vermont garden.

There are no freeze warnings for tonight despite the still active gardens because usually, it's long past growing season by now. 

The relative chill will last into Saturday, but another warm up is headed our way.  It won't be as warm as it was yesterday, but temperatures should be well above normal starting Sunday and continuing into next week.

Those highs will reach the low 60s compared to the normal highs of near 50 degrees we should expect as we open the month of November.

We even see some uncertain signs that we could have a couple days of near record highs again toward the end of next week. We shall wait and see on that one. 

This weather has to be frustrating for the more enthusiastic Vermont ski areas who like to open as early as possible.

Killington says the want to open on November 11 this year, but if the weather pattern holds the way it is forecast to, they might not be able to. 

Most Vermont ski areas like to open by around Thanksgiving, and there still will be time for either snowfall or snowmaking in mid-November to make that happen. 

For those of you who really want to see a traditional Vermont cold, snowy winter, the heat wave we just had tell us nothing about the upcoming winter weather. 

I have the "for instances." The late autumns of 1975 and 1977 had spells of rather impressive warm weather, but the subsequent winters were pretty intense. On the other hand, a warm late October of 1979 led to a warm winter. Conversely, a severely wintry November, 2019 led to a rather unimpressive winter of 2019-20.

In other words, it's all still a crap shoot.  

As I always say, no good weather in Vermont goes unpunished. The other shoe will drop.