Winds Of November Are Back; Still Watching Late Week Storm

This forecast map, for this coming Saturday, is just
one of many possibilities of how a storm will
move and behave at the end of the week. Be ready
for big shifts in forecasts.

 During the warm start to this month in Vermont, it was not only unusually sunny, it was also not that windy, which is a bit odd for November.  

The standard weather pattern in November is for large storms to sweep up into the Great Lakes, causing strong, warm winds in Vermont, followed by a cold front which brings cold, strong northwest winds. 

Sometimes a nor'easter will also bring some winds.  Burlington's strongest wind gust on record - 72 mph - was recorded in November. (1950). 

The gales of November, according to the familiar saying. 

This month, not so much. Even when we abruptly flipped to a colder pattern at mid-month, the wind never really picked up.

That seems to have just changed. 

That blast of cold air that came in yesterday really ramped up the gusts. Several places, including Burlington, gusted past 40 mph. This obviously isn't enough to cause widespread problems, obviously, but it gave us a taste of that familiar, seemingly constant gustiness we experience here in Vermont during the cold season. 

Some of us will get another good blast of wind today. Another cold front is coming in. Ahead of it winds are shifting to southerly.  Those winds will get channeled over the Champlain Valley especially, so wind gusts there could crank to over 40 mph again today. High elevations will be quite windy today as well. 

I don't know if there will be any boaters on Lake Champlain but beware: Wave heights on the broad lake in today's strong winds could reach five to seven feet.  Ferry crossings across the lake should be pretty exciting, too. 

After today, we should see a pretty nice reprieve from the winds Tuesday through Thanksgiving. But then there's that late week storm

FRIDAY/SATURDAY

We still don't have what will happen with the end of the week storm pinned down. There's the potential for a fair amount of precipitation, but we still don't know what type. Latest trends are going in a rainy direction, but that trend might or might not hold. 

It could be a fairly strong storm, so we might be talking about some pretty good winds again. Stay tuned!

The upcoming storm is part of yet another pattern change. Nearly the entire Lower 48 has been cold for the last week or so.  It's definitely unusual for that widespread an area to be colder than normal. 

Much of the nation is now warming up, and we will see bouts of warmer than normal temperatures in large swaths of the U.S. over the next week or two.  So far, I don't see signs of a big warm up here, but at least temperatures starting midweek look to be near normal, instead of colder than normal.