December In Vermont Was Wet, Mild And Wild

A heavy, wet snowstorm mid-month in December cut
power to over 100,000 Vermonters. A second storm
consisting of high winds caused another big round
 of power outages a week later. 

 We closed out the year in Vermont on a very mild note on New Year's Eve, which ended a mild, wild December, 2022 in the Green Mountain State. 

I'll have info on the year 2022 and how it sugared out in an upcoming post. But for now, we'll focus on a pretty extreme, eventful December. 

First, let's look at the mild aspect of the month. The mean temperature in Burlington was 31.6 degrees. That was good enough to place December, 2022 as the fifth warmest December on record. 

This is the third December in a row that is in the top ten warmest for Burlington. December, 2020 was seventh hottest and December 2021 as fourth hottest.

Eight of the top 10 warmest Decembers were since 2000. Though a note: There are actually 15 Decembers in the top 10 warmest list due to some ties. 

Six days during December in Burlington reached into the springlike 50s for highs. Only 12 days failed to go above freezing. 

Burlington is also one of the few cities in the northern tier of the United States that never saw subzero temperatures in December. 

It was warm elsewhere in Vermont, as you'd expect. Montpelier was a whopping 6.9 degrees above normal St. Johnsbury was a solid 4.7 degrees on the warm side. Southern Vermont wasn't as warm relative to average, but still on the mild side.   

It was a wet month, too, though amounts were really variable. Rutland and St. Johnsbury each received about 4.2 inches of rain and melted snow, which for them was at least an inch above normal. Burlington was only slightly above average for precipitation.

I'm not really trusting the Montpelier December precipitation total of 1.38 inches. I don't think the melted snow from the slushy storm on December 16-17 was fully captured there. 

December in Vermont was a month of power outages. Two storms within a week of each other each cut power to more than 100,000 Vermonters.

The first, on December 16-17 was a wet snowfall that accumulated to as much as 22 inches in Warren. The heavy, wet snow cut power to people across the state, especially in southern Vermont. Power was barely fully restored on December 23 when the second storm hit. 

That was the infamous "bomb cyclone" that affected most of the nation with snow, high winds and other dangerous conditions.

The storm caused every imaginable weather in Vermont it seemed. It started with a thump of wet snow. Then, the worst of it came with the high winds that were most responsible for the new round of power outages.

Winds gusted to as much as 71 mph in Burlington, its second highest wind gust on record.  The winds were accompanied by thunderstorms, breaks in the clouds and large rainbows.  The day also featured bursts of heavy rain. That, combined with melting snow from the previous week's storm led to flooding that closed roads in parts of central and southern Vermont especially.

Then, in the evening, Vermont saw crashing temperatures, white outs and black ice that made roads virtually impassable. 

After a few cold-ish days, springtime hit about four months early. Record high temperatures were recorded region-wide, including 58 degrees in Burlington and 61 degrees in Montpelier.

The low temperature in Burlington on December 31 was 51 degrees, the second highest "low" temperature for any date in December. 

As always, it's hard to predict how the next month will turn out.  Generally speaking, long range forecasts call for above normal temperatures more often than not during the first half of January. After that, it's anyone's guess.