Summer In A Vermont April: Record Heat Astounds Again

Record heat in Vermont is really pushing along the 
garden plants.  This is a patch of daffodils in
my St. Albans, Vermont yard at around noon Thursday....

 As enthusiastic as I am about gardening, I don't always love going out into the perennial and raised beds during a Vermont early to mid April.  

It's often too cold, too muddy, too windy, too rainy or even too snowy. 

So, I was thrown for a real loop Thursday when I was reluctant to hit the gardens because it was too......hot??

Sure was! In the age of climate change, another astounding round of record highs visited Vermont on Thursday. 

The high temperature in Burlington Thursday was 88 degrees. That broke the record high for the date of 84 degrees set in 1945. It was also the hottest for so early in the season.  

Plenty of other record highs were set, as you can imagine. Montpelier reached 83 degrees, besting the old record of 79.  Across the pond in Plattsburgh, they actually almost made it to 90 degrees - they topped out at 89.

Some spots in New England did make it to 90, which is incredibly early. Hartford, Connecticut reached 91 degrees. Norwood, Massachusetts roasted at 92 degrees. New York City also reached 90 degrees. 

Back in Burlington, before Thursday's heat, the earliest it had been this warm or warmer was on April 17, 2002, when it got up to 90.

Which leads us into a trend to talk about. 

NEW HOT TIMES IN SPRING

Late winter and early to mid spring in particular has been a real weird time for premature heat waves in Vermont for the past three or four decades.

Thirty-five years or so seems like a long time. But those three plus decades have really piled on the heat, and those decades heralded the beginning of highly noticeable climate change. 

Oh sure, there's been strange heat waves generations ago.  Rarely, though. On March 29, 1946 it got up to 84 degrees in Burlington, Vermont for a big hottest on record moment for March.

On April 18 and 19, 1976, it got up to 91 degrees in Burlington, besting the old high temperature record for April which was 86 degrees.  

......and this is the same patch of daffodils as the
first photo in this post, but this one was taken at
around 7 a.m. this Friday morning. 

In more recent years, April has featured some real humdingers heat waves that put that ancient, defunct 86 degree record to shame. 

 I thought we'd never have an earlier 90 degree temperature in the season than those days in 1976 until April 17, 2002 came along to bring us to 90 degrees.

It seems 1990 or so was the beginning of these hot spring spells. That year, the third and fourth 90 degree readings ever in April hit Burlington on April 27 and 28.

That same year - 1990 - extreme heat for the season hit in mid-March. On March 15, 1990 it got up to 72 degrees, becoming what was then the earliest 70 degree temperature on record. On March 16, 1990, it got wilder, reaching a summery 78 degrees.

Echoing my thinking after the April, 1976 hot spell, I'd thought it couldn't possibly get to 70 degrees any earlier than March 15. 

Then, on March 9, 2016, it got up to 70 degrees in Burlington.  Then came a bigger surprise: On February 27, 2017, which should have been a perfectly wintry day, Burlington reached 72 degrees. I'm thinking it can't get to 70 any earlier than that, but as you can tell, I keep being proven wrong.

And we can't let this subject go without bringing up March, 2012.  These daily high temperatures should represent a week in June, but instead were life in Burlington, Vermont on March 17-23, 2012:  61, 76, 79, 80, 81, 81,66.

Not surprisingly, March, 2012 was by far the hottest on record. 

Even recent Mays had some incredible hot records. For decades, the hottest May day on record in Burlington stood at 93 degrees. Then, on May 27, 2020, it popped up to 95 degrees. 

Given this trend toward more and more spring heat waves, expect strange hot days to continue popping up with increasing frequency in the coming years.  

THE FORECAST

The extreme April heat, at least in northern and central Vermont, but it will stay very much on the warm side through Sunday.  

A weak cold front will sink southward through Vermont today. You won't notice it except for a wind shift to the north and cooler temperatures.

By cooler, I mean low to mid 70s, which is still almost 20 degrees warmer than average for this time of year. 

The cold front won't reach southern Vermont today in time to squelch the heat. Some low elevations in Bennington and Windham counties could make it into the mid-80s. A few spots in southern New England will probably touch 90 degrees again today.

For instance, they're going with a forecasted high of 92 today in Hartford, Connecticut.

Today's weak cold front will set us up with a bit of an easterly air flow over the weekend. That will make places east of the Green Mountains a little cooler yet. But 60s is still warm for this time of year.

West of the Greens, highs over the weekend will be in the balmy 70s.  I wouldn't be surprised to see a spot 80 degrees in one or two places.

All weird weather must come to an end, and that will happen Sunday night and Monday. We'll have a slug of much needed rain. Then, Tuesday and Wednesday will actually be a little cooler than average, with highs within a few degrees either side of 50,