Cold, Dreary Storm (Temporarily) Rescues Vermont From Canadian Smoke

The "view" looking southwest from South Burlington
toward the Adirondacks Tuesday morning amid
the haze and smoke from Quebec wildfires. 

 The good news is the air quality is much better here in Vermont today than it was yesterday and Monday. 

The bad news the price we're paying for the cleaner skies is cold, dreary weather, but not that much rain.  Plus, many other areas of the United States and Canada are still suffering from dangerous, smoky air. And the bad air will eventually return to Vermont as well. 

(NOTE: Scenes from a smoky Vermont are in a video at the bottom of this post).

The worst of the smoke is rotating around the edges of a cold upper level low spinning over extreme southeastern Canada and northern New England.  The upper level low is at least partly preventing a lot of the smoke from penetrating those lucky people under that atmospheric swirl.

Lucky us, that includes us here in Vermont. 

RAIN/CHILL

Under this upper level low, which is unusually strong and cold for this time of year, we get to experience some April-like clouds, dampness, chill and showers. 

This same upper low was responsible on Tuesday for some light rain in parts of Vermont.  The Champlain Valley had about a quarter inch of rain, the first raindrops we've seen since another paltry quarter inch of rain fell way back on May 24. Most of the rest of Vermont only managed a tenth of an inch of rain or so. 

This is roughly the same view as the photo above, 
except it was taken on a clear, smoke-free day. 

Some areas of eastern Vermont got zilch.  I do think speculation was right that the smoke would suppress some of the showers that wanted to form yesterday. They did form, and there was even a little thunder in northwestern Vermont, but the showers were not as vigorous as they might otherwise could have.

I think showers today will be a little more numerous than they were yesterday, but they'll be quite light. Most places should anticipate a trifling tenth of an inch of rain or so. 

We'll take anything, but this isn't exactly the soaking we need. There's just not enough moisture available in the atmosphere to wring out some nice downpours. 

We need a good inch or more of rain per week. We're still just getting those little drizzles.

Today is  also cold for June.  Highs today will only range from 55 to 60 most places, though there might be some mid 60s in southern Vermont. Normal highs this time of year are in the mid-70s.  The coldest high temperature on record for this date is 52 degrees in 1912, so we won't break that record, anyway. 

Normally this time of year, we get surges of warm, humid air.  Cold fronts or other disturbances clash with this humid air, and we get the usual summer downpours. We are not getting those pushes of humid air, so we're not getting much rain. This state of affairs will continue well into next week, even though stalled weather disturbances will continue to provide mostly light showers. 

SMOKE

The smoke really got the attention of the national media on Tuesday when it billowed into network hubs like New York City and Washington DC.

As especially thick plume of smoke from an especially violent cluster of fires in western Quebec rode the edges of that upper level low, drifting southward through central New York and Pennsylvania, then rolling east into New York City. 

The Big Apple thus became the one with the worst air pollution of any in the world. It also recorded the highest levels of pollution on record for the region. 

Judging from satellite photos this morning, those western Quebec fires belched another big plume of smoke yesterday. That plume as of 10 a.m. today was over central New York and northeastern Pennsylvania, headed toward New York City again. 

City officials were urging people with heart or respiratory problems to wear high quality N95 masks if they venture outdoors. 

In central New York, the air quality index was at a whopping 350 at mid-morning. .  It's double the level considered unhealthy for people.  Air quality indexes throughout much of the Northeast are over 150, which is considered unhealthy. 

Up here in Vermont, there's still smoke lingering, but it's in the "moderate" category as of mid-morning. Forecasts continue to bring smoke down from Quebec into the Northeast over the next several days. 

It doesn't appear as if the smoke will be as thick as it was Monday night and Tuesday morning, but it will still be a factor. 

Video: Scenes from a smoky Vermont on Monday and Tuesday. Click on this link to view if you don't see the image below, or otherwise click on the image to watch the video: