Vermont Weather Stays Weird, But At Least We're Staying Safe

Big, billowy clouds boil up east of Burlington,
Vermont Saturday. 

 Ever have someone in your life who can just never make up their mind?

Oh, I want to this, no, that, let's go back to Plan A.  What about Plan C?  It can get frustrating.

Which was the personality of the weather in Vermont Saturday. 

Moisture and instability in the air, along with some weak disturbances in the atmosphere, created a fairly unique set up over us, with lots of small downpours, narrow, towering clouds and breaks of sunshine.

So one minute it's sunny and warm, the next minute there's a drizzle, then a downpour, then the sun is back out, only to repeat this cycle over and over again. 

A classic if you don't like the weather in Vermont, wait a minute and it'll change type of day. 

At least the sky was pretty, with those billowing clouds, rainbows, shafts of sunlight, interesting shadows. And bonus: After the summer we've had, none of these frequent storms were strong enough to cause damage or create flooding. 

As is normally the case with these types of showers and garden variety storms, they died down after sunset. For most of us. But for some reason, downpours continued until almost 11 p.m. in Franklin County, Vermont. 

I don't see reports yet from places that were particularly bullseye by the late storms, but I do see Fletcher and Swanton, both on the edges of the heavier downpours reported a half foot three quarter of an inch of rain Saturday.

Rainbow over St. Albans, Vermont Saturday. 

Today, Sunday, was supposed to be nice, but it's not starting out that way.  We're getting toward autumn, and it's going to get harder and harder for temperature inversions to break as the sun angle gradually diminishes. 

A temperature inversion is a layer of warmer air above cooler air. This often traps moisture, and for us, means a low, gray overcast. The sun will eventually destabilize the air, making it mix up and down and break up the inversion, and thus the clouds. 

A weaker sun means it takes longer. That's part of what's been happening today.  Mid-morning satellite pictures show Vermont is cloudy, but surrounded by sunshine in Quebec and much of the rest of the Northeast.

So, the clouds should break, and we should end up with a partly sunny, nice enough afternoon. I hope. 

Tomorrow looks pretty nice, too.

The next storm system comes in Tuesday night and Wednesday, with another batch of showers. Again, those won't cause any real problems. 

Fairly strong high pressure expected to build in by Thursday over us should do a great job of keeping future Hurricane Idalia well to our south, so that won't be a bother. 

Beyond that, I'm seeing hints of drier and warmer air. We'll see if that pans out.