Vermont August Had One Weird Cold Statistic, But The Month Was Actually Kinda Normal, But Too Rainy

Unsettled skies over Georgia, Vermont on August 26
were typical for the entire month in the Green 
Mountain State as we had another month of
frequent rains and even sometimes flooding.

August was another weird weather month in Vermont, and I'll start with what was really striking, at least to me. 

For all of August in Burlington - a month normally known for its impressive heat waves, the warmest it ever got was 83 degrees.  

That's the coldest maximum temperature for the month of August since almost a century ago - August, 1927 - which never got above 82 degrees. 

That's one impressive stat, to be honest. 

Especially since, if you add up all the days of the month, August was only slightly cooler than normal. 

And we're talking about the warmer "new normal."  Had this August occurred say in 1980, when averages weren't so skewed by climate change, August would have actually been a bit warmer than normal. 

The heat was similarly tempered in  August statewide. Montpelier, St. Johnsbury, Rutland and Bennington all said their hottest day of the month was between 81 and 83 degrees.

The month probably felt warmer to you than it was, because it was pretty humid much of the time. Nighttime temperatures were pretty close to the "new normal" average while daytime highs were on the cool side. 

The relative coolness of Vermont's August, 2023 stands in contrast to most of the rest of the world. Experts say August on a global basis will either be the warmest on record or very close to it. 

To nobody's surprise, the stats also show it was another wet month.  Burlington's 4.9 inches was about 1.3 inches on the wet side. The rain was frequent, too. Only 12 days in August were precipitation-free in Burlington. 

Other reporting sites were even wetter. Montpelier and Rutland had around six inches for August. That's better than the eye-popping July totals that led to such extreme flooding then, but it was still impressive.

That flooding continued into August as well. Severe flooding struck in and around Middlebury on August 3, and that dangerous flash flooding spread into Rutland and surrounding communities on August 4. 

LOOKING AHEAD

We're starting September this morning with a cool, almost autumnal morning. Most of us were in the 40s at dawn. Gallup Mills, Vermont and Saranac Lake, New York were down to 37 degrees and Island Pond was 39.

Almost makes you think fall is arriving. 

Postpone that thought. 

After those cool daytime temperatures I talked about in August, we have a shot at reaching 90 degrees in the days ahead. Even if we don't get that warm,  reading will go well past that August peak of 83 degrees in Burlington. 

In fact, current forecasts bring Burlington, and many other places in Vermont up to 85 degrees or more each day Sunday through Thursday. 

Longer range forecasts are less reliable, but for what it's worth, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center tilts our odds strongly in favor of generally above normal temperatures through mid-month.