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| Gardens in St. Albans, Vermont looking amazingly good for October because of the recent warmth and this week's record heat. |
Even if it was October.
Burlington set a new record high for the date, reaching 84 degrees. That broke a record for the date that had stood for a whopping 132 years. The 84 was also a tie for the second highest reading on record for the entire month of October.
Today, we could tie or break the all time October record. More on that in a second.
Everything in my experience - bad, good and great - yesterday was typical August, and that had me marveling.
Well, at first, cursing. Weed whacking for a client, I twice stumbled upon ferocious ground bee nests, and have at least a dozen stings as a result. (I'm itchy, but fine). Finding these charming bee prizes is common in August. But unheard of until now in October. The should be dormant or dead by now, but it's been so warm, the attacking bees think it's still summer.
I continue working after fleeing the bees. But I had to stop mid-afternoon. The heat and sun were getting to me. Again, typical of August, but certainly not October.
I got home, and harvested tons of tomatoes, along with cucumbers, green beans and onions from my garden. Once again, that's something I routinely do in August. By October, the garden is normally dead, aside from some late season cold crops like lettuce. Weird again.
Overheated again, I did another of my August routines. I have a little kiddie pool I often use to cool off during summer evenings. Last night, I did my kiddie pool routine, sitting down in the chilly water to watch darkness fall and listen to the concert of cricket song around me.
So yes, this heat wave is weird, but mostly fun for most of us.
Today, as mentioned, we are reaching the peak of this heat wave. The record high for the entire month of October in Burlington is 85 degrees, set in 1947 and 1949. Forecast highs today are between 83 and 86, so we might well tie or break that record. We will find out this afternoon.
HEAT EBBS SLOWLY
After today, increasing winds and clouds will eat away at the heat, at least during the days. But the next couple of nights should feature record high low temperatures.
It should "only" get to between 75 and 80 degrees tomorrow, so record highs are less likely. Some clouds will blow in, but it will still be partly sunny. You'll notice south wind increasing, too.
Lows will Thursday and Friday mornings should be in the 50s in much of Vermont and low to mid 60s in the Champlain Valley. Mid 60s is pretty much unheard of for overnight lows in October, so that will be something.
Forecasts for an oncoming storm have slowed it down, so Friday is looking dry for most of the day. But it will be cloudy and becoming windy. We should still get into the 70s, though, much warmer than normal for this time of year.
STORM CONCERNS
Eventually, that cold front we've been talking about will arrive, probably on Saturday.
Remember yesterday I mentioned that cold front would be "negatively tilted," meaning it will have a northwest to southeast orientation as it approaches and passes through. That ensures a huge feed of deep moisture off the Atlantic Ocean.
Now there's a new wrinkle. Tropical Storm Philippe has been wandering around aimless near and east of the Lesser Antilles - way out there. Earlier forecasts had Philippe moving harmlessly northward in the central Atlantic, way offshore.
Now, it looks like the storm in Canada attached to that cold front will try to capture Phllippe and draw it toward perhaps Nova Scotia or Maine, much like Hurricane Lee last month.
By the time it gets this far north, Philippe would have largely transitioned to a regular storm and not a tropical one. But it could add tropical moisture to that feed of wet air our cold front will bring.
As a result, expected rainfall Saturday has ticked upward. So we do have to watch for the risk of some flash flooding. I still think that risk is somewhat limited because the dry weather we've had means soils can absorb some of the rain. Still worth watching, though.
We continue to expect cool, showery weather Sunday into next week, with yes, snow showers on the mountain tops
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