Vermont October Wildly Warm, Wet, Especially Northwest Part Of State

October was warm, but rather cloudy, especially after
a record early season heat wave during the first week
of the month. This all made foliage season late.
This is a view of South Burlington, Vermont on Oct. 26

October, 2023 really re-wrote the weather history book in Vermont, especially around Burlington. 

 The month in Burlington was the fifth warmest and third wettest October in Burlington. On top of that, the high temperature of 86 degrees on October 4 set a new record high for the entire month. 

Elsewhere in Vermont, it wasn't quite as wet, but it sure was warm.  Towns across Vermont were consistently five to six degrees warmer than normal, which I'm sure that like Burlington, that puts them in the top ten list for October warmth. 

If anything, that early October heat burst was more intense in much of the rest of Vermont than in Burlington.  St. Johnsbury got up to 87 degrees for two days in a row. Woodstock got to 86 degrees three days in a row.

After that sunny hot spell, the rest of October settled into a rather cloudy, dreary, but still warm pattern. That is until Halloween, when Vermont finally got its first frost of the season. Again, record late timing for that. 

It's not surprising that October was so warm.  Autumns during El Nino patterns, which the world is under now, tend to be on the mild side in New England. Not always, but usually.

Northwestern Vermont was pretty much the wettest spot in the Green Mountain State during October. 

That's because two big storms accounted for most of the rain during October, and both storms focused on the Champlain Valley. 

Burlington's top ten showing in the list of wettest Octobers seems to be part of a trend. Five of the top six wettest Octobers have occurred since 2006.

Montpelier, for a change was actually a smidge on the dry side. Rainfall in October, 2023 there was 3.37 inches, about a third of an inch below normal.

Rutland was just at normal with four inches for the month. St. Johnsbury had 4.51 inches of rain, which is a little over a half inch on the plus side. 

Bennington managed a rather wet October with 5.23 inches, which is 1.72 inches above normal. 

Like I say every month, I don't trust long range forecasts, but still, it feels like November could be shaping up to be quite different than recent months. 

It's starting out on the cold, and forecasts for the next couple weeks - if they verify - indicate a decent possibility of a colder than normal month. No guarantees on that, though. Forecasts beyond a week or so are iffy. And who knows what will happen during the second half of November.

November can really be a wild card in Vermont. Last year, we had our warmest November day on record. On the other hand, in November, 2019, winter cold and snow settled in by the second week of the month, with single digit temperatures by mid-month.  

Anything can happen.