Vermont Already Anticipating and Bracing For April Eclipse Impacts

The path of the total eclipse of the sun on April 8.
We can hope for clear skies, but our track record
for sun in Vermont isn't great for that time of year.

Vermont attracts a lot of tourists. 

Northern Vermont, in particular, will draw more tourists than ever on April 8. 

That's when the rare, once in a lifetime total eclipse of the sun hits.  

The partial eclipse will begin around 2:15 p.m. April 8 and the total eclipse will last for a few minutes just before 3:30 p.m.  The total eclipse will cross northern Vermont, very roughly along and north of Route 2. 

Given our recent track record, I don't know why anyone would come to Vermont to view the total eclipse. It's really a cloudy state. But I guess we're convenient to populated areas of southern Canada and the northeastern United States.  And I suppose it's cool that day turns into night in the middle of the day, cloudy or not. 

The sunshine of the past couple days does run counter to our track record so far this year. It's mostly been cloudy.   I have to wonder if it will be mostly gloomy and dark and overcast right through the big eclipse day.  

Glass half empty me expects dense fog, drizzle or freezing drizzle by the time the eclipse arrives. A dark day will just get darker.   By the way, the eclipse path from southwestern Texas to northwestern Vermont and southern Quebec is a fairly common storm track for that time of year, which also makes me think "cloudy." 

For no rational reason other than thinking with our luck we'll have the unlikely experience of a a storm moving in tandem with the eclipse that day. 

Nevertheless, hope springs eternal. It's alway possible the sky will at least partly clear up on the afternoon on April 8. 

THE CROWDS

With that hope in mind, thousands of people will invade the path of the eclipse.  Vermont officials are expecting something like 200,000 visitors in Vermont for the big day. 

St, Albans lies right in the center of the eclipse path, meaning that area will be among those that will be the darkest for longest during the event. 

The population of combined St. Albans City and Town  has a combined population of about 14,000, split roughly evenly between the two municipalities. 

I'm one of about 7,000 people who live in St. Albans Town. On April 8, projections are the town's population will temporarily rise to about 60,000.  

I'm told I should make preparations as if I'm getting ready for a really, really bad storm. A few days before the event, I should stock up on groceries, gas for the truck and maybe booze to party with the rest of the eclipse crowd. 

I shouldn't drive anywhere that afternoon because the roads will be hopelessly jammed up.  Cell service might go down. 

The city of St. Albans is hosting an eclipse event downtown in Taylor Park.  They've ordered 5,000 eclipse glasses to hand out, so yeah, they're expecting quite a crowd.  (The Ryan Sneezy Band will entertain and 14th Star beer will be available, so that probably help attendance even a little more.)

WEATHER 

Hotels and inns around the region are fully booked. People have been asking if they camp in tents in northern Vermont, probably unaware of how cold it can be that time of year. 

The record low for the date in Burlington is 11 degrees, and the lowest high temperature on record for the date is 28 degrees, so yeah, it can get mighty chilly.  The normal high temperature for April 8 is around 50 degrees. The normal low is just around the freezing mark.

April 8 is just after the peak of sugaring season, so out of town visitors might be able to stock up on fresh maple syrup to take home. Keep in mind, supplies might be limited because a lot of people will want to get their hands on that stuff. 

It will be neat to track temperatures during the eclipse, especially if skies are mostly clear. The eclipse hits near the time of day when the high temperature is normally reached.    I would expect temperatures to climb in that late morning an early afternoon. Then the temperatures would fall around the time of the eclipse, as the sun disappears, then perhaps recover a bit when the skies brighten again.

I'm interested to see how far temperatures will fall during the eclipse. 

I'm also interested to see how wildlife reacts, too. Robins are usually back in force by April 8.  In the evenings as it's getting dark, I usually hear them belting out alarm calls. I wonder if that will happen during the eclipse. 

We won't have any idea what the weather and sky conditions will be on April 8 until a few days before the event.  Don't even pay attention to any weather forecast that's more than a week before the event 

The idea meteorological set up would be a strong high pressure system parked overhead or just to our west or northwest. 

That would make clear skies most likely.  If the high is to our west, we'd get a light air flow from the north out of Canada. That would limit haze.  April 8 should be too early in the season for wildfires in Canada, so it wouldn't be smoky.  

Although April is often stormy, another common weather feature is those super dry high pressure systems from Canada that bring blue skies and very low humidity. We should all pray for that. 

Just for laughs and giggles, here's what the weather was like on April 8 on recent years in northwestern Vermont. Temperatures measured in Burlington, weather conditions as observed in St. Albans.  As you can see, there's a lot of variability year to year, and anything could happen. 

2023:  High 45, low 28, mostly cloudy, flurries, afternoon clearing. 

2022:  High 53 low 38. Overcast, rain mixed with sleet in morning, tapered to scattered afternoon showers.   

2021: High 73, low 39. Sunny 

2020: High 53 low 37. Increasing clouds

2019: High 49, low 34. Cloudy, showers 

2018: High 36 low 23. Mostly cloudy to overcast. Snow showers.