Wild Record High Temperatures In Nation; Spreads To Vermont Today. Plus: Stormy Weather

One of my perennial gardens in St. Albans, Vermont
this morning. It looked almost exactly like this at
the end of March last year. It bloomed prematurely
last year, so I wonder what the expected near 
record temperatures this week and next will do to it. 

 

UPDATE NOON TUESDAY

Baby, it's hot outside

As of noon, Burlington, Vermont had already broken the record high for the date of 59 degrees.

The old record was 57 degrees in 2000.

It's insane out there, to be honest. Temperatures will probably rise a few more degrees. We have decent chance of seeing the third hottest February day on record. 

The only warmer February days in Burlington were recent: 72 degrees on February 25, 2017 and 69 degrees on

February 21, 2018. 

Before 2017, the warmest it had ever gotten during February was 62 degrees.

The sights I'm seeing out there seem strange for February, too. Motorcycles are buzzing along highways. Trucks with trailers are hauling ice fishing shanties away from the lakes. 

There's actually a brush fire risk out there. It's windy, especially in the Champlain Valley, where there is no snow.  I wouldn't be surprised to see reports of grass or forest fires in low elevations today. In February!! 

I'm glad I burned my brush pile last week when there was a little snow on the ground. 

Skies were mostly clear at noon, but there was a hint of wildfire smoke up above. Another strange sight for February. The smoke is coming from a few wildfires in the South earlier this week.  There's also some large wildfires in the Great Plains, and we might eventually see a little smoke or haze in the sky 

from that. Either from this heat wave or another one scheduled for the weekend and early next week

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

I was pretty much in awe of record highs temperature reports from the middle of the United States yesterday. 

This ain't your grandfather's February, that's for sure. 

Those record highs extended from Texas to near the Canadian border.  

At least 33 weather stations reported all-time record highs for the entire month of February.  Among them were 78 degrees in Des Moines, Iowa; 80 degrees in Omaha, Nebraska; 73 in Rockford, Illinois and 65 in Minneapolis.

At least six cities in Iowa reported all time record highs for February.

Dozens upon dozens of other cities reported record highs for the date on Monday. The hot windy weather spurred several major rangeland and wildfires in Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Kansas. 

The warm state of affairs continues today with more record highs expected in the Midwest and Northeast, possibly even here in Vermont. 

The record high for today in Burlington is 57 degrees and in Montpelier, it's 52. Both seem reachable today. 

Plus, we still have plenty of excitement in the Vermont forecast, including more record highs tomorrow, a little bit of flooding, strong winds, a huge crash in temperatures tomorrow night followed by another big warmup. 

Never a dull moment so let's get into it:

TODAY

Speaking of weird temperatures, we started the day out with some craziness. Some spots at dawn were warm, others chilly.  For instance, it was 41 degrees in Burlington at 7 a.m. but just 23 degrees in Montpelier. 

Burlington was exposed to increasing south winds while Montpelier was sheltered from those winds.

Temperatures will even out today and soar into the 50s amid gusty south winds and a fair amount of sunshine.  Essentially, we have a breezy late April day in store, even though it is only February. Go figure. 

It'll stay warm tonight - well above freezing - and some showers should move in late. Nothing heavy, though. The winds will continue to blow.

WEDNESDAY/WEDNESDAY NIGHT

We're still expecting quite a lot of weather excitement tomorrow and tomorrow night around Vermont, as the forecasts issued yesterday haven't changed all that much. 

Expect lots of wind and warmth during Wednesday, with mostly light showers around. It still looks like there might be a lull in the showers during the afternoon. That could allow temperatures to really soar into the 60s if it stops raining long enough and if there are thin spots in the overcast.

In some favored locations the south winds in the afternoon could gust to 45 mph, which might cause a few little problems with tree branches and isolated power outages. 

That's still iffy, so we'll have to wait and see how that plays out. 

The sharp cold front will plow into Vermont Wednesday evening. Best guess on the timing is at around 7 p.m. or so west of the Green Mountains and 8 or 9 east.  (That timing could easily change one way or another).

The cold front will produce a burst of heavy rain and a blast of westerly wind gusts that could gust to 50 mph.  The snow that would have been melting off the mountains Wednesday, combined with the rain, still looks like it might produce minor flooding along some rivers. Or at least get them up to bank full. 

At this point, the rivers with the best chance of reaching flood stage appear to be the Otter Creek in Rutland County and the Mad River in central Vermont. 

While this potential high water will be going on Wednesday night, temperatures still look like they will absolutely crash. For instance, the National Weather Service has Burlington going from 56 degrees at 7 p.m. Wednesday to 20 degrees by 4 a.m. Thursday. 

There will only be a wee bit of snow at the tail end of this, but with the bottom dropping out of the temperatures overnight, expect water on roads and sidewalks to freeze solid by Thursday morning. Watch it on the roads and on the sidewalks if you're out early Thursday. 

THURSDAY AND BEYOND

A very quicky cold, blustery day on Thursday, but at least the sun will be back out. That's it for cold, though. A chilly Friday morning will yield to a fairly warm afternoon. The weekend and early next week bring us back to normal April weather, which of course is very weird for the beginning of March.

I hope that doesn't mean we get a series of snowstorms in late April! Or during the April 8 eclipse!