Vermont Morning Lows Today Near Or Even Colder Than Forecast, One More Frigid Night Before Warmup

These daffodils in my St. Albans, Vermont yard, upright
and perky yesterday, slumped to the ground after
last night's hard freeze. Even if they somehow 
survive, they'll get hit just as hard again tonight. 

Those temperatures really did bottom out this morning in and near Vermont with some impressive low temperatures.  

Final figures weren't in yet when I wrote this after 8 a.m. But up in the Northeast Kingdom, Gallup Mills got down to at least 16 degrees and Eden reached 18 degrees.  

Morrisville reached 19 degrees and Montpelier got down to 20 degrees. Montpelier's low was close to a record low, but not there. The current record low for today's date is 17 in 1965 and that will stay. 

Over in New York State, the perennial cold spot Saranac Lake got down to a wintry 12 degrees. That wasn't a record low, either. In 1956 it got down to 10 degrees at that frigid spot in the Adirondacks.

Plattsburgh, New York, managed to set two record lows. It was 25 degrees there, just before midnight let night, setting a record low for April 24. Then it got to 23 degrees around dawn this morning for another record low.

Data in Plattsburgh only goes back to 1945, so there's a good chance it might have been colder there in past years, like during an intense cold snap in late April, 1919.

It's too soon to tell how much garden damage there is, but even hardy plants appeared to suffer, at least in my yard. Daffodils, perky and upright yesterday, are now slumped to the ground as if in mourning. I don't yet know if they'll recover, or shrivel up and die. Especially since they have another rough night ahead of them. 

TODAY

Dry air will be sort of our friend today. After the cold front passed yesterday, it stayed mostly cloudy, holding temperatures in the 30s all afternoon for central and northern Vermont, at a time of year when readings should have been in the upper 50s to around 60.

Today will be a little better because of that dry air. (Spoiler: The arid air will be our enemy tonight, though, more on that in a moment). 

More daffodils that collapsed in last night's hard freeze
in Vermont. 

The dry air will encourage wall to wall sunshine.  Sunshine heats up dry air much more quickly than humid air. 

Temperatures were already surging upward as of 8:15 a.m. today. That should bring us well into the 40s by afternoon. A few warmer valleys might touch 50 degrees. 

True, that's still quite a bit colder than average, but better than it felt Wednesday afternoon. The high sun angle helps too. It won't be that windy

Tonight will be clear and frigid again as that cold high pressure sits right overhead. Very dry air also loses its heat quickly once the sun goes down. Light winds and clear skies assure that any heat gathered today will drift right off to space.

So it will be as cold at dawn Friday as it was this morning. Yep, teens in the cold hollows, 20s for the rest of us. 

COLD TO END

Friday will be much nicer with highs well into the 50s. Another night of clear, dry air Friday night will ensure another subfreezing night for most of us, but it won't be as cold as the previous two nights.

We're still looking at a substantial warmup over the weekend and early next week.  Highs are still forecast to hit 70 or better possibly Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Nights starting Sunday night will be even warmer, relative to average. Many of us will see lows in the 50s. There's even a chance a couple of record for warmest minimum temperature for the date could be set. Which would be a big switch from what we're experiencing now.

It looks like it will be pretty showery Saturday night through probably at least Wednesday, but it certainly won't rain all the time. No complete washouts, anyway.