Big Heat Record Tied In Vermont, One More Day Of It Plus Growing Storm/Flood Threat

Another cold photo to get you through one more
very hot, oppressive day in Vermont. Photo is
aftermath of a large snowstorm in Burlington,
Vermont, March, 2011.

 An impressive heat record was tied in Burlington Wednesday.  

The low temperature was 80 degrees, tying the all-time record for warmest low temperature for any date in Burlington dating back some 140 years years or so.  The only other time this happened was on July 2, 2018.

The high in Burlington was 96 Wednesday. On almost any other day in June this, too, would have been a record. 

But for June 19, the record high stands at 100 degrees, back in 1995, by far the hottest temperature ever seen in the data for Burlington. 

I guess they're something about June 19 that brings on the heat in Vermont. 

Speaking of which, we obviously have one more day of it. If you want an unnoticeable amount of relief from the heat, you got it this morning in Burlington. The low this morning was 79, so not as hot a start to the day as yesterday, at least technically. 

I think Burlington would have had a shot at 100 degrees Wednesday, if not for the thunderstorms that developed. 

Burlington only got a glancing blow from the storms.  But I was impressed by how fast some of the storms developed in the soupy air. 

A small cloud over Lake Champlain turned into a gully washer of a thunderstorm in St. Albans in Swanton within a half hour. Fifteen or twenty minutes later, that storm was producing damaging 60 mph gusts in Enosburg.  People in neighboring Sheldon reported several trees down. 

Other damage reports were scattered statewide. Numerous trees came down in Springfield around 2:10 p.m. At least one tree down onto Interstate 91 near Thetford. Other damage was reported in Danville , Wolcott, Calais, Lunenburg and Island Pond.

After yesterday, more of the same today as we start a transition from heat to a stormy, rainy period, that could bring localized flooding back to Vermont 

TODAY

You saw how easy it was for scattered storms to form in the very wet, hot air we had over us yesterday. Today, it will be even easier for that to happen because there's a trigger: A cold front lurking in southern Canada. 

It won't come through fast enough today to rescue us from this South Florida weather. It will still be super humid, with highs in the low to mid 90s, except upper 80s right along the Canadian border, close to that cold front. 

Lightning strikes near the Swanton/St. Albans, Vermont
town line Wednesday. Storms should be even more
numerous today than they were yesterday. 

The cold front is weak, but it's enough to really help drive updrafts to create storms. I think almost everyone will get wet by the end of the day today, and a few places could have severe storms. I think the severe weather will be a bit more widespread than on Wednesday. 

Th threat is damaging winds, local flash flooding and lots of cloud to ground lightning. Anyone in Vermont and surrounding areas could have severe weather today, though obviously most places will escape damage. 

The best chance of severe storms is along and south of Route 2 this afternoon and evening. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center puts far northern Vermont in a marginal risk for severe storms - the category we were in yesterday. South of Route 2, it's a somewhat higher grade slight risk. 

There's a chance of isolated flash flooding today, too. That would happen if  a particular town or place gets hit by several storms, or storms train - meaning they line up and move like boxcars down the railroad tracks. 

The vast majority of places won't flood - we're not at the level we saw last summer - but we're still at risk for isolated instances of road and driveway washouts, small stream and basement flooding, and street flooding if a real gully washer hits a larger town or city. 

NEXT UP

The cold front, such as it is, certainly falls short of being a powerhouse. No big blasts of cool refreshing air like we had after the last cold front came through about a week ago.

Instead, this one will limp southward and stall near the Vermont/Massachusetts border by tomorrow. It will be cooler and somewhat less humid, especially far north, but not exactly crisp.

The front will start meandering back north as a warm front Saturday, ensuring it stays humid with a shower threat through the weekend. Saturday looks like it will end up kinda humid, but with close to normal daytime temperatures. A shower could come through at any time. 

We'll have to watch pretty carefully where that front ends up. If it stalls over northern Vermont, we have the training downpours again with the risk of flash flooding. If it stalls up in southern Quebec, we're in an airmass that can support strong thunderstorms Sunday. 

That mess is TBA with updated forecasts in the next couple days. 

An actual real live cold front, not some wimpy thing looks to come through late Sunday night to possible give some brief relief to the humidity. That warmth and fairly oppressive feel to the air  might make another run at us later in the week, but we do have hope of additional cold fronts to follow to temper the summer icks at times.