Enjoy The Break In Vermont Humidity Siege: It Won't Last

Flowers in my St. Albans, Vermont gardens enjoying some
sunshine and somewhat cooler breezes than they've
had to endure most of this month. 

 I hope you're enjoying the break in the siege of humidity and heat Vermont has been under this summer as much as I have.   

You have something like three more days to embrace the dry weather before the humidity, showers, downpours and generally icky stickiness and stuffy nights come back. 

WARM STREAK RECORDS

The low temperature Thursday was 64 degrees in Burlington. Still on the warm side. But it ended a record breaking streak of 14 consecutive days with low temperatures above 64 degrees.  The old record was 13 back in 1988.

High humidity tends to keep nighttime temperatures up.  Unlike most summers, we had absolutely no breaks in the muggy weather for more than two weeks. Until Thursday. 

The lack of cool nights and wind really allowed Lake Champlain to heat up to near tropical levels. The water temperature has been as high as 80 degrees down to a depth of nine feet, which I've certainly never seen before.  

The warm Lake Champlain is actually bad news. Between the warmth of the water and the contaminants being swept into the lake by this month's flooding, that sets the stage for algae blooms. Cooler nights and breezes this weekend will help stir the water up a bit, so it is cooling down, at least temporarily. 

It got even cooler Friday morning, dipping to 59 in Burlington, the first time under 60 degrees since July 2.  

Flowers in my St. Albans, Vermont yard enjoy some
sunshine and dry air to keep the fungus at bay
for a change Friday evening. 

Today will mark Burlington's 19th consecutive day making it to at least 80 degrees. But we won't break the record for longest such streak.  That record is 25 days from July 22 through August 15, 1988.

After a warm but not humid sunny day today in the low to even mid-80s in spots today, a reinforcing shot of cool air is coming down from Quebec tonight. 

That means it's doubtful Burlington or practically anywhere else in Vermont will make it higher than the 70s Sunday afternoon.

Not that anybody's complaining.

Monday morning will be the coolest in this drier break, as most of us will be in the 50s, with 40s in the cooler hollows. Monday afternoon at this point is looking warm but dry - in the low 80s.  Then it's over, Again.

HUMIDITY SIEGE RETURNS 

The forces of summer evil - namely, the Bermuda High - are showing signs of another attack. That Bermuda High - the offshore heat pump responsible for summer hot spells, will be strengthening and moving westward over the next few days. 

The weak cold front that will come through early Sunday morning with just sprinkles of rain in a  few spots will stall to our south. Then that Bermuda High will push the front back north as a warm front Tuesday. 

The south flow will feed moisture into that front, so instead of sprinkles, it'll produce showers, some locally heavy as it comes back at us and stalls probably just to our north. 

Hydrangea flowers glow in evening light during a 
welcome dry spell Friday evening in St. Albans, Vermont. 

So it'll be back to the routine. Muggy nights, warm, sticky days, the ever-present risk of downpours, even a renewed (ugh!) chance of local flash flooding.  We'll have to deal with that again. 

As it looks now, Tuesday through Thursday and probably Friday gives us a daily chance of showers, storms and heavy downpours.  It definitely won't rain all the time. We'll have to look each morning during the week for updates on when/where it might rain the most.

We'll be back to each night staying in the muggy 60s. High temperatures in the upcoming week will be held down a little by clouds - highs should be in the sticky low 80s.

Toward next weekend, there are signs that we'll see less rain, but that would come in the form of another heat wave.  Things could change, but we could be looking at more 90 degree weather in about a week, with of course lots of humidity. 

I did say a few days ago that a northwest flow might keep hot temperatures mostly at bay for the rest of the month.  So much for that idea. That's a classic example of why one shouldn't rely on long range forecasts.

For what it's worth, some (but not all!) updated long range forecasts do continue to show the chance of some occasional cold fronts and bits of cooler, drier air coming in from the northwest into August

But there's also spells of warm or hot, humid weather thrown in between these cold fronts. The specifics and frequency of any cold fronts will undoubtably change as forecasts are updated. 

If you think Julys have been hot in recent years, you are correct.  This July is on pace to be one of the top five hottest in Burlington. If that happens, then each of the top five hottest Julys will have happened since 2018.