June Was Another Very Warm Month In Vermont. Definitely A Trend Here

An intense thunderstorm in Hinesburg, Vermont on 
June 23. The storm carried a tornado warning, but
none touched down in this case. Frequent bouts
of heat and humidity encouraged storms
in the Green Mountain state during June. 

 In another month that showed that this isn't your grandfather's Vermont climate, June turned out to be among the warmest on record in much of of the state.  

Burlington had its seventh warmest June with a mean temperature of 70.3.  Montpelier scored its ninth warmest June with an average of 65.1 degrees.

June is the third month this year that scored in the top 10 warmest on record in Burlington.  

Months in any given locality usually yo-yo between being on the cool or warm side. In Burlington, at least, the last time we had a somewhat cooler than average month was November,

Note that by average, I mean the "new normal." A normal month is the average for all of them between 1990 and 2020,  That period was warmer than the long term average from the 20th century, due to the effects of climate change. 

While most days were on the warm side in June, the event that really helped push the month into the top ten warm list was a heat wave from June 18-20.  Temperatures got well into the 90s through most of the state. Burlington tied its all time record for highest minimum temperature for any date on June 19, when the "low" temperature only reached 80 degrees. 

Overall, though, the warmth was pretty consistent. Eighteen days made it to at least 80 degrees in Burlington. I could only find nine Junes in Burlington in the past 130 years that had as many or more days that reached 80 degrees.

As is typical of summer months, rainfall was pretty variable around Vermont. Along and north of Route 2 it was on the wet side. Central and parts of southern Vermont were dry, but areas near the Massachusetts border were wetter again. 

A picturesque thunderstorm near Sheldon, Vermont
on June 9. This storm produced a brief, harmless
"cold air funnel" over nearby St. Albans. It 
was caused by the interaction of warm humid
air at the surface and cold air aloft. This was
not something that would actually produce a tornado.

Burlington and St. Johnsbury each had well over five inches of rain for the month, which is more than an inch on the wet side. Rutland, meanwhile, was an inch on the dry side with only 3.15 inches of rain. 

Because of the frequent availability of heat and humidity, severe weather made occasional visits to the Green Mountain State.

 The National Weather Service in South Burlington said there were six days in June in the region with reports of damage from severe thunderstorms 

The worst of it came on June 23, when flash flooding caused a lot of damage in the north-central Green Mountains, especially around Stowe, Worcester and Elmore.  The cleanup is still ongoing in many of these areas.

There was also a tornado watch and three tornado warnings that day. But the rotating storms managed to produce wall clouds and a couple reports of funnels, but no actual tornadoes in the Green Mountain State. There was a tornado in southwestern New Hampshire, not that far from the Vermont border.

That swath with the heaviest rain had a months total of between six and nine inches, which is a lot. Meanwhile, the U.S. Drought Monitor is rating much of south central and southeastern Vermont as abnormally dry.

Looking ahead to July, the early read on it suggests more warmth. Today will actually be a little on the cool side for the season, but that should change to a slightly toastier string of days starting Wednesday. Long range forecasts, though not always accurate, do fairly strongly suggest mostly warmer than average days through mid-month.