No Surprise, July Was A Tough Weather Month In Vermont

 The weather of July, 2024 was easily one of the roughest summer months on record in Vermont. 

A destroyed section of road in Richmond, Vermont after
the devastating July 11 floods. Hundreds of roads in
Vernon have been damaged by big flash floods on
July 11 and 30.

What isn't there to hate? Two major flood disasters, lots of other storms, one of the hottest Julys on record, relentless humidity, only a few refreshing days and even a little wildfire smoke thrown in at the end. 

RAIN/STORMS

The wildest record of the month comes from St. Johnsbury. They had a whopping total of 17.15 rain during July, 2024. That exceeded the amount in the previous record month by a full six inches. 

That includes what was by far their wettest day on record, 8.08 inches during their big flood on Tuesday. During Vermont's other big flood on July 11, St. Johnsbury had its fourth wettest day on record with 4.93

That rain came in incredibly short bursts. St. Johnsbury had about a foot of rain in a total of about 12 hours during July. 

Rainfall in Vermont was incredibly maldistributed. Plainfield, completely hammered by the July 10-11 flood, reported an impressive 10 inches of rain for July.  They were so much less than St. Johnsbury because the July 30 storm that trashed St. Johnsbury and Lyndonville didn't affect Plainfield at all. On July 30, Plainfield reported a boring 0.26 inches of rain. 

A small picturesque storm over Lake Champlain on July 6
Unlike so many Vermont storms in July, this
particular one was harmless. 

Montpelier was very wet with a month's total of 8.08 inches, which was 3.77 inches above normal. Burlington was sort of wet, with a total of 5.35 inches. That's about an inch and a quarter on the wet side. 

But Lebanon, New Hampshire, which is a good proxy for White River Junction, Vermont, had just 3.11 inches of rain, which is nearly an inch on the light side.  Woodstock, Vermont reported just 2.56 inches of rain, nearly 1.5 inches below normal.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor regards southeastern Vermont as "abnormally dry."

HEAT

Once again, we had another top 10 hottest July. The mean temperature in Burlington came to 75.7good enough to be the third hottest July on record, just behind 2020 and 2018.  
 

With July, 2024 in the books, we now have four of the top five hottest Julys all having occurred since 2018.

This July was in a four- way tie for second most days reaching 80 or more. In 2020, there were 30 such days. This July, 1975, 2018 and 2019 were the ones with 29 such days. .

Nights were particularly tough, as you might have noticed. In Burlington, only four nights got under 60 degrees. Seven nights stayed at or above 70 degrees. 

Storms that can't quit. Hours after a catastrophic flood in
Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, a microburst felled
numerous trees in Colchester, Vermont, just kind of
one last slap in the face in a difficult weather month. 

Down in Lebanon, New Hampshire, they had 12 consecutive days between July 6 and 17 that reached at least 90 degrees. That's easily their longest heat wave on record. 

Also with July on the books, Burlington is still on track to have its hottest year on record. Incredibly, five of the seven months so far this year have been among the top ten warmest in Burlington. Of course, if the rest of the year is cool, that won't happen. But the pace is sure there for now. 

As if the flood disasters and heat weren't enough, the blue skies (when it would stop raining!) of early summer have largely been replaced by a hazy blue-gray tone of wildfire smoke aloft. That state of affairs will probably continue for the rest of summer and early autumn, since there are so many fires burning out west. 

Some days will have that deep blue sky we love, but many more will be hazy. So far, the air quality down here on the ground where we breathe hasn't been too bad. 

I guess one good thing to come out of this July is that severe thunderstorms with major wind damage weren't really more frequent than usual, despite the torrential downpours. We did see wind damage from some storms scattered around the state on July 10, 17, 23 and 30. We still have no confirmed tornadoes in Vermont so far this year, despite them occurring in surrounding states and Quebec. 

Despite the hot, oppressive opening of August, there are some signs that we could have a cooler month. Long range forecasts from August 6 to 14 have odds favoring somewhat cooler than normal temperatures during that period. 

Those same long range outlooks tilt our chances toward seeing above normal rainfall. Good for southeastern Vermont, bad for the rest of us. 

Long range forecasts are iffy, so take that extended outlook with a grain of salt.