No Autumn Out West: Unprecedented October Heat Baking Region

The extreme autumn heat in Phoenix, Arizona has 
shocked even seasoned meteorologists and 
climatologists. Almost the entire West is in
the throes of an unprecedented October heat wave.

 An incredible late season heat wave is baking large swaths of the United States west, continuing a never-ending summer that shows no signs of ending. 

More than 200 weather stations set records for the hottest temperature on record for October.  

More than 2,000 weather stations in the West set daily high temperatures records in just the first three days of October. 

Climate change has made extreme record heat more likely, and now this heat is spilling into seasons other than summer. 

This heat wave is even more off the charts than almost all other strange hot spells various parts of the world have suffered in this warming world. 

PHOENIX MISERY

While the entire West is embroiled in extreme October heat, Phoenix, Arizona, which had its hottest, most miserable summer on record, is now enduring previously unimaginable October heat:

 The records being broken in Phoenix are absolutely insane as their equally insane summer continues unabated well into autumn. 

Here's the Washington Post to fill us in on what's been going on in Phoenix.

"Phoenix also set an October record Tuesday, with a high of 113 degrees. That record was established only four days after reaching a September record of 117 on Saturday. The high of 113 demolished its previous calendar day and months records by six degrees."

Additionally, an unprecedented 113 consecutive days in which temperatures reached 100 or more in Phoenix ended on September 17.  Residents there probably thought that autumn had arrived, as by their standards, each day from September 17 to 22 failed to reach 100 degrees. 

So much for that idea. Each day since September 23 has been at least 105 in Phoenix, and six of those reached at least 110 degrees.  

"Temperatures reaching 110 this late in the year is pretty  unfathomable at this point, given the lowering sun angle, length of day, and considering the previous latest 110+ on record was September 19, two weeks ago," the National Weather Service in Phoenix wrote. 

On Thursday, Phoenix endured an unprecedented tenth day in a row with record high temperatures. The record for consecutive days of record temperatures for any U.S. city was 14 in Burlington, Iowa on July 4-17, 1936  during the Dust Bowl heat waves of the 1930s, reports climatologist Brian Brettschneider. 

 Phoenix could well see at least four more days of record highs

 Each day in Phoenix through next Monday is forecast to be at least 106 degrees, and each day through at least next Thursday should be at least 100 degrees. 

The normal high in Phoenix this time of year is around 94 degrees

UNPRECEDENTED HEAT EXPANDS

It's not just Phoenix due for many more days of weird autumn heat.

Palm Springs, California reached 117 degrees Tuesday, breaking the record for hottest October there, and tying the record for hottest October day anywhere in the United States.

It was the 15th time this year that Palm Springs reached 117, another record. And, Palm Springs set its all time record high of 124 back on July 5

Other cities setting all-time records for October are Death Valley, 114 degrees; Yuma, Arizona, 113 degrees; 112 in Blythe and Needles, California; 107 in Van Nuys, California, and 105 degrees in Tucson, Arizona and Fresno, California, 103 in Sacramento, 89 in Grand Junction, Colorado and 85 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

In all, 230 weather stations in the West hit all time highs for the entire month of October in just the opening three days of the month. 

. Heat warnings and advisories extend northward through California past San Francisco and Sacramento.

The dry air mass has prompted wild fire alerts in a vast area of the West, stretching from California to South Dakota.

The hot, dry, windy weather has revived some existing wildfires in California that had been temporarily tamped down by a spell of somewhat cooler, slightly more humid air last week. 

Much above normal temperatures, occasionally record warmth, should continue in the western half of the United States through mid-month 

VERMONT EFFECTS

Here in Vermont, temperatures have not reached record levels, but we have still been oddly and persistently warm.  

Friday was the eighth consecutive day in Burlington with highs in the 70s, which is quite unusual for this time of year. Much more odd is the string of warm nights, at least by autumnal standards. Friday was the 23rd day in a row in Burlington in which the low temperature stayed above 50 degrees.

The warm streak here is showing signs of ending.

 The heat dome causing the western hot weather will if anything strengthen and expand, That'll create a corresponding dip in the jet stream over the eastern United States. 

The process has started. The forecast low in Burlington Sunday morning is 43 degrees, which isn't the least bit unusual for this time of year but would still be the coolest morning since April 27.  That in itself is odd, because it has frequently been cooler than 43 degrees every month of the year, including July and August. So we've had a really weird run of balminess in Vermont. 

The chill will intensify next week when highs Tuesday through Friday should stay in the 50s across Vermont. Again, those temperatures are pretty run of the mill for October, but it'll feel weird in this hot year of 2024. 

The Tropics/Hurricanes Are Now Exciting In Atlantic Ocean, But Thankfully Staying Away

 I've always been impressed by the beauty of satellite photos of strong hurricanes.

Hurricane Kirk way out in the Atlantic Ocean this morning.
Satellite views of strong hurricanes are beautiful, as 
long as said hurricanes are not threatening lives and property.

Don't get me wrong. I hate hurricanes and the lives and property they destroy. We know all too well after Hurricane Helene last week. 

As of Thursday, the Helene death toll had climbed to 213, making it the second deadliest hurricane in the United States in 50 years. Only Katrina in 2005 extracted a higher death toll.  

The Helene death toll is climbing still, as people are still missing. And the suffering in western Florida, Georgia and especially North Carolina continues on.

Hurricane season post-Helene is continuing to be very active, but luckily, two very powerful storms will completely miss the United States.

HURRICANE KIRK

The beautiful satellite photo of the day is Hurricane Kirk. It's a really impressive and large hurricane. Powerful, too, with top sustained winds of 145 mph. .That's a strong Category 4 storm. 

Luckily for everyone, Hurricane Kirk is in the middle of nowhere. This morning, it was about halfway between Florida and the western coast of Africa. It wasn't near any islands to speak of. 

Even better, it's not headed toward land. Kirk is going north, and it will eventually weaken over the colder waters of the North Atlantic. Toward next week, it could become a nasty non-tropical storm in parts of Europe.

The only effects Kirk will have on the United States is large ocean swells that will cause dangerous surf and rip currents along the entire eastern seaboard. The Canadian coast, too. 

TROPICAL STORM LESLIE

There's another one out there, also apparently destined to be a strong hurricane. Which, thank goodness, also won't affect us in the United States.

At the moment, Tropical Storm Leslie is also in the middle of nowhere, well to the southeast of Kirk.  This morning it was kind of halfway between the northeast tip of South America and the westernmost coast of Africa. 

The National Hurricane Center says Leslie had top winds of 60 mph this morning. But it's expected to grow into another powerful hurricane over the weekend, but probably not as powerful as Kirk.

It's heading toward the northwest and that direction will continue through early next week. That should keep Leslie out to sea. Eventually, like Kirk, soon to be hurricane Leslie will move into the cold north Atlantic waters and die out. 

GULF OF MEXICO

If there's any threat coming to the United States in the coming days, it would come from the Gulf of Mexico. 

For a week now, the National Hurricane Center has been eyeing stormy weather in the southern Gulf of Mexico. 

This might or might not develop into a tropical storm next week. It depends on whether the developing system gets tangled up with a cold front coming in from the north or not.

In any event, this will not be another Helene. It'll never get especially powerful. But however it evolves, it does have the potential to produce flooding rains in Florida next week, so stay tuned!

Report: Helene Dumped The Equivalent Of The Entire Contents Of Lake Tahoe On Southeast U.S.

United States rainfall from September 24 to 29. Click
on the map to make it bigger and easier to see.
That bright purple splotch in western North
Carolina represents about two feet of rain. 

 Hurricane Helene combined with the "predecessor rain event" associated with that storm in the Southeast dumped 40 trillion gallons of water on the region.  

The Associated Press reports:

"That's enough to fill the Dallas Cowboys stadium 51,000 times, or Lake Tahoe just once. If it was concentrated just on the state of North Carolina, that much water would be 3.5 feet deep. It's enough to fill more than 60 million Olympic-size swimming pools."

It would also take 619 days for that amount of water to flow over Niagara Falls, on average.

The rainfall amount was calculated by meteorologist Ryan Maue, a former NOAA chief scientist. 

Other meteorologists checked Maue's work, and said his work looks pretty damn accurate. If anything, Maue might have underestimated the rainfall a little. 

The AP reports: 

"'That's an astronomical amount of precipitation,' said Ed Clark, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Water Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. 'I have not seen something in my 25 years of working at the weather service that is this geographically large of an extent and the sheer volume of water that fell from the sky."

The town of Busick in western North Carolina received 31.33 of rain. Other locations not far from Asheville received more than two feet of rain. 

Also, this was the second mega-rainstorm parts of North Carolina within just two weeks. On September 15-16, a stalled storm along the North Carolina coast that tried and failed to turn into a tropical storm still managed to dump 20.81 inches of rain on Carolina Beach and a foot to a foot and a half of rain in southeastern part of that state. 

Obviously with that much rain, extensive flooding was reported in that area. 

We should expect to see more and more of this in the coming decades as climate change continues to intensify. Warmer air can hold more moisture, and under the right conditions, can dump ever heavier amounts of rain. 

This is leading to more frequent and worse flooding in many areas. Us Vermonters know a thing or two about that given the events of the last two summers. 

Maue and others point out there were mega-floods well inland from coastal areas associated with both tropical and non-tropical systems well before climate change was a thing. 

That is true. Western North Carolina had a highly destructive flood like Helene back in 1916, though that one wasn't quite at the level of the one they just experience. 

In August, 1969, Hurricane Camille smashed ashore in Mississippi as a deadly Category 5 storm. It was one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the United States. The remnants of Camille moved on to the mountains of western Virginia, where it dumped up to 27 inches of rain. That unleashed flooding that killed at least 150 people.   

Even here in Vermont, an offshore former tropical storm fed deep moisture into the state, creating the Great Flood of 1927.

So yes, big floods have always occurred. But it's happening more often and these things are getting wilder.

Associated Press again:

"Before 2017's Hurricane Harvey, 'I said to our colleagues, you know, I never thought in my career that we would measure rainfall in feet,' Clark said. 'And after Harvey, Florence, the more isolated events in eastern Kentucky, portions of South Dakota. We're seeing events year in and year out where we are measuring rainfall in feet."

For now, the nation is getting a brief break. Forecasts for the Lower 48 over the next two or three days show the least flood threat overall in months. However, southern and central Florida could see torrential rains and flooding starting early next week from a potential weak but slow-moving tropical system that's forecast to be in that area.  

 

Did Factory Supervisors Cause Deaths Of Workers In Tennessee Helene Flood?

Managers at an Impact Plastics plant in Erwin, Tennessee
allegedly did not let employees leave as Hurricane Helene
floodwaters rose around them. This resulted in six deaths.

Another huge disaster, another case in which a major employer did not protect their workers from danger as they should have. 

At the Impact Plastics factory in Erwin, a small town in eastern Tennessee, employees kept working last Friday as waters in the nearby Nolichucky River rose.

Erwin is in the western foothills of the Appalachians, very close to the North Carolina border and right next to the tall mountains that collected two to three feet of rain from Hurricane Helene and a torrential rainstorm that immediately preceded the tropical system. 

They kept working into the power went out and water swirled into the factory's parking lot. Ultimately 11 factory workers and a contractor were swept away as they tried to escape and only five of them were rescued. The others are dead or presumed dead. Not all the bodies have been found. 

There's plenty of credible stories emerging there that plant managers wouldn't let people flee the rising flood waters until it was far too late. 

Here's part of a report in the Knoxville News Sentinel:

"Jacob Ingram has worked at Impact Plastics for near nearly eight months as a mold changer. It's a role, he said, that keeps him on his feet for the entire first shift.

As the waters rose outside, managers wouldn't let employees leave, he said. Instead, managers told people to move their cars away from the rising water. Ingram moved his two separate times because the water wouldn't stop rising. 

'They should've evacuated when we got the flash flood warnings, and when they saw the parking lot,' Ingram told Knox News. 'When we moved our card we should've evacuated then...we asked them if we should evacuate and they told us not yet, it wasn't bad enough. 

'And by the time it was bad enough, it was too late unless you had a four-wheel drive.'"

Ingram went on to tell the paper that he and 10 others fought their way through waist deep water when a semitruck driver called them over and helped them get on an open-bed truck, which was packed full of large flexible gas pipes.

A piece of debris smacked into the truck, knocking a woman off and sweeping her away. Then another piece of debris did exactly the same thing. Now two women were gone. 

Then the truck was hit by a much larger piece of debris, overturning the entire vehicle. Ingram thought to grab onto the plastic gas pipes, because he had seen some other pieces of the material floating downstream rather than sinking. 

Ingram and four other employees floated a half mile downstream until they hit a large pile of debris they could hang on to. An hour after that, a Tennessee National Guard helicopter plucked them from the pile to save them.  

We know one of the women who fell off the truck died. The body of Bertha Mendoza, 56, was found on September 29. Others from the truck are missing. 

Ingram managed to post some harrowing videos on Facebook that make it clear at least to me that employees of Impact Plastics should have been evacuated far sooner. 

Impact Plastics officials are circling the wagons on these damning accounts. As the Associated Press reports:

"Impact Plastics said in a statement Monday that it 'continued monitor weather conditions' Friday and that managers dismissed employees 'when water began to cover the parking lot and the adjacent service road, and the plant lost power.'"

But in a separate interview, Ingram told WVLT: "I actually asked one of the higher ups (if we should leave) and they told me, 'No, not yet.'. They had to ask someone before we was able to leave. Even though it was already above the doors of the cars."

 Ingram told WVLT that employees were made to stay on site for 15 to 20 minutes after the power went out. 

CBS News reported another employee, Robert Jarvis, gave exactly the same account as Ingram.  Jarvis also asked this question during an interview with television station WBIR: "Why would you make us stay there? Why would  you keep us there if you knew it was going to be bad, if you were monitoring it? Why were we still there?"

Well, my cynical but possibly accurate answer is some mucky muck with Impact Plastics somewhere was loathe to let their commodity, I mean human beings, get out of harms way. That is until the power failed, at which point the factory could no longer make revenue. By then, of course, it was too late for many of the employees to flee.  

Or, if I'm more charitable, the culture at Impact Plastics is that supervisors were tyrants, and there's not a lot of jobs in eastern Tennessee so employees were fearful of getting fired for, you know, trying to save their own lives. 

Notice how carefully Impact Plastics statements are worded. The statement said that while most employees left immediately, some remained on or near the premises. Yeah, because by then they were trapped by the raging floodwaters. 

The owner of a manufacturing plant near Impact Plastics had sent his employees home before they could become endangered and tried to drive a piece of heavy equipment to Impact Plastics in a rescue attempt. 

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is now looking into the allegations against Impact Plastics at the direction of a local prosecutor. 

EMPLOYEE DISASTER SAFETY OFTEN IGNORED

I admit part of all this might be Monday morning quarterbacking. I'm sure nobody in Erwin could have imagined things would get that bad that fast.  This is why in the same town, close to 60 people ended up trapped on the roof of a small local hospital as rapids raced around and through the building. 

Still, it fits a pattern in which too often, keeping employees safe during dangerous weather is just a drag on profits, sure to make shareholders unhappy. What's a few dead employees it allows you to buy a second yacht, right?

I've covered other examples like what allegedly happened at Impact Plastics. 

After a deadly tornado outbreak in December, 2021, employees of a Mayfield, Kentucky candle factory hit by a powerful tornado that night said managers would not let them leave to seek safer shelter ahead of the approaching twister. Nine people who were in the factory died in the storm. 

During that same, December, 2021 tornado outbreak, six people died in an Amazon distribution center in Illinois when a tornado hit. Employees there said they were not given the opportunity to seek safer shelter when tornado warnings blared.

In that same tornado, an Amazon driver said she was told by supervisors to keep driving instead of taking shelter despite the fact a tornado warning was in effect.

Also, legislators in Texas and Florida prevented municipalities from enacting ordinances that would have mandated water and rest breaks for outdoor workers toiling in those states' excessive summer heat. 

Which proves that lawmakers and Florida and Texas, and too many corporations, regard especially low wage workers that to them, it's no big deal if a worker dies because of dangerous weather. To them, these workers are not human beings. Just machines to replace when they are "defective" and break down in rough weather conditions. 

I really hope those responsible for the deaths at Impact Plastics are held accountable. 

Not Just Southeast United States: Nepal, Mexico In Crushing Floods

Extensive flooding in Kathmandu, as seen in this
aerial view. AP Photo by Gopen Rai.

While we in the United States are dealing with apocalyptic floods in the Southeast, other spots in the world are dealing with much the same thing. 

Both Nepal and Mexico in the past week have endured floods on the scale, or nearly on the scale of what we've seen in North Carolina and surrounding states.  

NEPAL

The flooding in Nepal focused in and around Kathmandu, where torrential rains have hit since Friday. In Nepal, at least 193 people have died and more are missing, according to the Associated Press.

Much like Asheville, North Carolina, Kathmandu was largely cut off from the outside world due to the flooding. Though Kathmandu is much bigger than Asheville, with a population of about 850,000.

Rainfall with this storm ranged from about nine to 12 inches in and around Kathmandu, leading to the flash flooding. That's about the normal rainfall there for the entire month of September. 

The trouble in Nepal was also wide-ranging and multifaceted. One example, according to the AP:

"A landslide killed three dozen people in a blocked highway about 10 miles from Kathmandu. The landslide buried at least three buses and other vehicles where people were sleeping because the highway was blocked."

The flooding hit near what is usually the tail end of Nepal's monsoon season. 

Poor land use made the flooding in and around Kathmandu worse than it otherwise would have been, as Al Jazeera reports:

"Urban planner Neeraj Dangol said multiple factors were behind the latest disaster.

The Basmati River, he says, was narrowed due to haphazard planing and urban development that took place after a drastic population boom in Kathmandu in the early 1990s. 

'In the past 40-50 years, houses and roads have been built on areas that used to be part of the river system,' Dangol explained."

Formerly porous agricultural land, which used to absorb water, is now covered in concrete, which increases runoff. There's also been a lot of deforestation in Nepal, which also contributes to worse flooding.

Finally, as in so many other places the world, climate change has increased the intensify of rain storms, which of course worsens flooding. 

 MEXICO

Severe flooding in Acapulco due to Hurricane John

Parts of Mexico's Pacific Coast and nearby mountains are reeling from what's been described as "Zombie" Hurricane John.

It was called that because it smacked into the Mexican coast southeast of Acapulco last week as a Category 3 hurricane. It then dissipated inland, and you'd think that was that.

But then the remnants drifted back out over the warm Pacific Ocean waters, regenerated into a hurricane and then again hit the Mexican coast. That's why Hurricane John has been called "zombie." 

The effects were devastating. The BBC reports some places had nearly a year's worth of rainfall in just a few days. 

Acapulco, completely trashed by Hurricane Otis last year, was only just getting a recovery into swing when Hurricane John hit, flooding swaths of the resort city. City officials pleaded with anyone had boats to help rescue people in flooded neighborhoods. Some families were stranded on roof while the water rose around them. 

So far the death toll from these floods has been placed at anywhere between 15 and 29, but that is expected to rise.  

Videos

Scenes from Nepal this week really are similar to those I've seen from North Carolina. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that:

In Mexico, landslides were also part of the disaster due to "Zombie" Hurricane John. Again, click on the  this link to view or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Midweek Vermont Weather Update: Now That's It's October, Will Autumn Actually Arrive?

Foliage season is coming along, but it is running late in
Vermont due to oddly consistent warm weather so far
this autumn. There's a chance we could see some true
autumn chill next week, but we'll see. 

 A long, long stretch of oddly warm weather continues here in Vermont.

The warmth hasn't been record breaking, but it's come close on a few days. What's remarkable is the staying power of the balmy conditions, without really much in the way of chilly intervals. 

Normal highs are in the 60s and lows in the 40s right now. 

In Burlington, it has not been below 50 degrees since September 11. That's 21 days and counting so far. I don't think I've ever seen such a long stretch of relatively warm nights this time of year. 

By now, we routinely get a few days in which  high temperatures never get out of the 50s. Sometimes not out of the 40s. 

But so far, the last time Burlington had a high temperature under 60 degrees was on May 12. That HAS to be some sort of record for most consecutive days that reached got to 60 degrees or more. In fact, I'd bet this year shattered that record. 

A cold front that was expected to chill us off just a little starting today is really running out of gas. So a cooler trend is not in the cards quire yet

A good batch of showers along it entered northwestern New York earlier this morning, but by late this Wednesday afternoon, they have become light, scattered showers entering northwest Vermont and then falling apart.  

Any cooler air behind the front has dissipated, too. Some clouds will keep temperatures in the still-mild 60s to near 70 today. But we'll be back up in the low to even mid 70s in many valleys Thursday and Friday.

DOES AUTUMN EVER COME?

If the very coldest computer models are right, there's a 
chance we could see some "snowliage" next Tuesday,
like this scene in Underhill in October, 2022. However
many other computer models don't cool us off 
nearly enough to make it snow in the mountains next week.

Another cold front Friday night might actually get us closer to more seasonable levels for Saturday and Sunday, but it should still be a little milder than average for this time of year. 

It now looks like Saturday night should be Burlington's first excursion to under 50 degrees since September 11.

There are signs some true autumn weather could finally hit toward Monday and Tuesday. As it stands now, a stronger cold front is set to arrive, and a storm might form along it. That would give us some chillier rain.  

The computer models disagree on how cool it might get, especially toward next Tuesday. 

The colder models would leave us with a bit of snow cover on the mountains on Tuesday (snowliage!) High temperatures that day would stay in the 50s or even upper 40s. Some places could belated see their first frost of the season Tuesday night. 

All that, by the way, would not be the least bit unusual for early October in Vermont. 

On the other hand, some computer models don't let that system early next week grab a whole lot of cold air from Canada. In that case, temperatures would merely just stay near normal.

Things might be more consistently turning to a cooler trend however. Longer range forecasts had been pushing near to slightly warmer than normal weather through mid-October. Today, those longer range forecasts have now decidedly leaning toward cooler than average conditions starting next week and going into mid-month.  

September Was Among Vermont's Hottest, And Among A Slew Of Recent Hottest Septembers

One of the many gorgeous days Vermont had in September,
2024. This is a shot of Georgia, Vermont on September 19.
Subjectively, it was just about the most pleasant 
September I can remember, but also one of the warmest.

Another September, another September that was among Vermont's warmest on record.

The mean temperature - at least as measured in Burlington, worked out to 65.6 degrees, the fourth warmest on record in data dating back to the 1880s. 

This means that the seven Septembers just in the past decade are in the top warmest on record in Burlington.

There are ties, accounting for the "bad" math there.  Number 5 warmest is a tie between 2023 and 1961, number 3 is a tie between 2016 and 2017).

That's quite a signal for climate change, isn't it?

This September, though was different than the slew of very warm Septembers in recent years. 

Those Septembers in the past decade or so have featured some extremes, such as torrid, sometimes record-breaking early month heat waves, uncomfortably oppressive nights, and a few severe thunderstorms and torrential rains.

By contrast, September, 2024 was remarkably pleasant by comparison. The hottest it got in Burlington all month was a relatively tame 86 degrees on three days, and the warmest night got down to a fairly reasonable 63 degrees. 

It also appears we tied with last year for the warmest low for the month of September. The chilliest night in Burlington only got down to 45 degrees.  For comparison, the coldest it has ever gotten in Burlington in September is 25 degrees. 

In one respect, we actually beat out last year for mild nights. In September, 2023, six nights got into the 40s. This year, there were only four such nights.

It's so out of whack that when it finally gets chilly, as it inevitably will there will be no frost or freeze warnings for colder areas of Vermont like the Northeast Kingdom. That's because in most years, those warnings are unnecessary as the growing season is considered over by now. They should have already had garden killing frosts by now.  Not this year!

Looking elsewhere in the state, climate sites in Montpelier, St. Johnsbury, Rutland and other places ran about two or three degrees warmer than  normal, just as Burlington did with its departure of 2.9 degrees above normal.

Remember this is the "new normal" which is the average of the 30 years ending 2020. Those three decades were decidedly warmer than the 20th century average. Had this year's version of September happened in the 1980s, it would have been something like a whopping six degrees on the warm side compared to what was then "normal."  

Another sunny, September, 2024 day. This was September 6
as viewed from near the summit of Mount Mansfield. 

In Burlington 2.68 inches of rain fell, which is about an  inch below normal. By my calculation, it was the 49th driest September out of the past 140 years. 

There were only five days with measurable rainfall in Burlington during September, which is remarkably small 

Also, what rainfall we did get mostly fell on two relatively brief occasions, each lasting about two days. 

Those two rain storms, and some showers on September 1, were very well behaved, causing more harm than good, as both tempered developing dry conditions. 

Most of the rest of the month featured sunny days, even if the majority of them started with early morning fog, which quickly burned off.

I have to say this was one - subjectively - of the most pleasant weather Septembers in my memory. Unlike so many other areas of the United States and world, Vermont enjoyed a no drama September. A welcome change from the weather violence we have endured from time to time in the past couple years. 

The fact that September was that  warm means that so far, 2024 is the hottest year on record. Whether that will hold for the entire year depends on whether we take a sharp turn toward colder than normal weather in the final three months of the year. 

Long range forecast are always iffy. But in general, if NOAA is right, the remaining three months of 2024 should be mostly warmer than average. We shall see if they're right.

In the somewhat shorter term, temperature and rainfall predictions are running close to normal through mid-October. 

The new month is starting off where September left off. Today through Friday should be generally sunny and warmer than average. Tomorrow will be an exception, with a risk of showers, a fair amount of clouds and temperatures merely near normal with highs in the 60s.