Just As You Probably Thought: October Vermont Was Warm, Dry

A warm, dry October in Vermont that was punctuated by
some great "snoliage" at mid month. 

 To the surprise to I imagine very few people October in Vermont turned out to be on the warm and dry side. 

Boosted by an especially warm second half of the month, October, 2024  mean temperature as measured in Burlington came out to 53.3 degrees. 

That's 3 degrees above the "new normal." which is based on the average of years from 1990 to 2020, when climate change had already started to elevate our temperatures. 

Had this same month occurred a few decades ago, it would have been more than five degrees warmer than average.

As it was, this October managed to be the ninth warmest on record in Burlington. Incredibly, it's the seventh month so far this year that has been one of the top ten warmest on record. That's just a complete re-write of the history books. Climate change indeed!

Everywhere else in Vermont also had a warmer than average October, but the departure from the "new normal" average was one to three degrees. 

We had a lot of clear or mostly clear days and nights, and that's reflected in the temperature data. Sunshine tends to boost daytime temperatures, but clear skies tend to be cooler than cloudy ones. 

Most Vermont weather stations had average daytime highs in October that were three to five degrees warmer than average.  But the average low temperature for October was close to average. Rutland and Woodstock actually had average October lows marginally cooler than the "new normal."

 Combined with lots of sunshine in September, the frequent sunny weather in October subjectively makes this the nicest autumn up to this point I can remember.  The bright, calm weather really extended the foliage season out to nearly the entire month, which is nice.

True, the lack of rain is a little disconcerting, but so far, the dry conditions in the Green Mountain State aren't nearly as bad as points south of here, which had almost no rain in October. 

DRY MONTH

 Burlington had a month's total of 2.35 inches, which is about an inch and a half on the dry side. The just ended month bucked a trend toward wetter Octobers.  This one in Burlington was the driest October since 2004.  In the 132 years since 1892, when good precipitation records started, 43 Octobers were drier than this year's. 

A perfect October sugar maple tree in St. Albans,
Vermont. Photo taken on October 23.  Foliage season
ran a little later than average thanks to a very
warm autumn so far. 

The further south and east you went in Vermont this October, the drier it got. St. Johnsbury had a shade under two inches of rain in October, which was more or less half the normal. 

Bennington's October rainfall was two inches of their normal 3.61 inches. Woodstock's rainfall was a scant 1.67 inches, nearly three inches below normal.

Despite the warmth during the month, snow made an early season appearance as it often does in October. In both cases the snow over-performed, but luckily caused little harm, and some benefits. 

The October 16 snow on the mountain summits was impressive. Mount Mansfield had a foot of snow in that episode, the most for so early in the season. Even at 3,300 feet up the mountain in Underhill State Park, 11 inches accumulated. Over in New York State, 15 inches buried the summit of aptly named Whiteface Mountain. 

This high elevation snow hit during peak foliage, so "snoliage" - colorful leaves and white-topped mountains under clear blue skies on October 17 was gorgeous, to understate how beautiful it was. 

Snow hit valley locations on October 27. Burlington had its first trace of October snow in four years. Many other locations had a dusting to two inches. Early morning temperatures fell below freezing that morning, so we had our first of the season little bout with icy roads. That contributed to a few crashes on the highways. 

Temperatures quickly warmed after that. And as I wrote Friday morning, it ended up bringing us by far the warmest Halloween on record. Numerous high temperature records were set, many of which clocked in as the warmest for so late in the season. 

Long range outlooks into mid-November - if they come true - look good for the heating bills, but bad for the fire risk and drought. NOAA is leaning toward a mostly warm next couple weeks with drier than average conditions. 

If November proves unusually warm in Vermont, this could prove to be one of our top ten warmest autumns. As it stands now, seven of the top 10 warmest autumns as measured in Burlington have occurred since 2011.

Yet another likely case of climate change affecting us right where we live.