Vermont Enjoying Its First Dry Day In Ages Today, To Much Wet Out There Anyway

After a gloomy few days, evening sun Saturday lit
up this flowery branch in St. Albans, Vermont. Look
close and you can see a spider web in the upper
right.  After an incredibly soggy start to May,
Vermont is about to be treated to a stretch of
dry, sunny weather. 

 It was such a pleasure this morning going outside amid bright sunshine, and a fresh dry breeze this morning in St. Albans, Vermont.  

Today will be the first rainless day since April 30.  Since March 19, there have only been ten days that have been precipitation-free, so today really is a treat. 

At least we can say that the drought we had last fall that lingered to some extent into the winter is over. 

In the first ten days of May, southern Vermont in particular has had more rain than we usually see during the entire month.

For instance, Rutland has had 4.05 inches of rain since May 1. The entire month of May there should have 3.63 inches. Woodstock has had 4.66 inches of rain so far in May, an inch more than what should come down there in all of May. 

We're actually fortunate to be getting a break in the rain. Things are so soggy that one more good rain storm might have triggered flooding worse than the minor stuff we saw Saturday. 

As it was, some of the minor flooding in Vermont was actually a little worse than forecast.  The Otter Creek at Center Rutland, Vermont reached 10 feet yesterday, which put it on the border between minor and moderate flooding. The crest was two feet higher than forecast and flooded some low lying roads in the area.

A section of road in Pomfret, Vermont is closed this weekend due to a mudslide. 

Further north, the Winooski River at Essex Junction stopped just a few inches short of flood stage. 

RAIN SHUTS OFF

Vermont is not going to see any rain of note until Wednesday or Thursday at the earliest.  Even then, it will be in the form of just scattered showers and thunderstorms. It won't be until Friday when we see a shot at any substantial, widespread rain in the Green Mountain State. 

Today, Mother's Day, will be the last genuinely cool spring day we'll see for awhile.  Don't get me wrong, the weather today is delightful. But it is brisk for the season out there.  Highs should only get into the 50s, with some low 60s south. The fresh north breeze should continue all day, keeping things feeling cool. 

But set yourself up outdoors out of the wind and in a sunny corner and it will feel nice. 

As I have been advertising for days, we have a week of at least sort of summer coming up. Every day from Monday through Saturday will get at least into the 70s, and I think we'll see some low 80s thrown in there from time to time later in the week. 

Tonight - as you can imagine - will be chilly, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear of a patch or two of frost away from Lake Champlain. Nothing widespread, though. 

After that, we'll have mild nights to go along with the warm days. With all the moisture in the ground now and the balmy temperatures, Vermont's forests will continue greening up fast, and your garden plants will be growing like crazy.

Of course, all the wet means the black flies are going to be awful for the rest of the month, too. And the mosquitoes aren't far behind.  

At least the strong May sunshine will make things less squishy underfoot as we get through this week.  I guess we finally get to enjoy spring.