Vermont Gloom And Cold: One More Awful Day, Then Gradual Improvement

Near the summit of Killington, Vermont on May 23, 2025

Everybody's talking about how gloomy and cold it's been in Vermont lately. 

For good reason. 

It's been snowing on mountain summits for two days. Just like it did on a cold day last week. I don't remember the last time it's been overcast so often in May. Even many of the days it didn't rain much were cloudy. 

And it's been cold.  Social media is full of people remarking the they had to turn on the heat, fire up the wood stove and dig out the winter clothes they just put away for the season. Today' is the fifth out of the past six days the heat's been on in my St. Albans home.

Henry the weather dog insists on curling up right up against me in bed at night to ward off the chill.

Montpelier on Friday had a record low high temperature of 47 degrees. Four of the last five days have had highs in the 40s.  Today probably won't make it to 50 degrees there, either. This at a time of year the temperature should be near 70 degrees.

So far in Montpelier this month they've had 6.16 inches of rain. And counting. Woodstock, Vermont has been deluged with about 7.5 inches of rain so far this month. In Burlington this month, only five days have  been rain-free.

When will it all end?  Not today!! 

TODAY AND BEYOND

If you liked the weather Friday you'll love today. It's more of the same.  A dark, dank overcast. Frequent bouts of light, annoying, cold rain. The only difference from Friday is the wind will pick up a little, making it seem even chillier.  

On the bright side, the atmosphere will warm up a little later today so it will finally stop snowing on the Green Mountain summits. I wouldn't suggest a hike today, though up those frigid, muddy mountains, 

But there's hope. The weather pattern that has kept stalled storms near us is slowly beginning to break down. 

On Sunday, the pesky storm that's been stalled near Maine will have moved a little further east. At least the weather will improve some.  Clouds will thin and the sun will come out at least every once in awhile. There's still a chance of showers, but they will be few and far between.  Temperature will get up near 60 degrees. That's still cool for this time of year. But at least it's better.

Memorial Day features even more improvement.  We should see a fair amount of sun.  Yes, there's still an outside chance of a shower, but they'll be few and far between, light and brief. More importantly, temperatures will rise to near 70 degrees.  That will be the first seasonably warm day since May 17.

Even better, for now, it looks like it will get into the 70s pretty much every day next week. There's not much of a chance for showers until later Thursday and Friday.  And the storm toward the end of week does not look all that impressive.

The weather pattern does favor another upper low getting stuck near New England in the final days of May and the opening few days of June.  But that might or might not happen. If it does, it won't be as cold, rainy or intense as the stuck storms we've had lately.