Beekmantown, NY Tornado Confirmed, Now, Mostly Nice Rest Of Week Leads To, Surprise! Saturday Rain

The same storm that produced a brief tornado in 
Beekmantown, New York, Tuesday passed overhead
in St. Albans, Vermont.  When it got here, it was
 a garden-variety thundershower with a brief downpour
and top wind gusts of around 25 mph. That sort of
funnel-ish shaped cloud you see wasn't a funnel at
all. Just a regular old rain cloud. The cloud you 
see in the photo was about as dangerous as
a fair weather cumulus on a sunny day. 

 The National Weather Service office in South Burlington confirmed last night that it was indeed a tornado in Beekmantown, New York Tuesday afternoon.  

It was a small one, but it was a tornado.  It was rated an EF-0, the lowest on a five-point scale. And it was brief. 

The Beekmantown tornado had top winds of 65 to 75 mph; was 100 yards wide and only traveled along the ground a half mile before dissipating. It was on the ground for a whole two minutes. 

It damaged a roof, knocked over some trees and blew objects like a trampoline around.

It was a very isolated incident, too. There were no other reports of severe thunderstorm damage anywhere else in northern New York or Vermont.  It was  weird and unexpected, too, as Tuesday's  overall weather set up did not really favor severe storms, never mind tornadoes.

This contrasts with last June 23, when we had what was for a Vermont a big time set up for a tornado or two.  We ended up having supercells, tornado warnings, wind damage and flash flooding on June 23, 2024, but no actual tornadoes. Though there was one in neighboring New Hampshire. 

We're done with severe storms for awhile, and it's on to typically mildly variable June weather. In fact the day to day changes in the weather over the next few days will be a little quicker and noticeable than usual for this time of year. 

TODAY

Sunshine this morning will mix with some clouds this afternoon. It'll be on the breezy side, and warm-ish, with highs in the 70s to around 80.  You'll notice some wildfire smoke around once again, but it shouldn't be as thick and awful as it was this past weekend. 

A few light showers might blow through northern areas tonight as a weak but windy for this time of year disturbance races through. It might not be a great evening and night to take a small boat or kayak onto the broad Lake Champlain.

THURSDAY

Another nice one! A little cooler than today, and continued a bit breezy.  You might see the smoke begin to diminish, too, The air flow will be starting to come down straight from the north. Much of the air we'll breathe late this week will originate in Quebec, where so far this summer there has not been many wildfires. 

The air had earlier been coming from the northwest, from Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where intense fires spewed a lot of smoke. Actually those fires have calmed down, at least for a little while. More intense fires have erupted in northern Alberta, northeast British Columbia and parts of the Northwest Territories of Canada,

That smoke could eventually get here later this month if the wind patterns favor it. But those fires are further away than the more recent ones. So maybe upcoming smoky days won't be as bad? Don't count on it, but we can always hope for something.

FRIDAY

Cool for the season. Highs will only make it to within a few degrees either side of 70 degrees. We'll have some increasing clouds, too. But the air looks like it will be pretty clean.

SATURDAY

Oh yes. Saturday. The requirement we have rain on Saturday looks like it will hold after all. There is still a chance that far northern areas right near the Canadian border might escape the rain, but don't count on it.

It appears that once again, the rain will get heavier and heavier the further south you go in Vermont. Since we'll be on the north side of a weather front, and under clouds and likely rain, it'll be quite a cool one for this time of  year. That's on top of the damp weather.

Early hints suggest highs Saturday will only be in the 60 to 65 degree range. Normal highs in mid-June are in the mid-70s. 

Since Saturday is still three days away, there's still the chance the forecast could shift.  If we get extremely lucky, that weather front might set up a little further south, sparing at least some of us some rain. But don't count on it. 

BEYOND SATURDAY

There is some hope, but no guarantees that Sunday will be brighter, but still on the cool side. There are some hints Vermont will take another gradual turn toward warmer, more summery, more humid weather as we go through next week. We shall see!