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| Magnolia blooms struggle in a May 10, 2025 rain storm in St. Albans, Vermont. The month proved exceptionally wet and cloudy throughout the Green Mountain State. |
TONS OF RAIN, AND A LITTLE SNOW
Burlington was in the "driest" part of the state as northwestern Vermont didn't get quite as much rain as the rest of the state.
Still the 6.11 inches of rain that fell in Burlington still made it the seventh wettest May on record. Precipitation was 2.35 inches above normal.
Montpelier was deluged with 7.51 inches of rain during May, more than double the normal for the month. It was the same story down in Bennington, which also had more than double the normal rain fall. They received about 7.5 inches of rain in May, compared to the normal of 3,5. St. Johnsbury with 6.86 inches of rain in May, 2025 was three inches above normal.
The wettest place I found so far - but probably by no means the wettest in Vermont - was Woodstock, in the southeastern part of the state. They had 8.36 inches of rain in May, a full 4.75 inches above normal.
Considering the amount of rain we had, Vermont was lucky we only had one flood event during May, and even that one wasn't terribly widespread. Especially considering the big, destructive ones we've had in recent years.
The flood on May 17, though damaging, only really affected a handful of towns, most notably White River Junction, Hartford, Waitsfield and Warren. And to an extent Bristol.
The May 17 storm was also notable for the amount of sometimes damaging hail that hit some parts of the state especially southern Chittenden County and parts of the central Vermont.
The lack of flooding I think was partly due to the fact the rain was distributed through the month, instead of falling in just a few days. Burlington had only eight days without rain during the month. Three of those days had more than an inch of rain, but most days brought a half inch or less.
The gradual rains - except for the torrential downpours of May 17 - meant that streams, creeks and rivers in Vermont usually behaved themselves pretty well, despite the constant rain.
We even had bouts of unseasonable snow, at least in the mountains, especially on May 22 to 24 where most elevations above 3,500 feet were dusted with snow.
That snow helped keep measurable snow on the ground atop Mount Mansfield until yesterday, when it was down to a trace. The graduals decrease in snow cover up there stopped on May 21, as it stopped at a depth of five inches from that date through the 25th.
CLOUDS INFLUENCED TEMPERATURE
It was a very cloudy May with all the rain we had. That influenced temperatures a great deal.
Across Vermont, the average temperature for May, believe it or not, was really close to normal. It seemed colder than that.
The reason was the clouds. Cloudy skies keep daytimes cooler than they otherwise would be. But those clouds keep nights warmer than they would be if the skies were starlit.
Because of the clouds, the average high temperatures in May, 2025 were much cooler than normal, while nights were much warmer than they should have been. That's unusual because the average high temperature and low temperature usually closely match the overall mean temperatures for the month, if that makes any sense.
Across Vermont, average high temperatures were around two degrees cooler than they should have been for May. But nights were on average about two degrees warmer than you'd expect. So the bottom line was May, 2025 had normal temperatures on paper even though the month was anything but.
Still we did manage to have a couple warm periods. Burlington had five consecutive days in the 80s mid month, and a couple more 80 degrees last week.
LOOKING AHEAD
As always, it's very hard in advance to determine who the upcoming month will shape up. And it's often wrong. In late April, NOAA said May in Vermont would be warmer than normal, with equal chances of above or below normal precipitation.
So much for that.
But we'll play the game again anyway. NOAA says that in June, the parts of the nation that stand the greatest chances of hotter than normal weather are in the central Rockies and in New England, including here in Vermont.
The month is opening today with much, much chillier than normal weather for the opening day of June, which would seem to contradict that prediction. But, a sharp warming trend will bring us to near normal temperatures by Tuesday and warmer than normal weather by Wednesday and Thursday. Overall, the forecasts call for mostly warmer than seasonal temperatures through mid-month, at least, so we'll see.
As in the forecast just before May started, NOAA is giving Vermont equal chances of above or below normal rainfall in June. So, flip a coin on that one.
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