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| Vermont lilac trees and bushes have had a rough time this year. Early season wetness allowed a fungus to take hold in the leaves. Then the drought hit. The fungus, combined with the dryness is making lilac leaves turn brown and fall off prematurely, like on this lilac in my St. Albans, Vermont yard. The affected lilacbushes should come back and bloom just fine next spring. |
We had another gorgeous day in Vermont Thursday and another perfect late summer day has gotten underway this morning.
We can actually partly credit Hurricane Erin for the fantastic weather.
Erin is racing away from the East Coast after causing flooding and scary waves along the shoreline. The atmosphere always tries to balance itself.
When there's a hurricane off the East Coast with its low pressure, there's often high pressure off to its west, southwest or northwest to compensate.
This happens with almost every hurricane or tropical storm. Long time Vermonters might remember the day after Hurricane Irene in 20111 devastated the state with some of the worst flooding in our history. The day after the flood was absolutely gorgeous as the remnants of Irene took off to the Northeast.
The same thing sort of thing is going on today with Erin far offshore. Our compensating high pressure is basically right overhead today. This time, of course, we didn't have to endure anything worse than deepening drought after Hurricane Erin passed by far, far to our southeast.
That high pressure hanging around today, so we have another great one with sunshine and low humidity. It will be a little warmer than yesterday with many of us getting into the low 80s.
It'll be even warmer Saturday as it gets into the 80s. Which will be one last summer day, at least for awhile.
The fire danger is high in Vermont today, and could get even worse tomorrow. That's because the humidity will stay low, and breezes will pick up, especially in the Champlain Valley. The wind could fan any flames that start in the dry woods and fields around Vermont.
So be careful out there!
TINY BIT OF DROUGHT RELIEF?
Those breezes on Saturday are the first sign that we might actually get some rain here in Vermont. The wind will be generated by an approaching cold front and its band of showers.
Don't get too excited, as I highly doubt whatever we end up getting will end our building drought. But it might briefly stop it from getting worse. At least this cold front will probably drop some rain.
Meteorologists still think a fairly slow moving cold front will come through Monday, with plenty of showers along and ahead of it later Sunday through Monday. At least that's the hope.
I'm not wowed by the amount of rain forecast. The National Weather Service this morning is giving us a 50/50 shot at getting about a half inch of rain. Since showers and thunderstorms will be involved, some areas will get bonus downpours with over an inch of rain, while other unlucky places get very little.
That kind of rainfall would mean you won't have to water your garden for a couple days, and will extend a lifeline to some parched crops across Vermont and the rest of northern New England.
After that, it's back to mostly dry weather for quite awhile. Starting next Tuesday, we'll get into a long period of airflow from the northwest. That means only light showers from time to time as moisture-starved disturbance zip on through from dry central Canada. It'll stay on the cool side, too.
There are some uncertain signs that a strong ridge of high pressure will set up camp over the northeastern U.S. and southeast Canada as we get into early September.
If that happens, it won't help the situation. It will just get warmer, but the high pressure would deflect any wet storms away from us. The drought would live on under this scenario,
The bottom line: The expected rain later Sunday and Monday would just be a brief interruption to a worsening drought. Almost makes you wish a tropical storm would come through and really wet us down. But, I guess we have to be careful about what we wish for.
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