Confirmed: NOAA Reports Vermont, Two Other States Had Driest August On Record

Charlotte Beach along Lake Champlain this past Sunday
showing remarkably low levels due to our ongoing drought.

Vermont was one of three states in a broad area of super dry summer weather than endured their driest August in at least 131 years. 

The news comes from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) which releases monthly reports on the previous month's United States climate data, and that of the whole world.

Kentucky and Ohio were the other two states besides Vermont that had their driest August. Ten other states A broad area stretching from Missouri to Maine had one of their top ten driest Augusts in those 131 years of record.

Vermont in August had on average 1.43 inches of rain in August.  The only other year that even comes close to the record dryness was 1957, with 1.56 inches. 

For comparison, the wettest August was 2011, with an average Vermont rainfall of 10.08 inches. That was the year Tropical Storm Irene hit the state, causing one of the worst floods in Vermont history.

As we well know, a flash drought developed in Vermont during August and has been intensifying this month.  A new weekly U.S. Drought Monitor due out Thursday morning will give us an idea of how much worse it has gotten in the past rainless week. 

It wasn't just us, of course. Which such a large area experiencing a dry August saw drought start, expand and intensify. Those areas include the lower Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio Valleys, and of course much of the Northeast. 

August for the nation as a whole was on the dry side, coming in  at the 23rd driest out of the past 131 years. . The only notably wet state was Georgia, which had its tenth wettest August. 

The only other states that came in wetter than average were California, Nevada, Idaho, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota.

The nation as a whole had its 27th warmest August out of the past 131 years. Six western states plus Florida had one of their top ten hottest Augusts on record. 

Both North and South Carolina had one of their top 10 coolest Augusts. A few counties in the Piedmont regions of those states had their coolest-ever August. In the age of climate change, it's become increasingly rare to see any region have a record cool month, but it still happens once in awhile. 

DROUGHT BRINGS ODD TEMPERATURES

Back here in the Northeast, including here in Vermont, droughts -  especially in the summer -  tend to bring above normal daytime temperatures and cooler nighttime lows. The air is dry, and the ground can't really add moisture to the atmosphere. 

So it becomes sort of desert-like. During the day, the sun doesn't use its energy on evaporation, because there's little to evaporate. So all that energy goes into boosting afternoon high temperatures. At night, moisture isn't around, so all the sun's heat radiates to space. 

Also, during droughts, there's no storms around to keep things cloudy. Cloudy skies would have brought cooler days and warmer nights. 

The lack of moisture and clouds in meant Vermont had its 20th warmest average daily high temperature and its 38th coolest overnight lows during August. This pattern was repeated throughout the Northeast and Ohio Valley. 

It's also continuing into September as the drought rolls on. Burlington has yet to see a daytime high under 70 degrees this month, which is odd for this late in the season. But most nights have cooled into the upper 40s and low 50s, and it's been even cooler than that away from Lake Champlain. 

VERMONT DROUGHT UPDATE

The situation obviously continues to worsen here in the Green Mountain State as we keep going day after day without rain. 

Some rivers, like the Otter Creek, are at record low levels. Parts of the Lamoille River near Jeffersonville, the East Branch of the Passumpsic at East Haven and the Clyde River at Newport are at their lowest levels on record for mid-September.

Virtually all other rivers and streams in Vermont are close to record lows.  I'll have more news on the drought's effects around here in a post coming soon. 

The weather forecast continues to be discouraging, with no change from the predictions I've been mentioning the past few days.

It was sunny, warm and dry Monday. It will be warm and dry today, tomorrow and Thursday. A decaying storm along the North Carolina/Virginia coastline might throw some clouds our way tomorrow, but, alas, no rain. 

The skies will clear out Thursday, and we'll have a brief excursion into summertime weather, with many of us reaching the low 80s.

You'd want sharp cold fronts this time of year to bring rain. We've got a pretty strong one coming Thursday night or very early Friday, but, again, it will have no rain with it this time, aside from a low risk of sprinkles in a couple spots. 

We'll have a brief cool down Friday and Saturday with highs only in the 60s. We'll have to be on the lookout for some areas of frost early Saturday morning. It will then turn warm again for a few days. 

Our next shot at rain still looks like it will come around September 25 or 26.  It's way too soon to know whether it will turn out to be any kind of real rain or another whiff with sprinkles or nothing. Some computer models give us some moderate rain, while others indicate practically nothing at all. 

We'll wait and see on that, Meanwhile, keep doing your rain dances. And do it with gusto.