Friday Vermont Update: Rain Was Nice, Helped A Little, Drought Will Reassert Itself

Thursday's Vermont rain was nice, and will help us a bit with the drought, so we can all be thankful for the mini-reprieve. 

Some pink late season flowers in my St. Albans, Vermont
perennial garden revived a bit in this week's rain, but the
hosta next to it is done for the season. At least the cactus
in the foreground did really well in our drought

As I have kept saying, though, the rain won't come close to solving our drought problems. But our wet Thursday was much better than having a whiff and a miss from yet another storm. 

It looks like Vermont came close to missing out on the rain, which of course would  have been bad. 

Had the track of the storm been a little further east, we would still be looking at dusty ground, or something close to it. 

The rain moved in a generally southwest to northeast path, with the northwestern edge of it near New York's St. Lawrence Valley. That area, and adjacent areas of Quebec, looks like they got just 0.2 inches of rain or less.

The rain was light compared to other areas of the state in northwest Vermont, but still beneficial.  Especially since rain hit northwest Vermont Tuesday but missed the rest of the region.   

My unofficial rain gauge in St. Albans collected 0.48 inches, and the total for the week was just a hair under an inch. Burlington  had  0.67 inches Thursday, with an inch total for the week. 

As soon as you got a little inland from Lake Champlain, rainfall totals picked tip nicely. Montpelier and St. Johnsbury got about an inch of rain Thursday. Rutland looks like they went over an inch. Bennington had a respectable 0.77 inches. 

Southeast Vermont and the central and souther Green Mountains were the big winners in the Green Mountain State.   Springfield, Vermont rejoiced with 2.6 inches of rain. Other particularly wet spots included 2.51 inches in Worcester, 2.19 inches in Starksboro, 1.99 inches in Danby and 196 inches in Windsor.

As for how Thursday's rain will affect the drought, the National Weather Service office in South Burlington tells us, via a response to a Facebook inquiry to them: 

"It is unlikely the area of D3 (extreme drought) will shrink any, despite recent rainfall. Changes to the drought monitor depend on drought reports, like well water information, and other factors to reshape the drought areas. Honestly, some locations were more than 10 inches low before the recent rainfall and the amounts received haven't come close to offsetting rain deficits."

So there you go. We need lots of very wet storms to recover. And we ain't getting 'em. 

RAIN SHUTS OFF

For most of us, Thursday's rain will be the last we see for a long while, as previous forecasts indicates. 

As a parting gift from our wet Thursday, a few last minute showers should pop up this afternoon.  A dying cold front coming from the north, and a disturbance moving in from the west should kick off the spotty rain. Probably less than 40 percent of us will see any rain, and those that do shouldn't get more than a tenth of an inch. 

A handful of lucky spots might see a quarter inch if any particular showers get heavier, but that's it. 

After that, sunny, dry weather will stick around for a long time. A weak storm might give southern New England a little rain Sunday, but only send a few clouds into Vermont. 

Toward Monday or Tuesday, the Carolinas might be dealing with a tropical storm or hurricane, but strong Canadian high pressure will block any of that moisture from making it up into New England. 

It will be warmer than normal into early next week, with high temperatures possibly flirting with 80 degrees Sunday and Monday. But as Canadian high pressure builds down from near Hudson Bay near the middle of the week, we'll have to start worrying about frost again. 

The cold front that will introduce the chillier air will be dry, of course, so no rain from that. I've been saying the next shot at rain around here would be around October 9. But some computer models are already starting to "cancel" that shot of decent showers, so maybe not. 

We'll have to wait and see until we get closer to that date to see if anything comes out of the sky. But otherwise, until then, it's back to your ugly, regulated scheduled New England drought.