Frigid Vermont Morning, Then Today's Clouds Will Try To Rain, But Fail. Fire Risk Continues

Late autumn in Vermont, as seen yesterday near Sheldon.
Blue skies, a harvested corn field, and stick season
nearly completely underway.

As dawn broke this morning, the atmosphere here in St. Albans took on a temporary pinkish hue. That was the sun breaking past the horizon and lighting up some high clouds that had moved in overnight.  

Those high clouds prevented temperatures from bottoming out as low as they could have. Still it was cold. Really cold.

Everybody in Vermont was down in the 20s early this morning. A few places in the Northeast Kingdom might have seen the upper teens, since they were the last place in the state to see the high clouds. 

The dry weather has prompted brush fire problems in Vermont, which seems to be an increasing issue in recent autumn in the Green Mountain State. 

On Tuesday, a vehicle burst into flames on a remote access road in Jericho, the fire spread into the woods, burning about an acre before firefighters stopped the blaze. 

It's been a busy fire year, at least in terms of Vermont acreage burned. So far in 2026, 296.5 acres have burned, the most since 2016. It's even more than the super dry autumn of 2024.

More fires are definitely possible in the coming days as little or no rain is coming. Now, the daily forecasts. 

TODAY

Today's clouds are now established in Vermont, and they'll lower and thicken a bit during the day. Usually that means rain, but nope, not for us. 

Actually, it probably will rain some from the high and mid-level clouds that cover the skies today. Chances are, weather radar will light up at times with what appears to be rain. 

But, remember, our air is still quite dry. In their forecast discussion this morning, the National Weather Service office in South Burlington says rainfall will evaporate by the time it gets down to 5,000 or 6,000 feet elevation, so it won't even hit the tallest peaks of the state.

Sometimes the clouds will be thinner at times, so a little sun might get through at times. The clouds will keep high temperatures in the low 50s.  

THURSDAY

The sunshine will return tomorrow. South to southwest winds will increase, boosting temperatures into the 60s. Maybe 70 in the warmer valleys. Since the air will be dry and the winds will be gusty, it'll be a real fire risk day.  So be especially careful with fire tomorrow. 

Another weak cold front will come through at night. There could be a few hundredths of an inch of rain north, probably little or nothing south. It won't make a difference in the dry weather. 

FRIDAY

The cold front will have gone through and somewhat gusty west winds. The air mass coming in won't be as cold as the one we had yesterday, despite the fact that another big, fat, high pressure system coming in.  Highs should reach the 50s. 

The sky won't turn crystal clear like recent cold fronts, so we'll call it partly cloudy.   It'll be another high fire risk day with the dry air and wind. 

SATURDAY

Back to the routine we've been in. A cold, subfreezing start, then sunshine, blue skies and highs in the low 50s. Beautiful, but too dry. At least the winds will be light, which means existing or new fires won't spread especially fast. 

SUNDAY AND BEYOND

Broken record weather again. A subfreezing dawn, a sunny day, a little milder, highs well into the 50s. 

Speaking of broken, the pattern of big fat, dry high pressure systems will finally begin to break. A little rain might come through Tuesday. One last big, fat high pressure might brush past us mid-week. 

It's beginning to look like a much wetter storm could, maybe hit us late next week. It's a long range forecast, so no guarantees that we'll actually get the rain. But at least there's hope.