Wall-To-Wall Sunshine Continues In Vermont As Long Dry Spell Continues

Another gorgeous day in Vermont Saturday as seen here in 
South Burlington. More of the same today. 

The wall to wall sunshine continues, as Vermont's long dry spell continues. Yesterday was clear. Today will be clear. Mostly. We'll get into it in a bit.  

The very dry air ensures we have cold nights and warm days. Again, most of the time, anyway. 

After a cold morning Saturday, the sunshine brought temperatures right back up into the 50s.  Winds were light, so it was particularly pleasant. 

I started the day freezing in fleece and then by afternoon, I was down to a black t-shirt doing fall cleanup in the sun.

Then, by dawn this morning, everybody in Vermont was down in the 20s.  Temperatures will continue to yoyo, thanks to continued dry air and a cold front. 

TODAY

Those cold morning lows today were quickly being erased by the sunshine.  The big fat high pressure that was over us yesterday is a little weaker to our south, which means we'll see some light southwest winds. That will boost temperatures to near 60. With low to mid 60s in the warmer valleys. 

Because the air mass has warmed up, tonight won't be quite as cold as last night. Most of us will be in the 30s for lows. 

MONDAY

There's actually a chance of rain. Sort of. In spots. The next cold front is due during the day Monday. The air ahead of the cold front will be dry. The air behind the front will be dry. So there's no real supply of moisture to set off showers, like most cold fronts produce. 

The front might be able to grab the tiny bits of moisture in the air to set off some very light showers, mainly over the northern Green Mountains. In their forecast discussion this morning, the National Weather Service in South Burlington noted some computer models produce up to 0.05 inches of rain in some northern mountains. 

But with so much dry air, that 0.05 inches seems generous, the NWS says. More likely, a little rain might come out of the clouds, dampen some rocks on mountain summits. Then the rain will dry up in the air before reaching the valleys. 

Just to be on the safe side, the National Weather Service has a 20 to 30 percent chance of a light shower in northern Vermont. It will be cloudier than recent days. The front will be coming in from the north, so it'll  hold daytime temperatures up there in the 50s. Southern Vermont will be sunnier, and in the 60s 

TUESDAY

As I mentioned yesterday, the next big, fat high pressure system comes in, colder than the previous one. Despite another day of basically wall to wall sunshine, it's going to be much colder. Highs will be in the 40s, with maybe a few low 50s in warmer southern valleys.

Since this is colder air, get ready for a very cold Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

WEDNESDAY AND BEYONDThe 

There's actually a chance that a few places in Vermont could have near record low, though the chances of that are iffy.  Montpelier's expected low is 20 degrees Wednesday morning, and the record low for the date is 19. 

Elsewhere. record lows are unlikely.  Burlington's expected low Wednesday is 25, the record low is 19.  St. Johnsbury is expecting a lot Wednesday morning of 19, the record low is 13.

We'll check later for updates to see if forecasters lower the expected minimum temperatures. By Wednesday afternoon, it will warm up to the mid-50s again. 

The big fat high pressure system will eventually make us mild again, with highs in the low 60s. That high will eventually go off to the east, possibly followed by another one next week. 

Through today, we will have gone nine consecutive days with no measurable precipitation That's not anywhere remotely close the record. In the spring of 1903, Burlington went 53 days without measurable rain.