Friday Morning Wind Blast in VT/NY To Go On Repeat Overnight Tonight

This house in St. Albans, Vermont was damaged early 
Friday when strong winds tore down part of a large
tree, which landed on the house.
Photo via Scott Levick/Facebook

As those sputtering showers and thunderstorms were speeding through northern New York and Vermont early yesterday morning, the wind was absolutely blasting parts of northern New York and the northern Champlain Valley. 

It was so bad that a large section of a tree fell and smushed a big chunk of a house in St. Albans, and another tree blocked a major commuter route for a short time in the same community. 

 Winds gusted to 57 mph at Knight Point State Park in Grand Isle County, 54 mph at the Milton Sandbar 50 mph in Plattsburgh and 49 mph in Burlington. 

In hindsight, it might have been a good idea for these parts of Vermont to be under a wind advisory, which is designed to alert people to potential gusts of 50 mph. 

The wind died down somewhat by Friday afternoon and by this morning, things were calm. 

Tonight and early tomorrow, we're going to do it all again. For pretty much the same reason as yesterday. A storm will go by to our northwest, bumping into high pressure over northern Quebec. That will funnel strong south winds up the Champlain Valley. 

Winds will again gusts to or a little over 50 mph. A wind advisory is up for the central and northern Champlain Valley in Vermont and across northern New York from 8 p.m this evening to 8 a.m. Sunday. The strongest winds are expected between 11 p.m. an 6 a.m., says the National Weather Service. So it'll be a noisy overnight. 

Like yesterday, expect a few scattered power outages in northwest Vermont during this windy period as well.

SOME OTHER DIFFERENCES'

Even though the weather situation early Sunday morning will be strikingly similar to Friday morning there will be a few minor differences. Really odd, though, that the exact same weather setup will happen within two days of each other. 

This time, the cold air won't dam up as well in eastern Vermont, so I see little risk of any freezing rain. It might come close to freezing in a couple of the cold hollows when the rain comes in, but this won't exactly be the Great Ice Storm of '26. 

If you head further east into northern New Hampshire  and northern Maine, you probably will run into mild precipitation late tonight and early Sunday, so a winter weather advisory is up once again over in those parts. 

Unlike early Friday, I don't think we'll hear any rumbles of thunder, but hey, we could be surprised. There is a risk of severe thunderstorms in western New York later today. Those will fall apart well before we get here, but there's a minuscule chance, I suppose we can hang on to one or two lightning strikes by the time the rain gets here.

The rain over Vermont will be a little heavier than what we got yesterday, which isn't saying much. We should only get a quarter to a third of an inch of rain, which would mostly fall in the morning and early afternoon.

Oh, and both today and tomorrow should see highs in the low 50s. Which is about 10 degrees chillier than most of us saw yesterday. Low 50s is maybe a couple degrees above normal for this time of year.

QUICK COLD SHOT

We're still looking at a quick return to "winter" Sunday night through Wednesday morning. Again, don't panic. This is just a typical early April interruption to spring. 

It means highs in the mid 30s to mid 40s  and lows well below freezing. It's not like some of those past Aprils in  history in which we get a big snowstorm followed by true winter cold. We'll survive this just fine. Despite a few possible snow flurries in the air. 

It'll warm up by the end of the week and actually get quite nice again. 

I'm going to jinx it here, but with everything I see in the forecasts, this could turn out to be a much mellower April than we often get around Vermont. We often rocket between winter and summer and in in between the temperature hijinks, and we usually get some pretty interesting storms this time of year. 

I obviously won't be surprised by any weather surprises we get this month. But other than those wind storms, this is beginning to turn out to be an easy Vermont April.  

Rumbles Of Thunder This Morning Are Another Big Sign Of Vermont Spring

Lightning detector map from shortly before 5:30 a.m today
shows strikes especially across central Vermont and in
the far northern Champlain Valley. 

Many of us across Vermont, New York an New Hampshire woke up to the sound of thunder before dawn today.  

I would imagine some found the noise vaguely annoying. I happily found it that best confirmation yet that spring is here. 

Thunderstorms get more common as we head into the warmer months.  The warmer air and the increased moisture in spring and summer can create the rapidly rising air needed to create lightning. 

Now, it wasn't exactly warm while these storms were coming through northern New England this morning. In fact. a few spots in eastern Vermont and New Hampshire might have been getting freezing rain while lightning was flashing. Thunderice?  Not sure what to call it. 

But there was warm air.  The storms were triggered by a warm front moving in.  The warm air aloft pushed ahead of the front helped create the balmy lift in the air, leading to the lightning flashes. 

For some reason warm fronts coming through in the pre-dawn hours in April often turn out to be create the first thunderstorms of the year in Vermont. So the timing and nature of our thunder early today was pretty classic. Judging from lightning detector maps, the storm with the most lightning cut across central Vermont early this morning. 

Another area of lightning just clipped northwest Vermont.  Here in St. Albans, I heard a few rumbles around 4:30 a.m., along with a brief downpour and strong, gusty winds. So it was noticeable. 

The showers and thunderstorms were moving along at a fast pace, so nobody is getting all that much rain. Even if a thunderstorm has a downpour associated with it, the heavier rain hasn't been staying in one place very long. 

Bottom line: The storms are cool, but are not causing any real trouble. 

REST OF TODAY

As of 6:30 a.m., a little more lightning was flashing near Rutland, and in central New York, so we're probably not quite done with it yet. The warm front will pass through later this morning, ending the threat of more thunder and most showers. 

It was in the 30s to near 40 early this morning amid the showers and rumbles of thunder ahead of the warm front. Once it passes through, temperatures will zoom into the low 60s for most of us. This will be the mildest day we'll have for awhile, so enjoy it. Some sun will mix in, too, to give the crocuses a little boost. 

Winds were really screaming from the south early this morning, especially in the Champlain Valley. I'm on an exposed hillside in St Albans, and I would estimate some gusts were up to around 50 mph. I'm noticing a smattering of power outages in northwest Vermont, so don't be surprised if your power at least flickers this morning in the Champlain Valley. 

It'll stay breezy to windy all day, but the strongest winds were probably happening as I wrote this around 7 a.m. They'll diminish some as we go through the day. 

All in all, despite the stormy start of the day, it'll be a rather nice one. 

THE WEEKEND

Our storm will drag a lame cold front through tonight, cooling us off only slightly. Saturday will be generally cloudy and mild-ish as the next storm approaches. By mild-ish, I mean low 50s, just a few degrees above average.

This one probably won't have any thunder an lightning with it. The showers will definitely ramp up, though, Saturday night and Sunday morning.  We'll have more rain than the light stuff we're having this morning. 

Between Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon, it looks like we'll have roughly half an inch of rain, with perhaps a little more than that up along the Canadian border and a little less in far southern Vermont.  Don't worry about any flooding: Rivers will probably rise somewhat, but fall short of any real flooding. 

Highs Sunday will be in the 50s. 

BRIEF WINTER

The cold front with the second storm will be much stronger than tonight's so it will get much colder Sunday. Lingering rain showers will at least mix with, if not change to snow showers Sunday night and continue into Monday. 

Don't worry too much about the snow showers, They'll the light and scattered and mostly in the hills ad mountains. 

The first half of the week will be cold, with highs in the mid 30s to mid 40s and lows solidly below freezing. Yes, that's chilly for this time of year, but not really odd for early April. We should be able to sneak back up into the pleasant 50s for the second half of the week. 

March Was A Solidly Warm Month In Vermont

Paw prints left in the snow from Henry the Weather
 Dog after he took some weather observations on 
March 20 in St. Albans, Vermont. The month 
turned out to be solidly warmer than average.

The weather headlines in the United States was the extraordinary heat that shattered all-time record March highs. 

Vermont was on the outside of all this weather excitement, much cooler than the extreme heat in the South and West. 

Even so, we in Vermont ended up with a March that was solidly warmer than normal. As measured in Burlington, the average temperature was 36.4 degrees, a good 4.1 degrees milder than average. It was 19th warmest out of the past 139 years.

As the month opened, we had just been through four consecutive cooler than normal months, and were entering yet another winter cold wave. By the morning of March 2, it was below zero statewide.

But then, that was about it.  The warming trend peaked on March 7-12, when every day was at least 14.4 degrees warmer than normal. 

The heat peaked on March 10. Burlington reached 73 degrees, breaking the date's record high by an impressive 10 degrees. It was also the warmest temperature for so early in the season. Other hot Vermont cities that day include  71 in St. Johnsbury and 74 in Bennington, 

Before the mid-month heat wave, Vermont rivers were locked up in thick ice from a long, cold winter. The sudden warmth led to numerous ice jams in the Green Mountain State, Some of them caused minor flooding. It could have been a lot worse if there had been a lot of rain, but precipitation during the warm spell was light. 

The rest of the month toggled between relative warmth and winter chill, but there never were any particular extremes. 

Winter did return after the heat wave that was centered around March 10. A storm on March 20 had been forecast to dump half a foot of snow on northeastern Vermont, but only a couple inches in the Champlain Valley. 

Instead, nearly five inches of "wet cement" snow came down in just a few hours during the late morning an afternoon. It turned out to probably be the biggest traffic snarler since a similar late day dump of wet snow in November. 

It was a reminder that winter was not over. 

That day's snow (which fell as rain in southern Vermont) was a good shot of some needed precipitation, though. There's drought lingering from last autumn in parts of the state, so a wet spring is actually a good thing this  year. 

The news on the precipitation front in Vermont was sort of meh as rain and melted snow rain just about normal statewide. An exception was in the southwest, where Bennington turned up with a nice 4.36 inches of precipitation, which was 1.71 inches above normal ,

On the hand, Burlington;s precipitation of 2.27 inches was only 0.03 inches above average,  That was just the 68th wettest March out of the past 144 years. 

APRIL OUTLOOK

The month has begun with its usual schizophrenic attitude, with rapidly changing temperatures, and weather. 

Overall, NOAA expects most of the the U.S. to be warmer than normal in April. An exception is the Great Lakes a New England area a tossup: It'll end up either warmer or colder than normal, out somewhere near average. Precipitation would be above normal if NOAA's forecast is accurate. 

A Bout Of Icy Weather In Some Parts Of Vermont Then a Brief, Warm Interlude

We can't quite shake winter. Areas in yellow and orange
can expect a glaze of ice tonight before much warmer
air arrives tomorrow, 

 It's another overcast morning in Vermont, with some rain falling far southern sections of the states. 

The wide-ranging temperatures we saw over the past few days have finally evened up for now. 

Pretty much the whole state started today in the low to mid 30s. Early April in Vermont can be a little like November. But at least we're not facing along winter like we would be in November, so we have that optimism. 

Although it was cold enough this morning for snow in southern Vermont, there's warm air aloft, so it's rain. Some sleet might be mixing in at a few spots, but web cams so far show little direct evidence of that. Still, a special weather statement notes the risk of freezing rain this morning, mostly at elevations above 2,000 feet in the southern Greens. 

That warm overhead cold surface have wintry implications for tonight. It's April, but here in Vermont that doesn't necessarily mean wintry weather is over 

A winter weather advisory is for Vermont from the Green Mountains east and from about Springfield north to the Canadian border tonight. 

It's the same problem we've frequently had in late winter and early spring. Warm air is trying to push in, but cold high pressure in Quebec is feeding in low level cold air. The result is the risk of freezing rain

We know there won't be much precipitation of any kinds, and what does fall over and east of the Green Mountains won't be entirely freezing rain. 

However, as usual in these cases, the freezing rain will be spotty. If you're driving anywhere in the winter weather advisory zone overnight and early Friday, you'll encounter patches of ice alternating with above freezing areas, so this will keep you on your toes.

Western Vermont should be too warm for freezing rain.  Some of the overnight showers north and west could actually contain a rumble of thunder or two. That's not exactly a sure bet, but since it's spring, thunder is beginning to become more possible with storm systems. 

WEEKEND

It will warm up really quickly Friday as a warm front blows by, so any freezing rain will stop being an annoyance pretty early in the day. There should be showers around especially during the first half of the day and especially north an west as another storm blows by far to our north. 

The cold front with this storm will be incredibly lame, so not chilly air will be able to work in. Which means Saturday should be fairly mild with highs into the 50s. As the next storm approaches Sunday, the chances of showers will ramp up. It'll stay on the warm-ish side as we once again reach the 50s 

 BEYOND THE WEEKEND:

Unfortunately, we can't sustain spring quite yet. The first half of April is known for its excursions back to winter. 

So, at least the first half of next week will be cold, with highs in the 30s and 40s with subfreezing temperatures overnight. That might keep the sugaring season going on a little longer in parts of the state that haven't had too much warm weather yet. 

And let's face it, the chill early next week won't be anything extreme. We can still have huge snowstorm this time of year, and historically, record cold would mean temperatures in the single numbers to low teens. 

Neither of which will happen next week,  Our world will soon green up regardless of whether we get a little cold air or not.

This Time Of Year, Temperatures Are Usually All Over The Place

Cold and gloomy early this morning in St. Albans, Vermont.
Temperatures before dawn ranged from near 32 at Canadian 
border to near 60 by the Massachusetts border. 
Temperatures will continue to swing wildly over the
next few days, which is common this time of year, 

 Before dawn today, temperatures were either cold or balmy, depending on where you are. 

At 5 a.m. it was 34 degrees in Burlington. Ice is underfoot closer to the Canadian border.  Meanwhile, it was 61 in Bennington. In between readings were in the 40s and 50s. 

Depending on where you are today in Vermont, you'll need your tired old winter coat or that cute new spring lightweight sweater  you just bought. 

Yesterday, it was more of the same. In far southern Vermont was actually sort of humid, with springlike showers and thunderstorms. 

Up in the far north, yesterday ended up overcast, dark, foggy, drizzly and cold, the temperatures having dropped to chilly levels shortly after midnight

In the middle of the state, most of Vermont, really  it either stayed mild into early today, or it was still on the warm side. 

The relative warmth combined with rain that's been melting the mountain snow has created sharp rises along the rivers of Vermont .  Most have stayed within their banks, but a flood warning was in effect along the Walloomsac River in Bennington County for minor flooding. The warning has since expired. 

 Looking over the past week, we have seen the same the same big temperature swings. It was 58 degrees on March 26, then we endured a couple days in the 30s. 

By Monday, it was back up to 68 degrees in Burlington. Dry south winds created perfect conditions for brush fire starts, and they certainly got going in a couple places. A brush fire on Monday in Ferrisburgh, burned through more than 100 acres, which is unusual for a Vermont fire, It took about 75 firefighters several hours to put out the flags. 

Another, much smaller brush fire in Waterbury on Monday was also extinguished.

WILD SWINGS CONTINUE :

These wild swings in temperature are because Vermont is usually near the border between frigid winter air in Canada and balmy air across  the southern United States. The contrast is usually greatest from mid-March to mid April, give or take. 

Ma Nature doesn't celebrate April Fool's Day. It celebrates April Fools Month. 

By April Fools Day, spring hasn't usually made many inroads across most of Canada In the central and southern U.S., it's hard core spring. When the front essentially separating winter an spring pass over Vermont, which is frequently, the weather goes wild.

Every once in awhile, this can create big disruptive, damaging storms in Vermont. That's not the case this time, which is great news.

For the next couple of days, it'll be on the cool side, especially north. 

An approaching warm front could spread a little rain in the warmer areas, and a little ice mainly east of the Green Mountains. The National Weather Service is toying with the idea of issuing a winter weather advisory for that potential ice Thursday night and early Friday, 

They'll wait for a little more data to come in before deciding whether to trigger such an advisory,

By Friday, temperatures should reach the low 60s across many areas of Vermont, so if we do get any ice from freezing rain, it'll disappear fast. The warm front's parent storm will pass far to our north and west. It won't really be able to pull down much of that cold air from Canada. 

Which means for now, it looks like it'll be a springlike weekend. Springlike means a risk of showers, of course. The warm temperatures and the rain will make rivers rise again. But just like yesterday, no flooding is expected. 

There's also a wrinkle. There's always a wrinkle, Some forecasts keep Saturday and Sunday in the 40s, so we'll have to keep an on it. 

Variable weather is hard to predict sometimes. 

By early next week, it'll be breezy and chilly once again and the Canadian air will flood back in. It is April, so daytime highs next week should get into the low or mid 40s.  

I'm Back! Here's Why I Went Missing For A Few Days. It Ain't Pretty

A strange, intense bug has kept me away from this blog or the
past few days, but I'm finally starting to feel better, so 
hopefully I'll soon be releasing as many posts
as I usually do,   

 For the first time in many years I was too sick to post on this here blog thingy It's some sort of virus, apparently, but it was an immensely strange one.

It started Friday night. We'd gone to the Vermont Comedy Club and we had a great time. But toward the end of the night, my abdominal muscles were seizing up and spasming. Something was wrong.

This kind of thing happens to be occasionally once every few months  I call them stomach attacks. Usually, I have a rough night, and by the next day, everything is fine. 

Not this time. 

I ended up sleeping for nearly two days - right through Saturday and most of Sunday.  I didn't eat during that time either. 

The pain was weird. My stomach /hurt, which is what you'd expect  But my thighs were also quite painful.  And my nipples. I'm like, what the hell!   

The stomach pain has decreased in intensity and those other pains are gone. But now my lower back, right knee and of all things the big toe on my right foot hurts.

On the few occasions I got up my feet, I felt unsteady.  My surroundings felt muffled and blurry, as if I   was experiencing the world through a dirty window pane.,

Needless to say, my extreme fatigue and my inability to focus have kept me away from this blog. I am feeling somewhat better. At least I'm eating a little and am no longer in bed 24/7.  But I still much more than the eight hours of sleep I usually get. Since I'm not at full strength yet posts here might temporarily be less frequent than usual for awhile.

I'm seeing a physician tomorrow, so no need for any diagnosis from anybody 

I just really appreciate all my readers who have been patiently waiting for me to report on anything after all these days

I swear the next post will be about climate and weather, 

Trump Bribes Company $1 Billion To Stop Offshore Wind

Maybe he hates offshore wind projects because breezes
mess up his hair? In any event, Trump, having lost
court battles to stop offshore wind installations,
has resorted to basically bribery with taxpayer dollars.

As we've talked about here a few times, Donald Trump hates wind generation. Especially offshore wind. 

He tried new anti-offshore wind regulations and pronouncements, only to be repeatedly shot down by the courts. So, Trump has gone straight to corruption. He's now successfully stopped an offshore wind installation with what amounts to a $1 billion bribe. 

Here it is from CNN:

"The Trump administration announced it will pay nearly $1 billion to French energy giant TotalEnergies in exchange for the company abandoning plans to build offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean and instead pursue fossil fuel project in the U.S." 

Yes, that's 'your tax dollars not at work. Trump is using tax revenue - and a lot of it to - pay somebody to not do something. 

It's not a direct raid on the treasury. Instead the Trump administration is paying back TotalEnergies for federal leases it bought during the Biden administration. So the money Biden raked in for the federal government is getting pissed away all because wind turbines are against Trump's aesthetics. 

The Trump gang has already stopped approving federal permits for renewable energy projects. That move killed offshore wind projects that were in early development. 

This goes against the wishes of numerous clean energy companies and several state governments. Those entities think offshore wind is a win-win: It generates badly needed electricity while also avoids the fossil fuels that contribute to ever-worsening climate change crisis. 

The more recent bribe, as I insist on calling it,  ries to make sure companies can't continue building under any future administration that has a friendlier attitude toward offshore wind, as CNN reports. 

In any event, Trump's bribe means 4 gigawatts of electricity will not be generated for houses and businesses in the U.S. 

TotalEnergies doesn't even get to decide how to spend the bribe money. To keep the Orange One happy, the company will develop a new liquified gas plant in Texas that will help export U.S. LNG overseas to Europe, per their agreement with the Trump administration.   

The company will also do some oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. and shale oil projects elsewhere in the U.S. 

Burn that fossil fuel, baby!  103 degrees during March in Kansas isn't nearly hot enough. Gotta get that climate really boiling. 

The deal is "an outrageous misuses of taxpayer dollars to prevent Americans from having clean, affordable power exactly when they need it the most," said Ted Kelly of the Environmental Defense Fund.

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says offshore wind is "one of the most expensive" forms of energy and is only produced when wind is blowing. I guess he never heard of batteries that store electricity and keep the juice flowing until the wind blows again. Which it almost always does in the wide open ocean. 

It's true offshore wind power is expensive because it's, well, offshore. But wind has no fuel costs. And CNN points out that states negotiate set power price agreements with offshore wind producers that don't fluctuate like natural gas and oil does. 

As with every stunt Trump and his minions pull, I see lawsuits coming with this. 

Canarymedia com explains:

"....offshore wind experts said that no process exists for Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)  to return the funds it collects from leasing federally controlled waters.

'There are significant questions about under what authority Interior is doing this,' said Elizabeth Klein, who led BOEM from 2023 to 2025 during the Biden administration"

 This Orange Briberymight  create broader problems beyond encouraging fossil fuel consumption, which can only worsen climate change. As NPR points out:

"Industry analysts say the agreement threatens to undermine business confidence in the United States by exerting unprecedented executive power to influence the private sector,"

Back in the day, like it or not, Republicans preferred to leave business alone. Let them do their thing with a little regulation or government interference as possible. So much for that. MAGA has turned that on its head. 

NPR's reporting goes on to explain that by stopping projects he doesn't like, Trump risks messing up infrastructure spending across the economy, not just in offshore wind. The uncertainty this creates could make infrastructure projects move more slowly and become expensive. 

The uncertainly goes into fossil fuel plant and oil production projects, which Trump keeps telling us he loves so much.

"When you're building a power plant or thinking about oil production, you're thinking not just about the current administration, you're thinking about the next couple of decades.....And the pendulum swing is a real policy risk," said Timothy Fox of ClearView Energy Partners. 

All this is one of Trump's few "skills."  His chaos causes so much uncertainty that investors, companies, and just regular people don't know what the next best course of action is.  Ultimately, nothing gets done.

Except Trump and his oligarch friends get ever more richer at our expense.   

We're Now In What Might Well Be The Last True Winter Cold Spell Of The Season

Interesting radar image from yesterday as light rain
covered most of the area. The "hole" in the rain near
and south of Burlington lingered for hours. Moisture
coming in from the west was blocked by the Adirondacks.
leaving a dry spot in the Champlain Valley.

As we expected, the spring warmth of yesterday is gone and t's cold here once again in Vermont.

The transition to the colder weather started out unevenly yesterday and created some sort of interesting moments. 

There was actually two cold fronts. The first originated as a warm front that stalled over southern Quebec It worked its way back southward as a cold front during Thursday afternoon and abruptly ended the brief warm spell in the far north. 

In Highgate, a temperature of 56 degrees at 12:30 p.m. Thursday was own to 45 by 2:30 p.m.. Elsewhere in northern and central Vermont, it took until very late afternoon or early evening to get much chillier. 

While all that was going on, whatever moisture there was came streaming in from the west. Nobody in central and northern Vermont got all that much rain, with amounts near a quarter inch, give or take.  

But if you looked at radar returns there was a "hole" near and south of Burlington most of the afternoon and evening were pretty much no rain was falling. The Adirondacks were blocking the moisture coming in. So rainfall dried up in the Champlain Valley, but resumed in the Green Mountains when the air was forced to rise up the slopes, wringing out a little rain. 

It looks like only far southern Vermont got substantial precipitation. Bennington reported a decent 0.61 inches.  

Overnight, the second and strongest cold front blasted through. even found evidence on my truck and the trees around my St. Albans home that we got a little bit of freezing rain late last night. 2Now it's temporarily winter again. 

LAST COLD SPELL?

As of 7 a.m. today, temperatures across Vermont were solidly below freezing except in the far south. Stiff north winds were holding wind chill in the teens. It won't get above freezing in most of the state today. 

Tonight will be down in the single number and low teens for the most part. Saturday stays below freezing, too, in much of Vermont. Saturday night will be cold, too, but not quite as bad as tonight. 

After that, fingers crossed, this might be the last truly wintry cold spell until, well next winter. There will still be frigid air lurking in central and northern Canada, but I don't think it will able to make any kind of strong push into our neck of the wood next week, or the week after. Then, by mid-April, it's usually too late to get wintry. 

Sure, it can get cold and snowy after mid-April, but not as if you're in the depths of winter cold and snowy. 

It looks like we'll have an active weather pattern, though, with frequent chances of April showers. It remains to be seen how much rain we'll actually get, as at this stage of the game, results vary when you look at the various forecasting models. 

Temperatures should recover from the cold spell by Sunday afternoon, as temperatures rise into the 40s. Readings will bounce around after that as warm and cold fronts sail through New England.  At this point, next Wednesday looks like the warmest day, with highs in the 50s to low 60s. A few models take us well into the 60s. We shall see!  

The King Of Tough Winters Outdid Itself This Year. Fairbanks, Alaska Endured Most Extreme Chill In 60 Years.

A scene from Fairbanks, Alaska, this past
winter. Yeah, they're crazy up there.
This past winter, and through March
so far, has been among the coldest
on record there. This in a city that's'
already insanely cold in the winter,

Alaska winters are always more challenging than they are in most of the Lower 48, and this winter has really made Alaskans suffer. 

If you wanted a frigid endurance test this winter, Fairbanks was your city. 

Fairbanks is pretty much right in the middle of Alaska. Frigid air settles in there, and it gets to 40 below most winters. Sometimes 50 below. One time, in 1934, it was 66 below in Fairbanks. 

Obviously, it takes a special breed to live there. This winter, I imagine some members of that special breed want to call it quits on Fairbanks. The intense cold was just unrelenting. 

THE STATS

December was a whopping 18.5 degrees colder than average, with a mean temperature of, ugh, 22.8 below. People in Fairbanks woke up to 12 days in the minus 40s that month. 

January was a welcome "break" for Fairbanks as it was only 6.1 degrees colder than average with a mean temperature of minus 14.4. It did get down to minus 50 on January 4 though. That day had a lovely high temperature of 46 below. 

February also wasn't super cold, either, at least by Fairbanks standards. However, February was also the wettest and second snowiest February on record in Fairbanks, with 38.7 inches of snow. Precipitation melted down amounted to 2.53 inches. 

All sorts of records and near-records were set with this intense Fairbanks winter, according to the National Weather Service office there, which released this statement:.

"With Fairbanks having record 52 days at or below -30F;  31 days at or below -40F and 66 days where temperatures did not get above 0F, the average temperature from December 1st through March 22nd sits at -14.7 degrees. This marks the 2nd coldest ever such period in Fairbanks history since 1904, the coldets the interior (central Alaska) has seen in 60 years (since 1966) showing just how cold not only this winter has been but alls the start of spring."

Those 31 days at or below minus 40 is the fourth most on record. 

Tuesday was also the 144th day in a row that stayed below freezing. That's the second longest such stretch on record and the longest since the winter of 1971-72.

Fairbanks is usually a very dry place in the winter. When extreme cold settles in, it's even drier, with very little snow during the course of the season. Not this winter. The heavy snow in February was just part of the story. 

Fairbanks has had 92.6 inches of snow so far this season, a respectable 12th  most on record. The deepest snow depth this winter was 38 inches. which is the 14th deepest on record. 

Warmer times are coming to Fairbanks, finally. By next week, high temperatures should be in the low 30s with lows in the single digits. That might seem horrible for April, but for Fairbanks, that's exactly average for this time of year.  

OTHER CITIES AND BUCKING A TREND

Other Alaskan cities have had a tough go of it, too. 

Juneau, Alaska endured 82 inches of inches of snow during December, nearly 50 inches of it in the final five days of the month. over just a week or so in late December. Juneau reached a new snowy milestone this week,   Snowfall for the season there reached a whopping 201.2 inches, the most on record. 

Anchorage, Alaska has had at least 20 inches of snow on the ground since January 27. This month, through Wednesday, March 24 is running 13.1 degrees colder than normal. Through Wednesday, it hadn't been above freezing since February 6, 

Normal high temperature in Anchorage this time of year are in the mid-30s, and the city usually has a handful of above freezing temperatures every month of the year.  It's finally forecast to get above freezing in Anchorage Sunday or Monday.

 This winter has been an anomaly in Alaska. Under the sinister spell of climate change, pPaces closer to the North Pole have been warming much faster than mid-latitudes under. The period from December 1 to March 22 this year is the second coldest on record.

Last year, in 2024-25, that same period was the absolute warmest on record in Fairbanks. Anchorage also had an unusually warm winter in 2024-25

One Day Of Spring Today In Vermont Before Winter Returns For A Two-Day Visit

Much of the snow that fell last week on my yard
had melted by this morning. Most of the rest should
go today under mild southerly breezes along
with a little late day rain. 

March and April tend to bring wildly variable weather across Vermont on a given day, and yesterday was sort of that way. 

A weather front was draped across the state yesterday. As expected, this created a fairly wide temperature difference across Vermont. 

On the Canadian border, it was in the mid-30s most of the afternoon, while southern Vermont valleys reached the low 50s. Again, that was in line with forecasts.

Overnight, the front moved north, dropping a few rain drops and maybe some mountain snowflakes.

TODAY

The front is stalling out just north of the border. The temperature contrast on either side of the front is still sharp, but now it's mostly southern Quebec's problem. Highgate, Vermont, right on the Canadian border was at 43 degrees at 8 a.m today. Montreal, just 50 miles north as the crow flies, was at 25 degrees.

The fact that front is so close to Vermont will mean we'll still see a pretty big temperature variation today. 

Right up by the Canadian border, it should get into the upper 40s, to possibly near 50. By the time you get down to Burlington, it should top out in the mid 50s.  The warmest valleys in far southern Vermont could make it into the mid 60s.  For the record, the warm front should get close enough to Montreal so that they get to about 40 degrees. 

Also, the further north you go, the cloudier it will get, too.  

It should be mostly dry until mid to late afternoon, when rain will increase as our cold front approaches. 

TONIGHT

The bulk of the rain should come through during the first half of the night. As has so often been the case this winter and early spring, forecasters have at nearly the last moment cut back on the amount of precipitation we're going to get. 

Northern areas should only see a tenth to a third of an inch of rain, because a small storm riding in tandem with, but just south of the cold front is going further south than expected. That means far southern Vermont should still see the previously expected half inch or so of rain.

The lighter expected rain is a bit of a disappointment. Yes, yes, I know, it's awfully wet and squishy underfoot, this being mud season and all.  But we could have used more snow and rain over the winter. 

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor, hot off the presses this morning,  continues to show moderate drought in the Northeast Kingdom and abnormally dry conditions across southern Vermont. 

Vermont had its 10th driest February on record, according to NOAA. Since many storms were smaller than expected in March, the month will turn out to be a little on the dry side for most of Vermont. Overall precipitation during the earlier parts of winter were just, well, whelming. Just kind of meh. 

It's good that rainfall wasn't excessive in March, that would have led to flooding, but a little more rain than we received would have been better. 

I'm actually hoping for a really wet April to saturate the ground before trees leaf out and start really pulling moisture from the soil.  I know we want a nice sunny spring, but as Lynn Anderson sang, "along with the sunshine, there's gotta be a little rain sometime."

COLD SNAP

It's just as good, though, that we won't have a lot of precipitation tomorrow, Saturday and into Sunday, because if we did, it would be unwelcome snow. 

We might see a little snow at the tail end of our overnight cold front, but by morning, you'll see at most a thin dusting of snow.

The forecast for the cold weather Friday and Saturday hasn't changed. It'll be at or a little below freezing for most of us during the afternoons both days.  Lows will be in the single numbers and low teens. That's normal for the end of February, not the end of March. 

At least the sun will be out both days to take some of the edge off the chill.   The real cold weather will end by Sunday afternoon,  when it'll get up to about 40 degrees.

Looking ahead beyond that, next week looks really iffy, as we will be once again near the border between Canadian winter cold and balmy spring breezes from the South. Our next shot at any noticeably precipitation would come along around next Wednesday. 

Western Drought Creates Weird New Hazard: Lake Powell Quicksand

A person in the danger zone around quicksand on the 
shores of Lake Powell on the Utah/Arizona border

 The lake level in drought-stricken Lake Powell has dropped so low that it has left behind a weird danger: Quicksand. 

Actually, there's alway has been quicksand around Lake Powell, which straddles the Utah/Arizona border.

But now it's everywhere it seems, due to the crashing lake level from drought. 

Sediment flows into Lake Powell and collects as a wet sand near the bottom or on rock shelves on or above the lakebed.  These sediment areas are now above water and in many instances have taken the form of  quicksand along shorelines and drainages in Lake Powell. 

The lake is part of the popular Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. 

All those old time movies or cartoons depicting quicksand is something that pulls people in until they're buried and dead and gone forever is a myth. Someone who get stuck in quicksand typically stop sinking once they're in waist deep. 

But it can still trap people, and can be dangerous if they're alone and can't get out of it. If a person is alone and can't get out, they'll likely die of hypothermia if help doesn't arrive. 

But once you're in that far, it's incredibly hard to get out. To pull one leg requires the amount of force need to lift a small car, notes Livescience.com

The more you move around, the more you'll sink. A disturbance such as a person entering quicksand will liquify it. "The wet sand sediment becomes so densely packed that it's harder to move than cold molasses. Once the victim's foot becomes stuck in it, the situation is dire," notes Livescience.com

You're left with the densely packed sand keeps you in place with water on top. 

After some experiments with quicksand, experts have devised a way for people to get out of quicksand. Remember this if you're ever tempted to try the Lake Powell quicksand experience.  

 Livescience.com  tells us: 

"Stay calm and eventually, you'll float Stretch out on your back to increase hour surface area and wait until your legs pop free," At this point, moving your legs around at this point to stir in water, and that will help you float.

Of course, people panic, so it's always best to have somebody with you who could seek help. 

So far, I haven't heard of anybody getting into serious, life-threatening trouble with the quicksand. But Lake Powell is getting busier. Spring breakers have invaded the area and the summer tourism season is right around the corner, 

The National Park Service suggests hikers stay close to canyon walls and hike with a buddy. People should check suspicious ground with a walking stick to test the area.

The quicksand will appear as wet, loose, or unusually smooth ground, or unexpected water seepage or pooling, vibrating soil, surfaces that look soft or spongy, NPS spokesperson Heidi Grigg said. 

If you see something like that, it's best to go around it. Preferably on hard rocks. 

OTHER LOW WATER ISSUES

Lake Powell's low water levels is having another impact on summer recreation: The lake is so low, and thus so much smaller, that there's not as much room to launch boats.  That means long lines and a lot more time spent getting boats in and out of the water.

Obviously, the western drought and Lake Powell's troubles aren't limited to isolated quicksand crises or boating inconveniences 

Water managers' goals is to keep the lake level in Powelll to at least 3,525 feet above sea leave. If it gets to 3,490 feet, Glen Canyon Dam, which holds back Lake Powell, can no longer generate any electricity. 

That means utilities will need to turn to more expensive and often more polluting sources to generate electricity. 

The quicksand, the boats, the electricity generation is just the edges of the deep crisis developing in the Southwest. Drought had already been established for years. Then mountain snowpack was the worst on record in many areas, thanks to the warmest winter in the West on record. 

Then, this month, by far the most intense, record shattering March heat wave ever seen settled in for a long visit in the Southwest. This prematurely melted whatever paltry mountain snow pack there was, and further dried out the region much more than anybody anticipated for so early in the season. 

You're going to see a lot of posts this year in this here blog thingy about western drought, western water shortened, western wildfires, and all sorts of big time problems associated with a climate-changed, hot, dry landscape. 

Video: 

Experienced hikers encounter quicksand at Lake Powell.  They knew how to get out of the situation  and you can see them do so in the vid. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below click on that:

 

 

 

Vermont Split: Spring South, Semi-Winter North For Couple Days. Which Season Eventually Wins?

I like to do my annual brush pile burn when there's snow
on the ground to prevent any fire from spreading.
This week might be last chance to see a decent snow
cover here in St. Albans, so I set my brush
pile alight yesterday. I didn't finish throwing
the other pile in the background on the fire 
yesterday, so that's today's job. 

For the next couple of days - today and tomorrow - Vermont will be seeing two different kinds of early spring. 

In southern Vermont, it will be unmistakably spring with mild temperatures and no worries about snow or ice. 

By the time you get to far northern Vermont it will be.......OK, I guess. Kind of chilly today by the Canadian border, a risk of tiny bit of snow and ice tonight, and a milder but not necessarily balmy day Thursday. 

A weak cold front has sagged into Vermont from Quebec, but it hasn't really gone through the entire state. T

he result will be highs today ranging from the low 30s right along the Canadian border to around 50 in the valleys of far southern Vermont.

That cold front will become a warm front tonight, tied to a storm approaching from the west. This could generate some sprinkles of rain south, and a little bit of wet snow far north. Don't worry, there will be very little if any accumulation

THURSDAY

On Thursday, the temperature range across Vermont will be just as great,  but at least at this point, everyone is looking warmer for a day. Highs tomorrow should range from near 50 by the Canadian border to low or even mid 60s around places like Bennington and Brattleboro near the Massachusetts border. 

That difference will be because the warm front is expected to stop in southern Quebec, so far northern Vermont won't be able to warm up as much. Especially with more clouds up there. And the day-long risk of scattered light showers. Further south, the air will be genuinely blowing in from the south. Breaks of sun will help boost temperatures, too.

We still have to keep an eye on the far north. There's a low chance that the front could stall further south, keeping areas near the Canadian border chilly.  As it stands now, it does appear the front will get into Quebec, so the chances of an unexpectedly nippy and raw Thursday north of Route 2 are very low, but still could happen, I suppose. 

As it stands now, valley locations that have been collecting new snow over the past week should lose it all by the end of the day tomorrow. Some of the deeper mountain snow pack will melt too. We'll also get about a half inch of rain tomorrow evening as a strong cold front approaches. 

The snow melt and the rain should make rivers rise noticeably, but local hydrologists are pretty relaxed about the situation. The chances of flooding are low, and if it does happen, it will be minor.

WINTER RETURNS

As we've been advertising, winter comes back in full force Friday and Saturday. High temperatures Friday will be just after midnight, before dawn. By the time the sun rises, most of us will be at or below freezing. 

The overnight rain will turn to snow showers, but again, accumulations will be very light. A thin scrim of snow and water that will have freon might make give you some icy patches to deal with on the way to work. 

Temperatures will stay near or below freezing until Sunday.  Temperatures Friday night will get into the single numbers and many places, and low teens in the "warmer" valleys.  Definitely cold for this time of year. But be glad we're past winter. If this frigid high pressure came in during, say February, it would be way below zero at night. 

Now that we're getting into the end of March, it's getting harder and harder for Ma Nature to sustain any cold waves for too long. So, it's back to pretty normal temperatures starting Sunday and carrying on into next week. 

I don't see any gorgeous spring weather on the way. But highs in the 40s with frequent chances of light rain or showers coming through every couple of days is, well, acceptable for early April. 

Global Temperatures In February Cooled In The Most Minuscule, Inconsequential Way; U.S. February

February, 2026 was the worlds fifth warmest on record.
La Nina might have cooled the month a little, but
 still coming in fifth warmest under that La Nina
is disconcerting. It should have been cooler, if
not for climate change. 

After oh, so many months in which global temperatures were the warmest, second warmest or third warmest on record, February maintained a "cooler trend" of sorts that started in January. 

But it was so scant that this February was still among the top five warmest on record for the world says NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

They write: 

"February 2026 was Earth's fifth-warmest February since records began in 1850, with a surface temperature 2.12 degrees F (1.18 degree C) above the 20th-century average. The 10 warmest Februaries on record have all occurred since 2016 and this month marked the 47th consecutive February with an above average temperature." 

For the past couple of years, it's been hard to find spots in the world during particular months that were chillier than the 20th century average. They were there, but few and far between. 

In February, the global temperature map was still overwhelmingly orange and red, indicating that most everyone was warmer than average.

But there were slightly more small cool patches than I've seen in a year or two. Those places were a section of the Arctic just north of Canada and Alaska; the southeastern United States, Scandinavia, northern Australia and a small pocket in southwest Africa. 

There were, as per the course in recent years many spots that were far warmer than the long time average from the 20th century. They include the western United States, especially the Southwest;  far northeastern Canadathe central North Atlantic Ocean; the Middle East; northwest Asia, parts of northern and eastern Africa, and parts of the western Pacific Ocean. 

Both January and February were a slight departure from recent years. Most months her the past there years or so were the warmest, second warmest or third warmest. So seeing two months in a row that were "mere" fifth warmest is a bit of a change. But not much of one.

It appears that in January and February, the world was probably feeling the fullest effects of the La Nina, which tends to cool the world.  If the world "cools" because of La Nina and the first two months of the year are still the fifth warmest out of the past 176 years, that's not great to say the least. 

Also, the ten hottest Februaries have all occurred since 2016.

NOAA predicts that La Nina will fade during the spring, and chances are we'll have an El Nino by summer or fall. El Ninos tend to warm up the world, so an El Nino risks taking the world to new heat heights, beyond the record years of 2023 and 2024. 

Global temperatures trends usually lag behind the onset of La Nina or El Nino, so my guess is we won't feel the effects of the likely oncoming El Nino much this year. But in 2027, watch out!

UNITED STATES

Map shows by how much temperatures were 
above or below normal during February, 2026.
The western two thirds of the U.S. was a blowtorch

The continental United States had its fourth warmest February on record, marked by another month of bizarre winter heat. Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming all had their warmest Februaries on record. Including those states, 19 states had one of their top ten warmest Februaries. 

The immediate East Coast from New England to the Carolinas was the coolest region relative to average. 

But those areas did not come close to breaking records.  Rhode Island came closest, if you ca call it that, logging in its 36th coldest February out of the past 132 years. Massachusetts was close, coming in at #38 on the list of chilliest Februaries 

Here in Vermont, we came in with the 50th coldest February in the past 132 years.

February also turned out to be the nation's fifth driest on record.

Interestingly, despite a record-setting blizzard on February 22-24, New England was very dry. Rhode Island, the state hit hardest by that blizzard, had its 11th driest February. It was even drier elsewhere in the region. 

Maine had its second driest February. It was the 7th driest in New Hampshire, 8th driest in Massachusetts and 10th driest in Vermont. 

The dry weather was widespread throughout the United States. Mississippi had its driest February on record. Other states in the top ten driest were South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Louisiana. 

The dry weather through the central an southern Plains contributed to numerous damaging wildfires. Those fires grew worse in March. 

Only North Dakota was a little warmer than average, coming in with its 32nd wettest February.

March so far is coming in as a real contender for the hottest third month of the year in the United States. It could even beat out the notorious March, 2012 for unseasonably early heat, a feat many thought virtually impossible. 

But climate change seems to make anything possible, which is a frightening thing. 

Meteorological winter, December 1-February 28, was the nation's second warmest winter on record, driven by ridiculous winter heat in the west. Incredibly, nine large states in the west had their warmest winter on record, while seven others scored in the top 10 warmest. 

Parts of the Northeast were on the cool side, but only clocked in at around 30th to 40th coldest, so nothing remarkable on that side.  

Vermont: Hope For A Brief Thaw, Then A Couple Days Of Winter, And Then, ????

Hoping this will be one of my last truly wintry views
of my St. Albans, Vermont yard until, well, next winter.

After our expected dusting of snow materialized for many of us yesterday and last night, we're opening our Tuesday morning clear and chilly in much of Vermont. Though it was still quite cloudy in the Northeast Kingdom. 

That cloud arrangement led to a bit of a role reversal this morning. Western Vermont was clear longer, so communities that are usually warmer than most other places - Burlington and Bennington, got down to 18 degrees this morning. Virtually the rest of Vermont was in the 20s. 

Turns out it won't be the gloriously clear day we hoped for, though. Clouds will come in during the afternoon as a weak, completely lame disturbance starts to breeze by to our north.  It'll still get to near 40 degrees, though. 

Good! I didn't bother shoveling the recent snows, figuring daytime sun this time of year would melt it instead. My driveway is now an icy, treacherous mess. It does look like the ice will start to melt today and continue through Thursday. I hope. 

Our lame little disturbance tonight will at most throw a snowflake or two at us. Tomorrow should be roughly a rinse and repeat, with a little sun yielding to clouds.

Those clouds are associated with the next iffy storm we're watching. So far, at least, the forecasts keep trending that storm just to our north. If that's the case, it'll be mostly rain. 

If this forecast holds, we might see a tiny bit of wet snow and light rain with the warm front Wednesday night. Thursday would be dry most of the time, until rain showers arrive later in the day. For now, the temperature range looks wide on Thursday, with highs in the mid 40s at the Canadian border to 60 in warmer valleys near the Massachusetts border.

That range in temperature reflect the usual uncertainty in the storm track. It could still end up going further south than forecast, which would radically change the forecast. The rainy weather would turn into a snowy mess north. But for now, we're going with rain, fingers crossed. 

WEEKEND AND BEYOND

Whatever happens with that storm, we do know for sure a blast of wintry air from Canada will freeze us back up nice and solidly Friday and Saturday. Friday might well be another day, like a few we've had this month, in which the high temperature comes right after midnight. 

The day itself will stay below freezing except in the warmer southern valleys. Same is true for Saturday.

It seems like everything about this now-dying winter comes back to "worst since 2019."  As measured in Burlington, we've had 59 days since winter began in which high temperatures stayed at or below 32 degrees. That is - of course -  the most since the winter of 2018-19, when they're 61 such days. As mentioned, we'll maybe add one or two more subfreezing days toward the weekend. 

By the way, the most subfreezing days in one winter was 93 in the winter of 1969-70.

Anyway, that cold snap will start to wane Sunday. Average temperatures are continuing to rise fast, so whatever happens Friday and Saturday will probably be the most intense cold we feel until next November or December. 

"Impossible" Extreme U.S. March Heat Made Possible By Climate Change

Map depicting where record highs were set last Friday.
Pink dots were where all-time high temperatures records
for March were broken. Climatologist are very hard
pressed to recall when, if ever, all time monthly
highs were established over such a large area. 

Climatologists are absolutely stunned. 

The temperature over the past few days in the western and central U.S have been beyond insanely high the past few days. Worried scientists say this would not have been possible without climate change. 

The heat has frightened millions of non-scientists in the West, too. . This could be a harbinger of never before imagine heat in the future. 

It's only March.! Read through the following reports of record heat and tell me if these temperatures  even seem possible this time of year. 

RECORD HIGHS OBLITERATED

On Thursday, the national record for hottest March day was broken when it reached 110 degrees not far from Yuma, Arizona. That beat the old national record by two degrees 

Then Friday not one but four weather stations not far from Yuma, Arizona reached 112 degrees, breaking the national record for hottest March day that was set the day before. 

The record was only one degree from the national record for hottest April day.  The old record was set the day before.

The 112 degree readings were on both sides of the Colorado River, so California and Arizona set new statewide records for hottest March day on record.  

A total of thirteen states from California to South Dakota had their hottest March day ever. To be clear, these aren't just individual cities, these are statewide records. 

Theses include places that are often wintry this time of year. Vermillion, South Dakota reached 97 degrees. Three locations in Wyoming got up to 90 degrees. Luverne, Minnesota was at 88 degrees.

After a record warm winter and now this March heat wave, a few spots in Montana, a few plants are showing signs of new leaves, - 30 days ahead of schedule. Parts of South Dakota and Wyoming are also running nearly a month ahead of schedule. 

Northern Mexico is also experiencing record March heat, too. Hermosillo, Mexico reached 108.5 degrees, setting a new national record for hottest March day. The old record was 105.6 degrees. 

Back in the United States, in higher elevation Flagstaff, in northern Arizona, the hottest ever March temperature there was 73 degrees, set on March 17, 2007. Then this month came along. Last Tuesday, Flagstaff tied that record. On Wednesday, it beat that record by three degrees. Then on Thursday, the temperature in Flagstaff reached 84 degrees. 

That broke the 2007 March record high by 11 degrees. It also broke the all time April record by four degrees. 

In the infrequent case in which a weather station breaks an all-time record for a given month, it seldom break the record by more than a degree or two. On very rare occasions, a new high might exceed the old mark by three or four degrees. But 11 degrees? And breaking the following, warmer month's record by four degrees?

Flagstaff wasn't the hottest place in this heat wave, but it was probably the scariest. 

PHOENIX

Meanwhile down in the desert in Phoenix, the record books were rewritten in a similarly frightening fashion. But it's dangerously hot there. 

Prior to this year, the hottest it had ever been during March in Phoenix was 100 degrees.

Daily highs on March 18 through yesterday were 102, 105, 105,105 and 102 degrees, all obviously record highs The next six days in Phoenix are all forecast to be somewhere between 98 and 102, and each would be record highs. That's 11 consecutive record highs, which is insane, a word I keep using. 

Phoenix seems to have entered a new era of extreme heat under climate change's spell. 

Eleven consecutive record highs are almost unheard of, but not quite. An American city had 21 consecutive days with record highs in September and October, 2024. That city was Phoenix, and that stretch set a record for most consecutive record highs in any U.S. city ever .

The all-time record highs for September and October were also set in 2024 .

All but one of the 10 hottest years in Phoenix have been since 2012, and the top five hottest have all been since 2014. The two hottest years in Phoenix were last year and the year before.  This year is off to a start that would break that record for hottest year once again. 

EFFECTS

World Weather Attribution has already examined the ongoing heat wave and has concluded it would have been virtually impossible without climate change. 

The winter was also record warm in the western half of the United States. This is the second consecutive month in which an all-time record high was established for an entire month for the entire nation. That new record was 106 degrees in Falcon Dam, Texas. 

The record warmth in the West resulted in a paltry snow pack in the mountains. Now, this heat wave is melting what little was left.This summer, water shortages could affect the 40 million people who rely on the Colorado River. 

Wildfires are already burning way ahead of the normal season in the western U.S. Unless there's a long and sustained change to a wetter weather pattern, the fire season in the summer of 2026 could also get very scary, very fast.

We here in Vermont are not participating in this particular, record smashing heat wave. Back in 2012, we were enveloped in another March heat wave that shattered records in the eastern two-thirds of the United States. More than 7,000 record highs were established in the U.S. during that mid-month spell.

Here in Vermont, Burlington had five consecutive daily record high temperatures, including an unprecedented three consecutive days that reached at least 80 degrees.

At the time, the March, 2012 heat wave was considered almost a once in a lifetime experience. We'd never see more widespread hotter March temperatures than that.

And here we are, easily outpacing 2012. 

It's an ominous sign for us and the rest of the world. 

 

It's Burlington Vermont's Snowiest Season In 7 Years, But That's Not Saying Much

Heavy snow seen her crushing one of my lilac bushes
in the winter of 2018-19.  That was the last winter
we had more snow than this winter. This year's snowfall
is running close to normal. The winter of '19 was our 11th
snowiest on record. So we're lucky this year, I guess. 

The bad news: It's going to snow again today in Vermont. The good new: It won't amount to much.  

The snow we get today will be because the sniveling, drizzling, frizzling mess of a storm from yesterday is still dying to keep harassing us a little. 

The storm is now for to our east, but it's leaving a pool of frigid air high overhead as a parting gift.  

That pool of chilly air up there adds enough instability to the air to set off snow showers through today and into tonight. 

Most of us will see an inch or less. But the central and northern Green Mountains, along with many areas of the Northeast Kingdom, could collect two to five inches today. 

Today will also be cold, to put my Captain Obvious hat on again. It'll barely get into the low 30s in most of Vermont. Temperatures should stay below freezing in the far north, and upper 30s in the warmest valleys far south. 

Be careful under foot, too. As expected, all that slush from yesterday froze solid. And there were still a couple patches of freezing drizzle here and there to start the day.  The freezing drizzle will yield to the snow showers soon. Tis the season winter becomes like a guest who stays way too long. 

REST OF THE WEEK

Looking ahead, we have a bright side: The next in our series of storms coming in from the west looks like it will be mostly rain. Fingers crossed, anyway, as we've had some unpleasant surprises with the last two storms. 

Before we get there, Tuesday looks like the only day we'll have with no precipitation. With sunshine, it should get up to near 40.

A warm front will stir up some clouds Wednesday, and drop a few rain and/or snow showers, mainly north. 

It looks like the next storm coming by on Thursday might go to our north, which means mostly rain. But  forecasts issued this morning have it going barely to our north. If the outlook for the storm sinks its path  southward just a bit, we're looking at another snow north/rain south scenario.

Stay tuned on that one. 

Whatever happens with Thursday's storm, we get a very cold for the season blast of frigid air Friday into Sunday.  We'll stay below freezing all day Friday and probably Saturday, and overnight lows will be in the single numbers to low teens. That would be a solid 15 degrees or so colder than normal for this time of year. 

This being early spring, that cold won't last forever. Somewhat warmer air will start to come in next Sunday afternoon.

SEASONAL SNOWFALL

The snows of the past week or so have brought Burlington's snow total for the season to 79.4 inches. That's the most snow in seven years, but as you might imagine it's not all that much compared to some winters. 

If by some miracle we receive no more snow this season, this winter's snow would be in the middle of the pack. The current total of 79.4 inches would make this the 51st snowiest winter out of the past 124 seasons. 

More snow is inevitable (I mean, look at today's forecast, above), but we won't get to the total we did see seven years ago in the winter of 2018-19, when we had 103.6 inches. Well, at least I hope we don't see another two feet of snow or so this season, which would bring us to that level. 

I'll do another update on these stats several weeks from now when I'll be reasonably sure we're done with snowier the season. 

Brief Vermont Sunday Evening Update: Drizzle To Become Patchy Freezing Drizzle As Tonight's Temperatures Drop

The slush I photographed outside my house late this 
afternoon will be slippery ice by the time I get up
in the morning. Bits of freezing drizzle overnight
won't help, either. 

That slush in northern Vermont is going to freeze soon, while those areas, and some other parts of the state face the prospect of freezing drizzle tonight. 

Most of the snow fell in far northern Vermont, as we alluded to this morning.  It turned out to be much less widespread than predicted. Almost everybody south of Route 2 had less than an inch. 

The highest accumulations we saw were also less than the highest accumulations we thought we'd see. Those higher amounts include 5.5 inches in West Burke; 5.4 inches in Maidstone and 4.5 inches in North Hyde Park.

The rest of the day turned into the very definition of miserably dreary. The far southwest corner of Vermont did break out into slightly warmer air, as Bennington made it to 48 degrees. The rest of us endured low clouds, fog, drizzle and a cold light rain.

That's about to get worse, As of late this afternoon, temperatures in northern and central Vermont will slowly sinking, and the moisture in the air was not going away. 

That sets us up for freezing drizzle tonight. It will be more widespread than the patches of it we had Friday night. 

A special weather statement from the National Weather Service tells us patchy freezing drizzle will continue off and on all night and into tomorrow morning. And, all that slush and water is going to freeze up overnight, too. The freezing drizzle itself will only create a thin scrim of ice, but that's enough to slow you down on the way to work tomorrow.

There were already a number of traffic accidents earlier today as a bit of snow, then freezing drizzle then drizzle that didn't quite melt the ice kept things hectic for Vermont State Police. 

By afternoon, the character of the day will change as the atmosphere starts getting windier and more unstable. That will send some snow showers flying through the air here and there, but it won't about to much.

UPDATE: Hawaii Blasted By Floods AGAIN. This One Is The Worst Yet

More cataclysmic flooding hit Hawaii over
the weekend. The flooding has been coming in
literal waves there all winter and early spring.

It seems like I'm posting about Hawaii and floods all the time, but they keep getting hammered. The latest round of flooding on Friday was the worst yet during this long, wet Hawaiian episode.   

This time the flooding focused most of its fury on Oahu. It is now said to be Hawaii's most severe in at least 20 years.  

As the Associated Press reported, "Muddy floodwater smothered vast stretches of Oahu's North Shore, a community world-renowned for its big wave surfing. Raging waters lifted homes and cars and prompted evacuation orders for 5,500 people north of Honolulu. Authors cautioned that a 120-year old dam could fail."

At last report, the water peaked behind the dam and was now receding, ending an immediate threat to collapse. However, more torrential rains here on the way, so the crisis is not over. 

About 230 people were rescued and 10 were hospitalized with hypothermia because they'd been in the water for so long. 

Gov. Josh Green said the cost of the storm could top $1 billion, including damage to airports, schools, roads, people's homes and a Maui hospital in Kula. "This is going to have very serious consequences for us as a state," Green said.

Crew searched by air and water, looking for people who had been stranded. But idiots have been getting in the way of that effort as they flew drones to get images of the flooding.  

The area affected was already sopping wet from previous ones when a new one swept in Friday,  dumping up 

The same stalled weather pattern that caused flooding last week contributed to this new round of deluges.  A massive heat dome that shattered March hot temperature records in the western and central states is still gumming up the works over the Pacific Ocean. 

I'll soon have another post on the incredible March heat in the Lower 48.

Last week's Kona low - a winter storm near Hawaii - was able to move on, but a stalled weather front helped unleash the torrents in Oahu. 

Another Kona low was meandering north of Hawaii today. It was drawing deep tropical moisture into Hawaii, raising the risk of more flooding today. As of this morning, the heaviest showers were focusing in and around Maui. 

Starting tomorrow, the Hawaiian islands will start transitioning toward a more normal pattern of easterly trade winds. Showers will continue in parts of the islands that normally see showers, but it won't be anything unusual. Everybody in Hawaii is hoping they can final start getting back to normal.