Northeast/Canada Heat, Midwest Ice And Tornadoes And Record Hurricane Season

At this time last year, we watched snow pile up on our deck 
furniture because we didn't put them away in time. This year
here in St Albans, Vermont we got "smart" and put the 
furniture away in time. Then we got a week of perfect
sitting out on the deck weather. Go figure.
I'm not complaining, though! 

 As has been the case for all of the year 2020, strange things are going on, including in the weather department. We'll cover a few here.  

First we'll look locally and regionally.

Once again, record warmth was reported in Vermont Monday. Montpelier got up to 70 degrees for yet another new record for the date.

The temperature reached 71 degrees in Burlington, besting the old record of 68 degrees set in 2011.  I doubt Burlington will set a record high today, because the old record is a nearly unattainable 74 degrees.

Still, one other record will probably fall in Burlington today.  This will likely be the fourth day in a row that it's made it to 70 degrees in Burlington.  There's never been a November in records dating back to the 1880s in which temperatures reached 70 degrees four times in November.  We'll make it today.

Elsewhere, at least 50 high temperature records were set Monday in the East and Midwest, with a broad area of the nation east of the Mississippi above 70 degrees.

In Canada, several towns in western Quebec and southern and central Ontario had the warmest readings on record for the month of November. Those readings were right about 70 degrees. The 70 degree temperatures extended almost as far north as normally icy James Bay in northern Ontario. 

Today will be the last full day of this November heat wave. Tonight, some parts of Vermont, especially the Champlain Valley, will have a true summer night, with lows in the upper 50s.  That would be a pretty common thing to happen in July, not November. 

Wednesday will remain mild, but showers will move in. Then starting Thursday and continuing through the weekend and most likely beyond, we'll have pretty much normal November weather. In fact, there might be a quick shot of wintry conditions Tuesday or Wednesday. That won't be anything too significant, though. 

Other parts of the nation and world are experiencing some weather weirdness now. 

MIDWEST ICE

For the second time in a month, parts of the Plains are experiencing an early season ice storm.  This time, it's in Nebraska and western Iowa.  Forecasters are expecting up to a half inch of freezing rain, which is bringing down trees and power lines.

This is oddly early in the season for an ice storm.  But, truth be told, it's not nearly as bizarre as the ice storm that hit Oklahoma and northern Texas on October 26 to 28.  That unprecedented storm hit while leaves were still on the trees, so the damage was immense.

Two weeks after that storm, some people still remain without electricity. Thankfully, today's ice storm is missing Oklahoma by a long shot.  

East of the ice in the warmer air, a few tornadoes are possible today in Illinois and eastern Iowa. 

TROPICAL STORM RECORD SET

Subtropical Storm Theta formed way out in the open Atlantic Ocean last night.  It's no threat to land and isn't a particularly newsworthy storm except for this:

It's the 29th tropical storm or hurricane in the Atlantic Basin this year.  That beats the record for the greatest number of such storms in the Atlantic in a single year. The old record was 28 in 2005.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Eta continues to meander in the eastern Gulf of Mexico after flooding southern Florida over the weekend.  Current forecasts have Eta briefly strengthening before slowly dying out as it drifts north toward the Florida Panhandle this week. 

By the way, this is the first time since 1932 that two tropical storms simultaneously spun in the Atlantic Basin so late in the season. 

Believe it or not, yet another tropical storm could form in the Caribbean Sea this week. 

MORE WEATHER

Also, watch this space.  It looks like a zone from northern California to Washington State that suffered through drought and destructive wildfires over the summer and autumn are about to get a tremendous amount of rain. 

Some areas could get seven or more inches of rain over the next week.  That would include heavy snow up in the mountains. I'm wondering if some places in this neck of the woods could go from fire to floods this month. . 

Still, they need the rain, so hopes are this will be mostly beneficial. 

Forecasters Were Right About Zombie Eta

Once-Hurricane Eta is expected to be reborn and 
possibly become a tropical storm threat in South
Florida and perhaps the Gulf Coast states.

Hurricane Eta, as we well know, unleashed some terrible flooding on Nicaragua and Honduras this week.

The storm has killed at least 57 people in Central America, and to me it looks like unfortunately, that toll is certain to rise.  

The only "good" news is this won't be as bad as Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which is believed to have killed 11,000 people in the same region. 

There's more evidence today that Eta is not done yet. 

The center of Eta's remains poked back out into the western Caribbean Sea just off the coast of Honduras overnight.  

Thunderstorms are once again firing around the center of what is now a tropical depression.  A reborn Tropical Storm Eta now seems inevitable. Zombie Eta is about to arrive.

Eta will never again reach the intensity it had as a monster Category 4 hurricane when it hit Nicaragua a few days ago.  There's too many complicating factors, like wind shear aloft, interaction with land, and a broad circulation in Eta that will take time to get its act together. 

But Eta will be over very warm water, so it will intensify into a pretty strong tropical storm. There's even an outside chance it could become a hurricane again.  Intensity forecasts are tricky with tropical systems, and this one is no exception 

Once again in this busy Atlantic tropical storm season, the United States looks like it's in play.  Eta will head northeastward and hit Cuba toward Sunday.

From there, things might get a little weird.  A storm in the upper atmosphere in the western Gulf of Mexico seems like it wants to pull Eta north toward the southern tip of Florida, then westward into the central Gulf of Mexico. From there, who knows?

November tropical storms do have some trouble surviving north of the Caribbean, due to stronger upper level winds this time of year. But they do happen. It's still hurricane season. 

At this point, Eta looks like it will never again be a powerful wind maker.  But it certainly has a shot of unleashing some nasty floods on southern Florida, which has already had a very soggy autumn.  Stay tuned!