March Was World 2nd Warmest, Possibly Signaling New Hot Push, U.S., As Expected Shattered March Heat Records

March, 2026 was tied for the second warmest on
record on Earth. With an El Nino coming,
the month's temperatures could be a signal
that unprecedented hot times could
be on their way.

 The global temperatures in March were back to their old tricks, going back to second hottest on record after several months of "cooler" months that were only in third place in the hottest months list.

Even hotter, more dangerous times might be ahead in the coming months or year or two. 

Actually this March barely squeaked into second place. It was virtually tied with March, 2024. The National Centers for Environmental Information continues: 

"All March global temperature departures ranking in the top 10 during the period 1850-2026 have occurred since 2015. This month marked the 50th consecutive March with a global temperature departure above the 20th century average."

The March, 2026 global temperatures might represent an ominous reversal in ever-so-slightly cooler trends we saw over the past year or so.  La Nina, which tends to cool the global climate, put a stop to a month after month stretch of almost continuous record global heat in 2023 and 2024.

Starting last June, most months were the third warmest on record. That's scary enough, since La Nina could barely put the most unnoticeable dent in the effects of climate change. The effects of La Nina might have peaked this past winter. December, January and February were all the world's fifth warmest, respectively. 

La Nina has faded and it loos like El Nino - which generally warms the global atmosphere - might be developing. It could be a strong one, and that could send the world's temperatures skyrocketing to new, dangerous heights by next year. 

The higher the global temperatures, the higher the risk of killer heat waves, worst droughts, increasingly torrential floods and more intense, less predictable storms. 

THE DETAILS

As always in this age of climate change, cold spots were hard to find in March.  However, there was a notable very cold area in Alaska and the Yukon Territory of Canada. That area was much colder relative to average than we usually see in these monthly reports. 

The only other slightly chilly areas I could find on the NCEI maps were small areas in northwest Africa, Antarctica, the extreme southeastern Pacific ocean and northwestern Siberia.  And what is now almost a perennial area of coolness hovered over an area of the North Atlantic a little south of Greenland. 

Also, although March as a whole in Australia wasn't cold, a sharp frigid snap at the end of the month shattered decades-old March temperature records in many cities, NCEI reports. Two Australian cities reported all-time record lows. 

The most wild hot spot relative to average was the contiguous United States. I'll have more on that below. Other really notable hot spots relative to average were in the entire Arctic (north of that Alaskan cold spot), northern and eastern Europe, large areas of Asia and spots across Africa and Antarctica.

Year to date, the first three months of 2026 is so far the fourth warmest year on record. It's almost certain this year will be among the top 10 warmest on record and likely among the top five. 

As is usually the case for March, Arctic sea ice extent reached its maximum extent of the year on the 15th. It wasn't that extensive. The ice covered 5.52 million square miles, statistically tied with last year for the smallest maximum in the 48 years satellite have been keeping track, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. 

UNITED STATES

The contiguous United States was exceptionally 
warm in March, breaking records from 
coast to coast. We'll see if it's a harbinger
 of a torrid summer. 

As we have been reporting, March, 2026 was ridiculously, insanely hot in the Lower 48. Now we have the final receipts.  

NCEI tells us: 

"The average temperature over the contiguous US (CONUS), in March was 50.85 degree F, 9.35 degrees F above average, ranking as the warmest March in the 132-year record. This marks the first time any month's average temperature has exceeded 9 degrees F above its 20th-century baseline. It also includes the warmest 12-month period on record for the CONUS (April, 2025-March 2026)"

Even more remarkably, the nations average high temperature during March was 64.4 degrees, an incredible 11.4 degrees above the 20th century average. That super warm March average daily maximum was actually 0.9 degrees warmer than the average April high. 

 Ten states had their warmest March on record. They were all large states in the southwestern United States, so those made up about a quarter on the United States. Included those ten, 35 states had one of their top 10 warmest Marches on record. 

Put another way, more than 500 counties, covering more than one quarter of the Lower 48 and affecting about 79 million people, recorded their warmest March on record, NCEI tell us. 

The "coldest" state was Maine, but even they were well above normal.  Maine had their 33rd warmest March out of the past 132 years. Vermont was one of a handful of other very warm but not super warm states. The Green Mountain State had its 19th warmest March. 

Mostly because of the continuing record high temperatures in the Southwest and Rockies all year so far, January-March is also the hottest on record. 

There was one particular cold spot in the United States: Alaska. The state had its fourth coldest March out the past 102 years. The last time Alaska had a March that cold was in 1972.

The heat, relative to average, diminished a little in the United States in April, so I'm guessing we'll get a break in the month after month reports of record warmth. 

The United States also had its eight driest March on record. In general, the states that were the warmest in March were also the driest. California had its driest March on record. Eight other states in the Southwest and Southeast had one of their top ten driest Marches.

The only really wet areas was around the eastern Great Lakes. Michigan had its third wettest March. Here in Vermont, March precipitation was right around average.  

It'll be an interesting to see whether March was a prelude to an extraordinarily hot summer, or just another month that really went off the rails. 

Unprecedented Heat From March Still Has Climatologists, Others, Losing Sleep At Night, But It's All A Scary Sign Of The Times

March was so hot in the western and central U.S. was so
extreme it's still keeping climatologists up at night.
These kinds of "unprecedented" hot spells and 
extremes are now becoming regular occurrences
in this age of climate change. 

There's patches of record warmth remaining in the United States as we make our way through the first week of April, but the extreme, whackadoodle heat of March has subsided. 

Scientists are still agog from March, which is easily going down in history as among the most extreme, over the top, seemingly impossible climate-related events hot spells ever seen.  The heat wave completely rewrote the March weather record books in the western and central U.S. 

It was the kind of event that keeps climatologists up at night.  Especially since these "impossible" events are coming along in a steady stream now. Each one bigger than the last. And each one potentially more deadly. 

We're lucky this one hit in March, months before summer. Had it happened in July, who knows how many deaths would have been created by just the hot days themselves? Even so, the heat set the stage for a potential summer of out-of-control wildfires and deep water shortages. 

Already, fires are burning months before they should. A raging wildfire threatened homes in Moreno Valley , California last week. It was the kind of fire you see in parched late summer and early autumn and not moist March. But the rules have changed. March is the new summer, apparently.  

Nebraska just experienced their largest wildfires in history, burning an area larger than Rhode Island. 

And we've probably only just begun with the fires.

THE EXTREME MARCH HEAT

It's hard to know where even to begin with the accounting for March's heat. 

AccuWeather gives just a glimpse of the breadth of the March heat wave: 

 "During the unprecedented mid-March heat waves in the central and western United States, more than 8,200 daily records and more than 2,000 monthly records were broken at weather stations across the West."

Incredibly, 17 states set new March record highs.  And these are large western and central states, not smaller Eastern states where it's a bit easier to accumulate numerous record highs. Many of these states broke monthly record highs, only to have those records broken in subsequent days. 

The nation saw its hottest March temperature on record at 112 degrees. It came close to setting the April national record of 113 degrees.

No fewer than 16 western cities not only broke their all-time highs for the month of March, they also broke or tied the mark for April, which is beyond insane. 

On March 19 alone, nearly half of the 900 or so long term U.S.. weather stations in the Global Historical Climatological Network set or tied daily record highs. 

More than four dozen major reporting stations with data since at least the 1960s had their warmest March in history.  Major cities that had their warmest March on record, - most of them by a wide margin - include Dallas, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

Once all the numbers are crunched, it looks like Colorado will end up with a March that was three or four degrees warmer than any other in the past 130 years or so. For a state to break its statewide record for hottest March by a degree is wild. By three degrees ----there's no words for it. 

We still don't have confirmation as to whether March, 2026, is the nation's hottest on record. That will come in a week or two. But it was at the very least as warm as what was considered the impossibly hot March of 2012.

CHAIN OF EXTREMES 

Climate change doesn't just warm up the world uniformly. It sets traps. Springs surprises. 

As Yale Climate Connections notes: 

"Since climate change is also fundamentally disrupting atmospheric circulation patterns, we now have mega-unprecedented extreme events occurring with regularity. These circulation changes allow the biggest regional and local heat extremes to intensify by a much larger margin than the roughly 1.4 degrees Celsius increase in average global temperature since preindustrial times."

Honestly, climate change contributes to new extremes every weeks, or so it seems. But the standouts - the weather events that make climatologists and other scientists deeply worry about the future  - seemed to begin almost exactly 14 years prior to this March's heat.

In March, 2012 most of the heat focused on the central and eastern United States.  Thousands of daily record highs were set, as were hundreds of all time record highs for March.  Among those thousands of record highs, nearly four dozen were broken by at least 22 degrees, which is beyond insane. Four record highs were smashed by 30 degrees. In a handful of cases, the low temperature on a particular date on March 12 was warmer than the record high.

 "An initial assessment led by Martin Hourlong at the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratories concede that human-produced warming likely contributed on the order of 5% to 10% of the magnitude the heat woven March 12-23, 2012, The report added: "the probability of heat waves is growing as (greenhouse gas)-induced warming continues to progress," notes Yale Climate Connections. 

Still, we figured we wouldn't see another March, 2012 in our lifetimes again. Until we did.

The March heat of 2012 came at the tail end of a La Nina, and led to an extreme, punishing drought across the nation's middle that summer.  We're in the same situation now. It might not be just the western mountains that are running out of water. 

Much of the central and southern Plains are already in serious drought. Will this key crop growing area further dry out? There's already plenty of other stresses out there with food production - political instability, tariffs, war, a feckless president.  

We are set up for a rough summer, and March probably just made it much, much more rough. 

WATER SHORTAGES?

Colorado's snow pack ended the month at less than a quarter of average. Eighty-nine of 94 snow pack measuring stations were at record lows by the end of March. 

It's not just Colorado. It's virtually all of the West. Per the Guardian: 

'This year is on a whole other level.' say Dr. Russ Schumacher, a Colorado State University climatologist, speaking about the intense heat that began rapidly melting the already sparse snowpack in March. 'Seeing this year so far below any of the other years we have data for is very concerning."

On April 1, media went out to join California water officials to take a measurement of the water content of snow at a spot in the Sierra Nevada. Normally, the group would be standing on five feet of snow. This time, they were standing on a muddy field, flecked with melting remains of snow patches. 

Snow water equivalent is a measurement is the amount of water of that would melt out of the snow that's still on the ground.  This figure is now terrifying throughout the West. 

The overall snow water equivalent in the Sierra Nevada on April 1 was just 18 percent of average for this time of year.  In the Great Basin, snow water equivalent was just 16 percent of normal. In the lower Colorado River basin area, including most of Arizona and Nevada, it was 10 percent. The Rio Grande, which covers New Mexico, Texas and Colorado was at 8 percent. 

Because of a record warm winter, the snow pack was far below normal before March arrived. Everyone hoped for a "March Miracle," as some bad years in the past were relieved by cold, stormy Marches. Not this year. Not by a long shot.

If this were just one bad year, we'd be OK. But the six lowest April 1 snowpacks in California have happened since 2007. The state thought it was finally catching a break in January as it fully emerged from drought for the first time since in a quarter century. 

Reservoirs are pretty full in California, thanks to warm rains in recent winters that filled them even though the state couldn't build a decent snowpack. So at least for this year, the problem for most of that state would be intense wildfires but not necessarily widespread water shortages. 

Elsewhere, things are not nearly so serene. 

In the Colorado basin, Lake Mead is 25 percent full. Lake Powell was only 33 percent or so full at last check. Both lakes usually rise somewhat in the spring due to snow melt. It doesn't look like that's really happening this year. 

Water managers area already urging conservation in the West. 

Salt Lake City has called on residents and businesses to start conserving now, with a goal of cutting overall water usage by 10 percent, Also, as the Guardian reports:

"Across Colorado, there are local orders that list lawn watering, and in Wyoming, residents were warned that full restrictions on outdoor irrigation could come come as early as May."

Farmers and ranchers across the West are also having to make hard decisions and big adjustments with smaller allocations of water and a recognition that supplies will be strained. 

TIMING

What if a heat dome like the one we just saw in March hit during the middle of summer? And hit in a place not accustomed to extreme heat. 

We found out in late June and early July, 2021 when an unprecedented - here's that word again - intense, heat settled into southwestern Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

 All-time heat records in the Pacific Northwest were not just broken, they were obliterated. Portland Oregon reached 116 degrees. Salem, Oregon was 117 degrees. Rainy, cool Seattle reached 108 degrees.

The heat of 2021 was even more punishing in British Columbia, Canada. On June 29, 2021, the town of Lytton, British Columbia reached 121 degrees, the hottest temperature ever recorded anywhere in Canada. By a long shot. Before this heat wave, the hottest it had gotten anywhere in Canada was 113 degrees back in the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s. 

The next day, Lytton burned down in a massive wildfire brought on by the scorching heat and drought. 

The 2021 heat wave is estimated to have caused at least 1,400 deaths in Canada and the U.S. 

What if a heat dome like that in 2021 settled into the heavily populated eastern United States and southeastern Canada? And what if it lasted a month, not a week? Nobody is prepared for such a nightmare. 

However, we'll find out soon enough. Perhaps this summer. Or the next. And it won't be pretty. 

 

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. 

"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. 

 

Videos Show The Wild And Often Scary March Weather This Year

A huge tornado in Illinois early this month. Video of the events
is included in this post 

The first three weeks of March have been a wild weather ride in the United States. The weird weather is continuing, but as we often do, we're looking back at some of the most dramatic weather videos in recent weeks. 

We have a real variety pack this week so let's settle in and watch the excitement. 

This is a view of a deadly tornado in Union City, Michigan on March 6.  It's a view from the south side of Union Lake as the tornado tears through the north side. This view is closer, though, and also includes its initial development. You also see at the end it crosses the still partially frozen lake. Click on this link to view or if you see the image below, click on that.

Drone footage showing the aftermath of the tornado in Union City, Michigan. It looks like it hit a nice lakefront area. As always, click on this link to view or if you see the image below click on that.

Kind of a long video, but it's worth if for the visuals. It's distant shots of the powerful tornado on Tuesday in Kankakee, Illinois. If  you ever wondered about the green clouds that people talk about when a tornado is near, this is it. 

The greenish bluish hue was due to the fact there as an enormous amount of hail in the storm clouds. The large hail caused a lot of damage even outside the path of the tornado. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.

More locally, we had our abrupt March thaw in and near Vermont that brought temperatures to record high levels. The sudden thaw helped create ice jams in area river.\

Here is an iIce jam on the Ausable River in New Yor breaking loose.  Click on this link to view or if you see the image below click on that:

Next up, my own video of an ice jam, this one on the Missisquoi River in Enosburg, Vermont. Note at 2:30 the birds all go silent just before the jam starts to move. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

If you want to feel chilled to the bone, watch this Fox Weather video of the March 14-16 blizzard in Marquette, Michigan. Click on this link to view or if you see the image below click on that. 

People stuck on an interstate after March 15 blizzard near Green Bay, Wisconsin. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

In Oshkosh, Minnesota, Lake Winnebago created what is known as an "ice shove." The ice  on the lakebroke up in thawing temperatures. Strong winds blew the ice onshore onshore, forming immense piles. The ice piles threatened homes but at last check hadn't reached them. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 

Friday Vermont Forecast. Some Snow Later Today Through Saturday; Large, Windy Storm Monday

We're back to the snowfall prediction maps from the 
National Weather Service. Through tomorrow,
the valleys should generally get about two inche
of snow, maybe a little less in spots, The Green
Mountains and southern Adirondacks, and
New Hampshire's White Mountains should
do great, with perhaps 4 to 7 inches. 

We watched the temperatures yesterday fall down through the 30s, and for many of us, it was below freezing by late afternoon or evening. 

This was nothing unusual for mid March, but it was a reality check after the record warm temperatures earlier in the week. 

Burlington did end up tying the record high for the date at 63 degrees yesterday. That came just after midnight very early in the day before a cold front arrived. 

Some of us got a dusting of snow last evening to remind us what time of year it is. We were still getting flurries here in St. Albans, Vermont early this morning. 

Ahead, we have one small storm first, and then one very large storm to deal with here in Vermont. Aside for a brief excursion into balmy weather Monday, it's going to be relatively wintry for awhile. 

I know, I know, but it's only March. Spring will get here eventually. 

Let's get into the details:

TODAY/SATURDAY

We've got our small storm to deal with first. It's coming in from the west and will pester us from this afternoon through much of tomorrow. 

This one will be mostly snow. But the good news for those of you who are tired of snow is accumulations should be pretty limited in the valleys. The Champlain and Connecticut River Valleys should only see 0.5 to 2 inches. Even so, the wet snow could come briefly heavily this evening, so watch it on the roads. 

The mountains look to get much more, perhaps four to as many as eight inches. That will refresh ski resort slopes a bit after our huge thaw. There is a winter weather advisory from this afternoon to tomorrow afternoon in the southern and central Green Mountains.  

High temperatures both today and tomorrow will be in the 30s, so not far from normal for this time of year. That means the snow will mostly be on the wet side. They call this kind of snow sugar snow under the belief it adds moisture for the maple trees to produce more sap.

We should also have gusty winds at time as this storm passes through. 

BIG STORM

NOAA forecast map for Monday shows a powerful
storm centered over Michigan. This storm will 
give us a quick squirt of warm air and rain
Monday, followed by sharply colder air
We should also have a lot of wind with this storm.

The next storm will stir up a huge amount of trouble in the eastern half of the nation.  It'll start developing in the central Plains Saturday night, get to about Iowa Saturday night and the heat up into the central Great Lakes, strengthening all the while. 

It'll be a powerhouse with widespread high winds from the eastern Rockies to the East Coast. The system cause another severe storm and tornado risk in the Midwest Sunday and in the southeast Monday. A blizzard will unfold north and west of the storm track.

For us in Vermont, the storm will mean a brief period of mixed precipitation, a lot of wind, a brief zoom of temperatures up to 60 degrees or so Monday, along with rain, then an abrupt, sharp drop in temperature down to winter levels again

If we have any mixed precipitation it would be fairly light and occur Sunday night, at least the way it looks now. South winds would really ramp up Sunday night, too.

That warm air will engulf us Monday, but be short-lived as a powerful cold front comes in from the west. We're unsure on the timing of that front, but early guesses place it in Vermont early Monday evening, give or take.

That would leave us with temperatures rapidly crashing to below freezing, a quick changeover to snow showers, and strong winds from the north.

As always, we'll update this one as we get closer to the event. 

One Widespread, Ominous U.S. Heat Wave Fades, Another, Much Hotter One Threatens West

The western U.S. is gearing up for what is expected to
be never-before-seen March heat over the next
week to 10 days. This will exacerbate drought and
water shortages in the region. After record heat
in the East, it will cool down some. 

Temperatures are cooling down today in the Midwest and East after a remarkable March heat wave that set hundreds of new record highs from the Plains States all the way to the East Coast. 

Now, meteorologists are already talking about another heat wave set to begin in the western U.S. That heat wave might well be easily one of the most extreme out-of-season heat waves ever seen. 

More on that in a minute. 

Climate change has turned the normal "false springs" of thawing weather and warm early season sunshine into something a little worrying. . 

Already this year. much of the western United States had by far their warmest winter on record. Even in the colder eastern U.S., brief warm spells set records. 

Now, we had the heat this week. Hundreds of cities saw record highs broken, over roughly half the United States. The record heat extended over a remarkably large area, from Oklahoma and Texas, through the South and Midwest and along the entire East Coast. 

Temperatures reached to near 90 in the Southeast, with one report as far north as Virginia 

Several places broke records for warmest for so early in the season.  Those include New York City (80 degrees), Georgetown, Delaware, (83 degrees), Baltimore, Maryland (85 degrees) and Burlington, Vermont (73). 

Some records were broken by wide margins. Up in Millinocket, Maine, it got to 70 degrees, beating the old record high for the date of 54 degrees. 

The unseasonable warmth set the conditions for an outbreak of severe thunderstorms in the Midwest. Abrupt thawing in northern New York and in Vermont created ice jams on rivers which caused some flooding. 

The expansive heat wave of the past week has ensured this was the warmest start to March on record for the U.S. 

A shift in the weather pattern is now bringing cooler air into the eastern half of the U.S., but is setting the stage for a dangerous, way-before-its-time heat wave out west.

WESTERN HEAT 

The expected heat wave in the West will be even stronger and more dangerous than the one now ending in the East

Per the Washington Post:

"There are many potential firsts for March on the horizon: It could reach 100 degrees in Los Angeles next week, after record-breaking 95 degree heat on Thursday and Friday. 

In Phoenix next week, temperatures could exceed 100 degrees several times. It could also reach the century mark in Las Vegas."

Phoenix could actually reach 105 degrees next week, which looks plausible given the expected intensity of the heat dome. If that happens, not only would Phoenix break its record for hottest day in March, it would tie April's  hottest recorded temperatures. 

 Record highs for the entire month of March could fall in Salt Lake City, Denver, Reno and other western cities. It's fairly rare to break a monthly record. It's especially rare to set one in mid-March, as temperatures are obviously normally warmer at the end of the month. 

This is insane. 

The impending heat wave is raising alarms about drought and water shortages this summer. Much of the region is already in drought. The snowpack in the mountains is paltry, as what little snow that fell often melted.

Now this heat wave will melt snow at very high elevations, the way heat waves do in June.  That would leave little runoff to keep rivers running and reservoirs with at least some water for the summer. 

I wouldn't be at all surprised if this heat episode contributes to serious water shortages this summer.

Utah State Climatologist Jon Meyer said the state's snowpack is at record low levels and Utah's reservoirs are only at about 40 percent capacity.  "All this means we are likely to see some very tangible water supply cuts and conservation efforts by the state this year," Meyer told the Washington Post. 

The early heat waves make me worried about summertime. We've had our share of record heat during the summer in our climate change regime. Some of it has been unprecedented heat in recent years.

Will this be the summer when things really get out of control?

 

After One Day Of Vermont "False Spring," Winter Is Back, More False Springs To Follow?

The mild weather Saturday allowed me to start chopping
up the annoying thick layers of ice that have been on
my St. Albans, Vermont driveway for weeks.....

 We're getting a late start this Sunday morning, after dreamily recovering from yesterday's lovely hint of spring. 

The warm weather gloriously over-performed on Saturday. 

It had been forecast to start getting colder in the mid-afternoon north, but the mild temperatures lasted until a gorgeous sunset around 5:30 p.m. Yes, days are getting longer, too.

The high temperature in Burlington and Montpelier reached 48 degrees, the warmest it's been since December 19. It was a nice switch from a rather cold February. (Editor's note: We'll have the complete climate summary later today.) 

COLD RETURNS

Today, it's back to reality, as the frigid air flowed right back in overnight, as promised.  High temperatures for today already happened just after midnight, when the temperature was still close to 30. 

Early this morning, it was snowing lightly, but at the same time also kind of sunny here in St. Albans, go figure. 

The snow was part of a weak little disturbance in the atmosphere we've been talking about for days. We received a whopping 0.3 inches of new snow, so I think we'll survive. I bet most other places in Vermont also had less than an inch of fresh powder. 

....And I'm pleased to report I got rid of about 95 percent
of that driveway ice. Now, if only those 
snowbanks could disappear 

By mid-morning today, the skies were rapidly turning blue, and the rest of the day will feature sunshine and mid-winter chill with highs in the upper teens north to mid 20s southern valleys.  

We're still expected what might be the last spell of subzero cold this winter, at least in warmer areas like the Champlain Valley.

Most of us tonight will be in the single digits below zero, with a fair number of teens below zero scattered here and there. 

Monday is going to be cold, too, with highs in the teens to low 20s, much like today. Normal highs are right up there in the 30s. However, winds will be light tomorrow, and the March sun will partly compensate for the chill. 

WARMING UP, FINALLY, BUT......

After another frigid start to the day with temperatures near zero, we should make it into the mid-30s by afternoon under increasing clouds. We've been talking about a snowfall Tuesday night for a few days, and following a recent trend, the forecasts for this snow have been inconsistent.  

The latest models runs have most of the storm passing by to our south, leaving us with just one to three inches of wet snow.  Of course, there's a chance the forecast could flip-flop again and give us more snow than that, so we'll just have to wait and see. Whatever happens, it won't be a blockbuster storm. 

On paper, the weather looks mild heading toward the middle and end of the week. But a big, fat, Arctic high pressure system will lurk over northern Quebec.  When something like that sets up, low level cold air tends to bleed southward into our neck of the woods. 

That means two things: It' possible the lovely forecast for highs in the 40s under sunshine might not be quite as lovely. There's a chance some of us might end up cooler than that, depending on how far south that cold air can push in. 

Worse, the next storm coming along would be just rain, except for that stupid cold high pressure to our  north. We might be setting up for some freezing rain on Thursday. We'll keep an eye on that. 

But that mild spell would be our "false spring." Already, there's some mixed signals as to what happens after next weekend. Some long range forecasts mostly keep the mild air flowing, while others return us to relatively cold weather and potentially frequent bouts of snow or mixed precipitation after just a few thawing days that'll hit next weekend. 

It's only the first of March, so we know we will get slapped again with full on winter weather at some point before spring gets here. 

 

Another Week Of Vermont Winter, But Insistent Signs Of Spring?

We've got more cold weather here in Vermont coming
for the first couple days of March. But longer range forecast
call for warm temperatures nationwide, except Alaska.
Even in Vermont, I've seen optimistic forecasts
of genuine thaws starting around March 4 or 5.

It was winter cold again this morning, with temperatures in most of Vermont bottoming out at around 0. Morrisville got as cold as 8 below. The banana belt Champlain Valley ended in the single digits above zero. 

Winter will hang tough for several more days. Extended forecasts are getting more insistent that hints of spring are coming soon. I'm still a little skeptical. 

More on that in a minute but we've got the next few days to take care of first 

TODAY: 

It'll be rather cloudy in north, but we'll get glimpse of sun, too. Southern areas should be sunnier. Winds have turned to the south, so we'll get into the 30s most places today. You might see a few light snow showers in the north as a weak warm front passes by.  No biggie, with no accumulation to speak of.

TONIGHT 

A strong storm way up by James Bay, Canada and robust high pressure to the east will create a windy night for us, especially in the Champlain Valley. Gust could reach 40 mph in a few spots. The south winds will keep temperatures up overnight, especially west of the Green Mountains. 

By dawn, it'll be in the mid and upper 30s west amid those strong south winds west of the Green Mountains an 20s in the calmer air east of the mountains

SATURDAY

Remember those forecasts of a one-day hint of spring on Saturday?  It's looking a bit more like a half day north. The Champlain Valley will probably warm up to around 40 by noon or early afternoon before the cold front sweeps in to drop temperatures for the rest of the day. 

 It'll take longer for the front to reach southern Vermont, so those areas should a pleasant day in the 40s. It could even hit 50 in some valleys in the lower Connecticut River Valley. 

The cold front will be starved for moisture, so expect just sprinkles ahead of it and flurries behind. 

The National Weather Service is offering a warning to anyone who wants to venture out into Lake Champlain over the next few days. Strong, shifting winds and Saturday's mini-thaw might break up ice on the broad lake, so you might want to stick to protected bays and such if you do go out on the ice this weekend. 

SUNDAY/MONDAY

Into the icebox we go.  We'll start Sunday in the teens with maybe a few single numbers north A weak disturbance looks like it wants to come through with a little snow during the first half of the day. 

Current forecasts call for less than an inch north and an inch or two south. Stay tuned, as if the path of this little disturbance changes, snowfall amounts could change. But this will by no stretch of the imagination be a blockbuster. 

Temperature should stay in the teens to around 20 for highs both Sunday and Monday, which is way, way below normal. Lows Monday morning should be in the minus 5 to minus 15 range for the most part. 

BEYOND MONDAY

We know that temperatures will become more seasonable Tuesday and Wednesday. We're watching a potential small storm that could deposit a few inches of snow or perhaps a mix, maybe,Tuesday night and early Wednesday. 

Temperatures are expected to warm into the 40s later in the week. But cold high pressure will be lurking in Quebec, so it's possible those forecasts are too optimistic. 

Other long range forecasts keep insisting that after next Wednesday, it should be warmer than normal at least into mid-March.  Give our endless parade of cold snaps in recent months, I'm still in "I'll believe it when I see it mode."

More Wintry Weather But Very Little New Snow Coming For Vermont

Henry The Weather Dog takes a quick measurement
of last night's very light snow in St Albans, Vermont
before rushing back into his warm house

 Yesterday's series of fronts left us with just the slightest amount of new snow. Which is fine, since I've really soured on the idea of shoveling heaps of it. 

Burlington has just 0.3 inches of snow. Here in St. Albans, it amounted to 0.8 inches, in other words just shy of an inch. 

I'm sure some of the ski resorts picked up one to three inches to freshen things up a bit  But we're not exactly going through a big cleanup like post-blizzard southern New England continues to deal with. 

Some of us might see a couple more snow showers this morning, but it any snowflakes appear in the sky, it won't amount to anything.

For some of of us, especially in the Champlain Valley the high temperature today hit just after midnight before cooler air began flowing in.  Temperatures today will stay just below freezing. An exception might be southern Vermont valleys, which could sneak up to 33 or 34 degrees.

We've got another cold one coming tonight, as that seems to be our style this winter. By dawn tomorrow, most of us will be in the single numbers above zero, but the cold spots will get below zero. Those readings will seem mild compared to what's coming by Monday. More on that in a bit.

On Friday, strong end of February sun will get us into the low and mid 30s, which is about normal for this time of year. 

ARCTIC COLD FRONT

It still appears we'll have an ever so brief, sort of hint of spring on Saturday, but it definitely won't be all chirping birds and blossoms.

As it warms up Saturday morning, a stiff south wind will kick up, especially in the Champlain Valley. Winds there will gust over 40 mph. Which means it won't exactly feel balmy out there. 

The cold front should arrive in the afternoon, so we might see temperatures already falling before sunset. 

We'll probably will see some snow showers, with maybe a little bit of rain Saturday before the cold front arrives. Again, anything that comes out of the sky Saturday won't amount to much. 

As the cold air blasts in Saturday night and Sunday, a disturbance scooting in from the west might drop a little snow on us. But those indecisive compute models disagree on whether that would happen and if it does, how much snow we'll get.

For now, anyway, it doesn't look like the snow will amount to much more than an inch, but we'll keep you posted. 

We're definitely sure we have a late season Arctic blast on our hands. It'll hit just as March arrives, so it won't have the intensity of cold snaps we saw in late January and early February. 

Still, it'll be a shiver me timbers couple of days. High temperatures both Sunday and Monday will be in the teens, which is a good 20 degrees below normal for this time of year. Lows Monday morning will be well below zero. Early guesses are in the single numbers below zero in the Champlain Valley and southern Vermont hot spots, and the teens below elsewhere. 

Tuesday morning lows might be below zero too.

There's a fairly decent chance that in the warmer spots in Vermont, like around Burlington, the chill early next week might well be the last subzero temperatures until next winter.

Beyond early next week, the forecast gets hazy. It will warm up at least a little, There might be some sort of small storm next Wednesday, but that still has a lot of question marks attached to it.

 The computer models are still insisting on a true thaw beginning roughly a week from now. .That thaw would last several days if these models are correct. But, you've heard me say before I don't trust these long range forecasts, and nothing is changing my mind here.

I continue to hope for that thaw, but know that by the time we get to a week from now, that thaw might well vanish in favor of more winter weather. 

However, since we're getting into March, it's going to be harder and harder for temperatures to stay below freezing all day. 

Like Every Month Lately, Hot Times Continued For World In March, Which Was 3rd Hottest. U.S. Hot, Too!

As always in this age of climate change, it was
hard to find cool spots on Earth as March came
in as the globe's third hottest on record. 

 As we do every month, we're checking in with the global climate checkup for the previous month, and as always, we endured hot times in March. 

March, 2025 turned out to be the third hottest on record for Earth. 

Thanks in part to the now-definitely fading away La Nina, which cools the Earth a little, we've temporarily stopped having record hot months over and over again. Instead, we're "merely" scoring in the top five, usually top three or two.

This temporary "cooling" if you can call it that, means that at this point 2025 only has a 6 percent chance of besting last year as the world's hottest on record. 

These "nearly hottest" months we've had this year are still obviously bad news since it's a sign that climate change is continuing unfettered, despite influences that would normally cool Earth just a wee bit. 

If you are under the age of 49, you've never seen a March that was close in temperatures to the 20th century average. They've all been warm since 1977.

Unless there's something awful like a major meteor hit or global nuclear war, you'll never again see a month or year that is close to the temperatures we usually saw four or five decades ago. 

The hottest spots on Earth, relative to average, were the Arctic, Alaska, the eastern and central United States, most of Europe, northwest Africa and Australia. 

If you were looking for relative cool spots, they were - as usual - few and far between, but you would have found them in central Canada, eastern Greenland, parts of eastern Asia and chunks of Antarctica.

Those areas weren't really much cooler than what the pre-industrial average was, but were definitely chillier than the average of the past 30 years, which of course had been warmed by climate change. 

As previously reported, Arctic sea ice was at its lowest level on record for March. 

UNITED STATES

The Lower 48 in the U.S. had a decidedly warm March - its sixth warmest on record. 

All states came out definitely on the warm side except California and Florida, which were a little closer to the long term average. . 

Eighteen states had one of their top ten warmest Marches on record in 2025. Vermont as a whole was listed as having had its 13th warmest March on record. However, in Burlington, specifically, the state's main weather station tied for the sixth warmest March.

If you averaged out precipitation through the Lower 48  it comes out fair to middling, ending up close to the long term average. 

Though overall March was near normal for U.S. precipitation, as usual, some spots were extra wet, while others were especially dry.   

Wisconsin and Michigan had among their wettest Marches on record. West Virginia had its fifth driest March on record.

Here in Vermont, we had our 38th wettest March out of the past 131 years, so nothing extreme here. 

Though the United States as a whole wasn't particularly rainy, it was a stormy month. The United States had 296 tornadoes in March, close to if not the most on record for the month. 

Yes, The United States HAS Had A Lot Of Tornadoes This Year

A massive tornado in Lake City, Arkansas on April 2.
So far, this has been a very busy season for 
tornadoes in the U.S.

 If you been thinking that almost all you've heard in weather news this spring is tornadoes, there's a reason for it. 

The United States has had an exceptionally busy early part of tornado season. Through April 7, there have been 473 tornadoes. 

On average by April 7, there's normally about 270 tornadoes this far into the season, according to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center. 

That doesn't necessarily mean that will continue, but for now, we're way ahead of normal.

March got things off to a rousing start and the first week of April was even worse. A lull in tornado activity started on Monday and will probably last at least a week during which few tornadoes will touch down. 

But there are tentative signs that things could get really busy again toward the end of the month as we head toward the heart of tornado season. (Tornadoes activity usually peaks in May and early June).

 MARCH

There were no fewer than 175 confirmed tornadoes in March, and that number might go up as other reports are confirmed.

That's double the amount the United States usually sees in March..

March was punctuated by an unusually large tornado outbreak in the middle of the month with 116 twisters reported.  That's a big outbreak for any time of year but it's really odd for so early in the season. 

 The two busiest years for March tornadoes were 234 in 2022 and 208 in 2023.  Part of the issues is weak tornadoes are better detected than they were years and decades ago, so those are added to the count. 

March is usually just the beginning of tornado season. The vast majority of U.S. tornadoes strike in April, May and June. 

APRIL

April got off to an explosive tornado start. So far, no fewer than 182 tornadoes have been counted in the first seven days of April. That number -  182 - happens to be the average number of tornados for an entire April.  That's easily one of the busiest early Aprils on record. Through Monday, tornadoes had been reported somewhere in the U.S. on 12 consecutive days. 

That's the earliest in the year on record in which there were at least ten consecutive days with tornadoes.

As noted above, we have a lull going in tornado activity. Especially given super April tornado outbreaks in 1974 and 2011, I doubt there will be record number of twisters this month. Still forecasters are expecting at least the possibility of a notable uptick in severe storms and tornadoes toward the end of this month. 

Generally speaking more tornadoes occur in late April rather than early in the month. 

The record for April twisters is 757 in 2011. Interestingly, last year had the second highest number of April tornadoes with at least 356 twisters.

By the way, last year was the second busiest tornado year on record, with just under 1,800 twisters in the U.S,

LA NINA/CLIMATE CHANGE

However, the Washington Post reports that the increase in March tornadoes in recent years can't be fully explained by better counting. 

Part of it might be La Nina, a periodic cooling of eastern Pacific waters. One of the effects of that cooling is a wavier jet stream across the continental United States. A wavy jet stream means more and stronger storm systems. 

If these storms can produce the correct clash of warm, humid air from the south and frigid air from the north, and adequate shifting winds in the atmosphere, you get tornadoes. 

Both 2022 and 2023, those busy tornado Marches, were La Nina years.

La Nina has pretty much faded away, so that will probably be no longer much of an influence on the rest of tornado season. The second reason for so many tornadoes might not go away so fast. And this second reason has to do with climate change.  The Gulf of Mexico is toastier than normal, a trend that has been consistent in recent years as a warmer atmosphere also heats up the oceans. 

When the Gulf water is warmer, it allows even more moisture to stream northward into the kind of storm systems that spin off tornadoes. Humid air is a key ingredient for tornadoes, so the more moisture the merrier, at least from the perspective of twisters. 

La Nina is fading. And besides, the effects of La Nina tend to fade as we head further into spring.

However, warm Gulf of Mexico waters do influence tornadoes well into spring and early summer. 

That's not to say the rest of tornado season will be supercharged. It just increases the odds somewhat. 

But you never know what will happen. March, 2012 was a busy and tragic month for tornadoes, with 223 twisters reported. 

That month was punctuated by an intense tornado outbreak on March 2-3 that produced 81 tornadoes which killed at least 40 people.

But it turned out the rest of the 2012 tornado season was pretty unremarkable. The year ended up with about 1,000 tornadoes, Which seems like a lot but was still about 300 below normal.

By contrast, there weren't many tornadoes in March and early April, 2004. But the year turned out to have the most tornadoes on record, with 1,819 twisters, including 389 in just the final 11 days of May that year.   Tornado deaths that year were mercifully low considering the numbers, amounting to 35 people 

That's tragic of course, but fewer than in many of the slowest tornado years.  

Vermont March Weather: Warm And Weird

A warm March sent daffodil shoots growing much
earlier than normal in Vermont this year. This new
spring greenery had to endure occasional wintry
setbacks, as seen here on March 21. That state
of affairs will continue into April. 

 Well, we got through another month, so it's time to look back at our overall Vermont weather in March, which, as you might have noticed was weird. And warm. 

MARCH TEMPERATURES

Burlington came in with a mean temperature for the month of 38.0 degrees. That puts us in a three way tie with 2010 and 1902 for the sixth warmest March on record. 

It's also the sixth time in a year a month in Burlington was in the top ten warmest list. 

This March was even warmer than the one a year ago, in 2024 which was merely the seventh warmest on record. Yeah, we've had a lot of hot Marches lately. A lot of hot months and years, actually, thanks to climate change. 

The entire rest of Vermont was much warmer than average in March, too. But figures are incomplete, as I noticed missing data on a few days from several of our regular long standing weather stations like Rutland and St. Johnsbury. 

The warmest March day in Burlington was 72 on the 19th and 20th.  This makes March, 2025 one of only 11 Marches in the past 140 years or so to get that warm.  It was not close to the hottest March day on record, though. It was 84 degrees in both March, 1946 and March, 1998.

Rapid snowmelt and some rain led to widespread, but minor flooding across Vermont around St. Patrick's Day. 

You could see the effects of such a mild March by the unusually early signs of spring. Crocuses were blooming by mid-month in a few locations. Green daffodil shoots poked up all through the second half of the month. The sound of returning red wing blackbirds filled the air in marshy areas way earlier in the month than usual. I even had a report of two of people in southern Vermont hearing spring peepers yesterday. That's really early for the season. 

Burlington had its final zero degree reading of the season on March 3. That meant nine days this past winter got to zero or below.  Historically we'd have roughly 20 or more such days per winter, so the downward trend in very cold days continues. 

MARCH PRECIPITATION

It was a little wetter than average virtually everywhere in Vermont in March, which is a good thing since we still have lingering effects from last autumn's drought. 

Precipitation wasn't overwhelming, though, as Burlington had 2.81 inches of rain and melted snow and ice. That's just a little over half an inch above average. By my count, Burlington had its 37th wettest March on record, so not all that impressive.

Precipitation around the state was similarly above average, but not to an extreme extent. 

Winter this March was notably absent until the end of the month. Early in the month, the summit of Mount Mansfield did have its highest snow depth since at least 2019.

But in most of Vermont aside from high elevations, very little snow fell into the end of the month. 

As we just saw, the last weekend of the month brought a big thump of five to nine inches of snow to the north, and a quite damaging ice storm to parts of central and southern Vermont.   

The snow and ice melted quickly during another very warm final day of March, though as of early yesterday, there was still 89 inches of snow near the Mount Mansfield summit. 

APRIL OUTLOOK

April is often regarded as a cruel month, as you think spring is coming, but you always end up getting slapped in the face with winter. 

That's no different this year. 

Today will be much colder than yesterday as many of us won't get out of the 30s. 

And, of course, Wednesday night, we're in for yet another round of snow, sleet and freezing rain. Though it won't be as bad as the last one, eastern Vermont in particular will likely see a glaze of ice, slick roads, and maybe an isolated power outage or two by early Thursday. 

The precipitation should change to rain on Thursday. 

Long range forecasts also call for mostly chillier than normal weather around here through at least the first half of April. We shall see. 

Even if it's a cool April, the forces of spring will win out. Normal temporaries rise rapidly. Today, the normal high temperature in Burlington is 48 degrees and the low is 30. By April 30, the normal high and low temperatures are 63 and 42 degrees.

You're going to see a much greener Vermont landscape by the end of the month compared to what it looks like now. 

One More Weird, Windy Vermont March Heat Wave Before Winter (Sort Of) Returns

Wildfires continue to burn amid very windy, dry 
conditions in the Southwest. This large fire near
Borger, Texas on Tuesday forced evacuations,
 but at last report no homes have burned. 

 Gawd, Tuesday was gorgeous in Vermont. Wall to wall sunshine under deep blue skies, light winds and comfortable temperatures. All after an overnight freeze probably revived the sap runs in the sugar bushes. 

Another weird storm out in the Midwest today will give us another odd March heat wave with a lot of wind in some areas once again. 

But a weather pattern change means our premature spring will revert back to typical late March dampness, chill, slush and cold rain.

THE STORM

As expected, the Plains are in trouble again with this one. 

Blizzards are hitting from eastern Colorado to southern Minnesota. High wind warning and advisories cover most of the middle of the U.S., threatening tree damage, power outages and more wildfires. Dangerous dust storms once again raked places like New Mexico and Texas on Tuesday. 

The fire danger remains extreme in the southern Plains. At last report, numerous wildfires were burning or had just been contained. An especially large fire was threatening homes near Borger, Texas, prompting evacuations of several neighborhoods in the city of 12,000 people northeast of Amarillo. 

The high risk of wildfires in the Southwest is expected to continue for the next several days. 

Dust storms closed several highways in western Texas, including a stretch of Interstate 27 south of Amarillo that was the scene of a fatal highway pileup in another dust storm last Friday. 

Windy weather is extending the brush and wildfire risk through much of the Midwest and in much of the Appalachian chain as far north as southwest New York State. 

Earlier forecasts had called for a limited number of severe thunderstorms with this system, but that's changed. There could be a few to several tornadoes today in Illinois and Indiana, along with intense straight line winds and large hail. 

VERMONT EFFECTS

Much like the last storm, this one is throwing a big squirt of warm, windy air at us. 

Sunny, mild weather last evening and in the past
few days has allowed an early start with spring
cleaning in my St. Albans, Vermont perennial beds,
but an upcoming change in the weather pattern
might put a temporary stop to that work. Look
closely at photo and you can see LOTS of 
green daffodil shoots starting to emerge

After most of us managed to get below freezing again overnight, today will be ridiculously warm March day. Most valleys will reach the 60s, and there could even be a spot 70 degree reading in some of the warmest towns. 

Winds will increase, too, especially in the Champlain Valley.  Gusts could reach 40 mph in spots by late afternoon.

Tonight will be warm and noisy, especially in the northern Champlain Valley where a wind advisory goes into effect and lasts until early afternoon Thursday. 

Gusts up in Franklin County, Vermont could go to 50 or 55 mph, causing a few more scattered problems with power lines and tree branches. Winds will probably peak between about 2 and 10 a.m.  Thursday. 

Elsewhere in the Champlain Valley, winds might go up to 45 mph.  It'll be pretty windy elsewhere in Vermont too. 

It'll stay warm, with many of us not dropping below 40 degrees overnight. That sets us up for more 60 degree weather tomorrow.

The Change

Then the cold front comes in Thursday night as a storm forms along it. Forecasters have gotten a little less bullish on the amount of rain and eventual snow we'll get.  There were some fears of a heavy snowstorm Friday. 

It still looks like it's going to snow late Thursday night and Friday, probably enough to interfere with Friday morning drive time.  Expected accumulations are still up in the air, but forecasts are leaning toward no more than a couple inches in the valleys and at most four inches or so up in the mountains. 

Stay tuned for any updates of that one. 

As mentioned, the cold front is introducing a new weather pattern that will have us continue to see temperatures yo-yoing but not to extremes that we've seen over the past week. 

And it will generally be colder than it's been, but nothing ridiculous for late March. In fact, we might squeeze in some comfortably mild readings Saturday before the next cold front crashes us downward into the 30s for the day Sunday.

A new storm looks like it wants to spread some snow and rain over us next Monday, but we don't have the details on that yet. 

I'm guessing the cooler, unsettled weather will last into at least early April 

Vermont Spring Hint Didn't Last Long; Now For Some Wintry, Very Changeable Active Weather

My St. Albans, Vermont driveway was finally completely
clear of ice and snow after thawing this week, but a 
burst of snow this morning covered it 
right back up again. 

 UPDATE:  It appears the burst of snow really caused some havoc and trouble in northwest Vermont.

As of 8:45 a.m. Interstate 89 southbound between St. Albans and Georgia was closed. There's reports of a 15-vehicle pileup, with injuries.  Reports are there's some "satellite" car crashes near the main pileup.

There really wasn't much snow, but the wet snow suddenly coating what had been a dry or just wet road appears to have contributed. 

If these reports are true, this will be the worst winter-related car crash in Vermont this winter.

Hoping the injuries aren't serious!

Though road conditions will be improving soon, take care out there. 

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

Wednesday afternoon in Vermont really felt like our first embrace of spring. 

Sure it was actually a few degrees cooler  than it was Tuesday. But the sun came out. The sun angle is better, too, than it was early in the winter. It gets as high in the sky now as it did in mid-October. 

Between that sun, the light winds, it felt downright warm out there. That sun even opened up some bare patches in the snow cover on a few south facing slopes and under evergreen trees. 

It was back to reality this morning. 

An ill-timed batch of snow lifted from north to south across Vermont this morning, screwing up road conditions in time for the morning commute.  Roads  might be in rough shape in a few spots by the time you read this. 

In most places, those roads will improve by later this morning. But only temporary.

BIG PICTURE

We're in for a kind of a wild ride over the next week.  March of all months tends to bring us the most wild swings in temperature and storminess.  (For instance in Burlington, it has the widest potential swings in temperature. It's been as cold there in March as 24 below and as hot as 84 above).

There's also big differences between valleys and mountains. While the snow has been melting in the valleys, it's continued to pile up on the Green Mountain summits. Burlington's snow cover has dropped from 18 to 12 inches in the past week. 

Meanwhile atop Mount Mansfield Wednesday, the snow depth reached 97 inches, the most so far this winter. They'll probably break 100 inches over the weekend. 

Yes, I know March doesn't officially start until Saturday, but in the weather department, March has gotten off to an early start right now. 

There's going to be changes in the weather almost minute by minute over the next week and probably beyond. And confidence in forecasts is a little lower than usual. But let's take you through the next few days, looking at how we think it will shape up. 

TODAY

The burst of snow will taper off briefly as temperatures warm. Then some rain will move in this afternoon. The exception might be eastern and northeastern Vermont, where enough cool air could hang tough to keep most of the precipitation as snow. 

The National Weather Service's forecast of snowfall
around the region between this morning and Sunday
morning. The Green and White Mountains and
Adirondacks could see locally near a foot of snow
while most valleys will be in the three to eight
inch range. Results may vary. 

Highs for most of us should get into the 30s to low 40s. 

The warm air should hang on into the evening but big changes are on the way, of course!

FRIDAY

It will be one of those backwards days. The high temperature for the day will probably hit just a minute after midnight early in the morning and fall all day, bottoming out near 20 degrees or so in the late afternoon, when you're normally supposed to have the high temperature for the day. 

Snow showers will grace the mountains in the morning and then taper off.

Then at night temperatures will start to rise again as the next storm heads our way with another batch of snow starting in the hours before midnight.

SATURDAY

A quick moving, pretty strong Alberta clipper type storm is the culprit here. This should deposit a good two to six inches of snow on most of us by mid-morning Saturday, with more possible in the mountains. 

The path of the storm suggests temperatures could briefly rise above freezing Saturday morning before the storm's powerful cold front crashes through. Temperatures should fall fast during the day, and we will be at risk of snow showers and some heavy snow squalls here and there. 

Overall, between this morning and Sunday morning total snow accumulation should be in the two to four inch range in the Champlain Valley and southern Vermont valleys, four to seven inches in central and northern Vermont, and eight to 12 inches in the central and northern Green Mountains. Maybe more than that in a few favored summits. 

SUNDAY AND MONDAY

Mid-winter cold.  Highs only in the teens Sunday will lead to lows near or below zero Monday morning. It'll start to warm up only a little Monday afternoon, getting into the 20s before a bigger warmup starts Tuesday. 

MIDWEEK WORRIES

Some computer models are hinting at a hit from briefly warm temperatures, and worse, heavy rain toward Wednesday. If that happens, we'll need to worry about flooding and ice jams.  . Could be bad, but we don't know enough about it yet. There's still time for forecasts to change radically, so this could still very much be a false alarm. We'll keep an eye on it.