Soaking Rains To Hit Southern Vermont Later Today, Tonight. Only A Little Rain North. We Think

 A brief thunderstorms interrupts a day at the dog park
in St. Albans, Vermont on Sunday

 People in northern and central Vermont woke up to mostly clear skies for a change today, after so much rain has fallen in recent days. 

It was already clouding up in anticipation of more rain across southern Vermont. More on that in a minute. 

Sunday, in its own way, was a rather pretty day. Sure. many of us had to dash indoors when the showers an thunderstorms blew through. But the towering thunderstorm clouds and the big fluffy towering cumulus made the sky pretty. 

But, like I said it's going to rain again. Here are the details

MONDAY

The best thing about the upcoming bout of rain is it's mostly going to hit southern Vermont, where they actually kind of need it. Far northern Vermont, which is absolutely saturated at the moment. 

The latest rainfall prediction map from the National 
Weather Service. More than an inch of rain is 
expected by tomorrow morning in southern Vermont,
while far northern Vermont gets very little. 

Southern Vermont really is in for a soaker. Most people from Rutland and Windsor counties south should get more than an inch of rain. Some places will see 1.5 inches, or maybe even close in on two inches in one or two isolated spots in the far southern Green Mountains.

Because it will be a steady drenching rain and not sharp downpours, flooding won't happen. Instead, the water will soak into the relatively dry ground. 

Central Vermont should only get a quarter to a half inch of rain.  Far northern Vermont gets a break from the incessant rain. Those areas should see less than a tenth of an inch. 

There is still a chance the weather system could go a little north of the planned path or a little south. This would change rainfall amounts up or down. The forecast is tricky because there will be a sharp line between heavy rain south and very little north. 

This should mostly come through between late this afternoon and very early tomorrow morning. 

TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY

A mostly dry spell for a change. Hallelujah! There might be some widely scattered showers Tuesday afternoon in the north, especially in the mountains, but they shouldn't amount to much. Wednesday actually looks sunny with temperatures within a few degrees either side of 80. So nice early summer weather there. 

THURSDAY/FRIDAY

It looks like another system will roll with more showers and thunderstorms. An early peek suggest the heaviest rain might fall in the north again. It's still too soon to tell whether this will represent any kind of flood threat or not. 

Forecasters Back Off SLIGHTLY From Torrid Vermont Upcoming Week Forecast, But It Will Still Be Hot

Early Sunday afternoon satellite pic shows Vermont
in the middle of a big cloudy patch that will
keep the rest of today cloudy and damp. But
looks at those clear skies to the northwest\
in Ontario and central Quebec. That's our
weather tomorrow and Tuesday. 

Just landed after my return trip from Minnesota, so you saw no morning post today. So I'll try a very late, afternoon attempt. 

As expected, a few scattered strong to severe storms erupted in Vermont yesterday. The worst of them seem to cross central Vermont in a west to east band very roughly about  20 or 30 miles north of Route 4. 

I'm kinda sure there was some tree damage across the middle of Vermont, but the only report of damage I see so far is the several trees fell along Route 73 between Whiting and Sudbury. 

As you'd expect, rainfall was super variable with the scattering of storms yesterday. Many places, as expected got somewhere in the neighborhood of a half inch of rain.

 But there were those torrential downpours, as you'd expect. The biggest totals I saw were  near the Canadian border: 1.85 inches in Montgomery Center, 1.58 inches at Derby Line and 1.54 inches 

Meanwhile, a few towns got seriously cheated. West Windsor reported just 0.05 inches of rain. 

During this morning and early afternoon, a final band of rain was working north to south across Vermont, As you can tell, it's pretty cool today under the clouds and showers and north winds, with most places holding in the 60s as of early afternoon. 

Except for nights and very early mornings at the beginning of the week, this will be last cool weather you'll see for awhile. 

REST OF THE WEEK

Judging from the satellite photos, we won't get much clearing today. Maybe some places will get some sun in the evening. Since it's cool this afternoon, we're set up for a comfortable night.  Lows Monday morning will be in the 40s, with some low 50s in banana belt towns in the Champlain Valley. 

Monday: A beauty. Sunshine, low humidity and highs in the 70s to around 80.

Tuesday: Another nice one. Warmer, with highs in the low to mid 80s. Maybe a couple upper 80s in the warmest valleys. The humidity will stay low.

Wednesday: Here's where trouble starts. Humidity levels will creep up. Forecasters have backed off on the idea of three or four consecutive days near 90 degrees in the warmer valleys. Instead, we'll probably wait for a couple of days for a shot at 90. 

A weather disturbance that was expected to be a nothing burger a few days ago will now have a little oomph when it arrives here. Nothing dramatic, just some showers and maybe some embedded thunder. Highs should still make it into the 80s as it turns noticeably more humid.

Thursday/Friday: These will be the hot days, at least if the forecast holds. It is subject to change. As it is, we might seem some showers and storms both days as highs potentially reach a humid 90 degrees.

Next Weekend.  Frankly, not sure yet. Depends upon whether some cold fronts arrive to rescue us from the humidity or not. Cold fronts would also mean a potential shower risk. But don't make plans based on the weather for next weekend. We really have almost no idea what will happen then

After Our Vermont Morning Frosts, It's Back To Late Spring Warmth. Except A Nippy Sunday?

It's lilac season, as they blooms cascade over my deck
railing. Cool temperatures this Memorial Day weekend
will preserve the lilacs for awhile, but it won't exactly
feel like an introduction to summer. 

 The cold temperatures last night worked out about as forecast. We had widespread frost, with a large minority of places in northern Vermont going below freezing. 

Montpelier got down to 31 degrees and Morrisville was 29 degrees. St. Johnsbury was barely above freezing at 33 degrees. 

It looks like the Champlain Valley escape the frost for the most part, as temperatures there reached the upper 30s. Burlington had an overnight low of 38 degrees.

There was likely seen light frost across southern Vermont, too. Rutland, Springfield and Bennington all reported morning low temperatures of 35 degrees 

We have nice day on the way, with highs popping back up well into the 60s.  Some high clouds should return this afternoon, but those won't entirely hide the sun. 

Then we get into a Memorial Day weekend that looks, not great in the weather department. But we still have some questions about how much rain we might get and when it might fall. We do know it will be dry much of the time, at least on Saturday and Monday. Let's take a shot at the forecast here: 

SATURDAY

Not too bad, actually, especially north. If the clouds stay thin enough north, the day might begin with patchy frost in the normally colder spots, but the vast majority of us will be fine. It'll be a cloudy day, with the thickest clouds south.

That'll affect temperatures. Highs under the thicker clouds south will probably hold temperatures down into the upper 50s. Where the clouds are thinner north, weak sun getting through will hopefully push temperatures up to near 70.

SUNDAY

Unfortunately, if current forecasts hold, Sunday's weather will be almost as bad as it can get for this time of year. Almost, because there will be no disasters, no snow, or anything like that. 

But it won't feel like the introduction to summer it's supposed to be, either. Light rain should move in later Saturday night and continue much of Sunday. Worse, this is a cold system, so the lack of sunshine and the rain could well hold high temperatures to within a few degrees either side of 50. 

Some places, especially in wetter southern Vermont, could have a high temperature in the mid and upper 40s. You know, like late March,  not late April. 

The one ray of hope is there is some questions as to whether the high pressure system that gave us this morning's frost will at least partially block this system. If it does, there would be some breaks in the clouds and warmer temperatures, especially north. But that looks sort of unlikely at this point. 

The rain should be quite light, ranging from a tenth of an inch north to up to a half inch far south. 

MONDAY

OK, this won't be perfect, but it will be better. Winds from the west will import somewhat warmer air into Vermont. We'll still have a risk of showers, but temperatures should pop back up to near 70, which isn't far from normal for this time of year. 

Vermont Thursday Morning Update: Still Windy, Keep Digging Out Your Winter Clothes

A winter wonderland along Route 242 in Westfield, 
Vermont this morning as this traffic cam photo
attests. Several inches of snow piled up in some
of the higher elevations overnight. 

 We just got through the latest quick hitting storm in Vermont with little trouble, but with reminders that winter is just around the corner. 

A moderate amount of rain fell in the north, and high elevations got an additional coating of snow. As of early this morning, some lingering rain showers were going on in the lowest elevations, and mid and high elevations were still seeing some snow showers. 

In the north, the rainfall probably put another small dent in our drought. Speaking of which, the Weekly U.S. Drought Monitor comes out any minute now.   I'll have an update on that in a separate post later this morning. 

Burlington clocked in with a little under a half inch of rain. As of 7 a.m. Montpelier and St. Johnsbury reported around a quarter inch, but it was still raining lightly in Montpelier at that hour.  As expected, southern Vermont was cheated out the rain, with around a tenth of an inch reported. 

Snow accumulated in higher elevations pretty much all along the Green Mountain chain. Judging from traffic camera images, anywhere from a slushy coating to a few inches came down, depending on elevation. It looks like most places under roughly 1,800 feet didn't get any snow accumulation. 

The snow is piling up on the summits. As of late Wednesday afternoon, the snow stake near the summit of Mount Mansfield had 11 inches of snow. Normal for the date is two inches. It kept snowing up there overnight, and more snow is in the forecast for the next few days. 

The wind last night didn't result in too many problems, and the wind advisories have been lifted. 

OUTLOOK

We'll continue to get that spray of frequent little storms coming through. None of them look spectacularly big, but clouds and wind will dominate most of the time between now and the middle of next week. Rain and snow will continue to harass us, though amounts so far look like they'll be pretty light. 

However, this kind of weather pattern can yield some surprises, so it might not always be easy.

If you haven't finished digging out your winter coats and hats and mittens from the closet yet, today's a great day to do it. Outside, blustery winds will make the wind chills feel like it's in the 20s and 30s out there. Actual high temperatures will only make it to within a few degrees either side of 40. There might be a lingering sprinkle or flurry for awhile, but that will tend to disappear this afternoon. 

Most of us will get well down into the 20s tonight. A few cold spots will be in the upper teens. That's not really unusual for this time of  year, but it's still chilly. 

It still looks like the next disturbance will zip through Friday afternoon and night, with some light rain and a bit of snow near mountain summits. 

Then a somewhat stronger storm will come through Sunday and Monday. It looks like mostly or entirely rain at first on Sunday. The we have a blast of cold air coming in Monday to change the rain to snow. 

It's still not clear how much snow will be involved with this. We'll need to wait for updated forecasts. But it seems pretty clear at least a few snowflakes will make it down to many of Vermont's valley floors for the first time this season 

After that, a series of weak cold fronts and Alberta Clippers will keep us unsettled and chilly most of next week. 

You'll be living Thomas Hood's poem "November" for the foreseeable future:

No sun — no moon!  No morn — no noon —  No dawn — no dusk — no proper time of day.   No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,  No comfortable feel in any member —  No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,  No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! —  November!

Vermont Weather Week Ahead: Somewhat Encouraging For Drought Relief

For most of Vermont, today is dawning as another dreary one, as the sky is having a lot of trouble clearing out. 

A carpet of leaves beneath a sugar maple in St. Albans
Vermont during yesterday's overcast. We're rapidly
getting into stick season. The hope is November will
be wet, and there are chances of some storms, 

We've gotten into that time of year in which it doesn't get sunny too easily, even if there's high pressure nearby. 

We're actually going through a typical November/December type thing now, in which moisture from the Great Lakes, cold air aloft and lingering moisture keep us cloudy. 

Going into this week, it looks like an inversion might set up, meaning we'll have a layer of warm air a few thousand feet up.

That kind of set up also tends to keep thins pretty overcast. The heat from the sun when it is high and strong in the late spring and summer tends to mix the air and get rid of inversions. Which clears the sky. '

The low sun angle this time of year doesn't really have the power to do that.  WHile there is a chance we might clear out at times Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, don't count on it. Especially in northern valleys.

In a way, this is good, because the overcast doesn't allow us to dry out as much as a sunny, unseasonably warm day would.  With our ongoing drought, we don't need things to get worse. 

RAIN CHANCES

What we really need is a series of nice soaking rains like we had this past week. We do have an uncertain shot of something like that toward the end of the upcoming week. And extended forecasts are slightly optimistic on precipitation chances.

The late week shot at rain would come from a potential nor'easter. As always, whether we in Vermont get some decent rains depends on the track of the storm. Too far offshore, and we get nothing spectacular. 

A track that hugs the coast or goes a little inland would be wonderful. And wet.

There's even a chance that horrible Hurricane Melissa would do some good after causing a lot of pain and suffering in the Caribbean.  By the end of the week. Melissa is expected to be out in the Atlantic Ocean, far off the East Coast, zipping northward and weakening. 

There is a chance that the nor'easter could syphon some moisture extra
off of Melissa, and that would enhance the rains in New England. That scenario is far, far from a slam dunk, but it would be nice. 

After our hoped for late week or weekend nor'easter, we want to look for even more rain. We've kept telling you it would take a long time to dig ourselves out of the drought, and that's still so true. Yeah, it might seem damp to you outside now, but we need a lot of rain to really soak into the ground and recharge aquifers and such. 

Extended forecasts are not as reliable, and much more broad brush than the predictions for the next few days. The long range forecasts out this weekend do give us some more hope for more rain. 

The six to ten day outlook, which runs from Halloween to November 4, leans toward above normal precipitation, which makes sense, considering there might be a coastal storm around then. 

The 8 to 14 day outlook, which goes from November 2 to  9, is a tossup, giving us near normal precipitation, with below normal temperatures. Maybe the first snows of the season? We shall see! 

There's also a NOAA three to four week outlook, which takes us well into mid-November. That forecast slightly favors above normal precipitation in northern New England,  but it's not a perfect setup for big soakers. 

A decent share of the computer models in that three to four week range  place a dip in the jet stream somewhere near or over Quebec.  That's not ideal, as it could steer the wettest storms off to our south and east.

However, even if the three to four week forecast is correct, the location and the strength of that dip in the jet stream would vary.   Exactly where it sets up, if it sets up, and how it interacts with other weather systems would determine how much and what kind of precipitation we get.

Note I said what kind. Once we get into November, all bets are off. We could get rain, snow, ice, a mix, you name it.  

At least it's beginning to appear we're escaping that horrible weather pattern we had in August, September and much of October in which warm, arid, sunny high pressure systems would stall over us for weeks at a time. 

This blog thingy might, for a change, frequently mention oncoming inclement weather.  For once, if we get lucky, Vermonters might end up embracing our famously bad November weather. 

Gloomy Vermont Weather Is The New Gorgeous, As It's Preventing Drought From Getting Worse.

Lingering fall foliage brightened up the surroundings
a little under a dark overcast in St. Albans,
Vermont Thursday. Unlike in recent months,
clouds and showers have lingered after rain
storms, preventing the drought from
getting much worse.

 During our long drought in Vermont, every time we managed to get some rain, the precipitation would zip out as quickly as cat fleeing after falling into a full bath tub. 

The sun would come out immediately, the air would turn more arid that Phoenix in June and the drought would intensify. 

This week's go around was different. And wonderful, if gloomy. Our storm blasted through Monday with some good rains, and the remnants of the storm....lingered.

Even though Monday's storm moved away at a brisk pace, its upper level low lingered nearby. That has kept disturbance swinging through northern New England. Which has meant bursts of showers all week.

When it wasn't raining, skies were cloudy most of the time. The air stayed damp. For once, we didn't immediately begin to dry out again. 

Except for some good downpours in northwest Vermont Wednesday, the rain that fell this week was quite light and probably was not significantly enough to ease the drought. But at least, for a change, it's probably not getting worse. 

Only northwest Vermont improved with the latest U.S. Drought Monitor report yesterday. And the northwest has continued to do better than the rest of the state in terms of precipitation. 

On Thursday, most places in Vermont that did get any rain saw less than a tenth of an inch of it.  

Here in St. Albans, though, I collected another 0.21 inches. Not much, but still good.  As of 9 a.m. this morning, another decent batch of showers were moving into northwest Vermont. 

The clouds will more or less continue over Vermont for the next few days. Especially in the north and mountains. We'll tend to see some more breaks of sun between the clouds starting tomorrow and going into next week. Tuesday and Wednesday should have the most sun.  

Any showers or mountain snow flurries today and over the weekend won't amount to much. But at least we won't get blasted by near record warmth and wall to wall sunshine.  The final week of 10 days of October last year featured bouts of record high temperatures and sunny days. That would have been a disaster this year.

Toward the end of next week, it looks like some sort of coastal storm might want to come up toward New England.   It's way too soon to tell whether that storm will give us another good dose of rain or just some light stuff.

But indications are that the storm a week from now might linger for several days near or over us, just as we saw this week. That would give us more cloudy, damp, showery, somewhat unpleasant weather. 

With the drought still ongoing, for Vermont, unpleasant weather is the new gorgeous. 

 

One Of Vermont's Sunniest Autumns Ever Finally Gives Way To Clouds

The setting sun briefly lit up these trees in St.
Albans, Vermont late Tuesday afternoon, but you
can still see the thick gray clouds in the background.
It has finally gotten cloudier in Vermont in recent
days, but unfortunately not much wetter. 

Vermont has a cloudy reputation. 

No matter the time of year, chances are, if you make outdoor plans, you'll end up under at least partly cloudy skies if not an overcast.

But in the late summer and autumn drought, it was one sunny day after another. It was like Home On The Range, where the skies are not cloudy all day. It felt like California weather moved to Vermont. 

By my rough, unofficial count, 19 days in both August and September were mostly sunny to clear. Ten of the first 12 days of October in northern Vermont were also clear to at least mostly sunny.

Cloudy Vermont usually starts to get even more overcast around the autumn solstice. Late autumn through early winter is usually the cloudiest part of the year in the Green Mountain State. 

Sometimes in late October, November and December, you can go a week or even more without seeing the sun. This week, a little belatedly, those clouds have finally arrived.  It's not that we won't see the sun ever again. It's just that it won't be as frequent. 

Too bad that so far, those clouds aren't accompanied by much desperately needed rain. 

We did have a solid overcast Monday and Tuesday. For most of us, yesterday was as gloomy as it can get.  We had low clouds, fog, a little drizzle. Northwest Vermont had a glimpse of sun right before sunset, but that was about it. 

That drizzle didn't amount to much. Between Monday and Tuesday, Burlington only had 0.05 inches of rain.   My unofficial rain gauge in St. Albans did better, sort of, collecting 0.22 inches over the two days. Montpelier managed to receive 0,26 in those two days.

That's not exactly a drought buster. We need a drenching! We're still in search of it.

LOOKING AHEAD

Clouds will hang tough today and tomorrow, but they won't yield any rain aside from an isolated sprinkle over the hills. 

A cold front blew through early this morning, sweeping away any lingering fog and drizzle. Today and tomorrow will feature mostly cloudy skies for most of us, chilly temperatures and a stiff north wind that will make it feel even colder. 

High temperatures will barely make it into the low 50s today and tomorrow. Tonight will go into the low and mid 30s. Thursday night will drop us into the mid 20s to low 30s. 

The summer that lasted into October is definitely over. 

We'll see some breaks of sun both today and tomorrow, especially in the broader valleys and in southeastern Vermont. Tomorrow will be the sunnier of the two days. 

The sun should be back in full force Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday amid a warming trend. Saturday will be the pick of the week with lots of sunshine and temperatures near or a little above 60. Sunday will be even warmer, as some places could touch 70. But by afternoon, it looks like the clouds will be coming back. 

Another storm system should come through Sunday night and Monday. We're still getting hints we could see a decent, though not huge amount of rain then. 

I might not believe it until I see it. We've been burned many times before over the past few months, where we thought we had a good shot at seeing a soaking, and nothing happened. 

On the other hand, solid doses of rainfall on September 25 and October 7 briefly stalled the drought's worsening trend. If Sunday night and Monday are the start of a wetter trend, that would be terrific.

What I'm seeing, though are signs of a cloudier, but not necessarily super wet weather pattern heading through the end of the month. A handful of models bring a former hurricane near New England toward the end to October, but that type of specific long range forecast is seldom accurate. 

My advice? Keep doing those rain dances. 

 

Weird, Cool Clouds At Edge Of Nor'easter Over Vermont

Puffs of clouds with little streaks beneath them over
northwest Vermont today. Those wisps were
actually rain strangely coming from the tiny 
clouds, but evaporating well before 
hitting the ground. 

People (correctly) tell me I have my head in the clouds. 

And it's true I'm always staring up into the sky. Which makes me notice things. 

My sky gazing today gave me a couple of rewards: The tiniest little showers I've seen in ages, and quite a contrast between clear and cloudy.

The first photo in this post show the sky looking north from Colchester, Vermont. They're just a patch of bumpy mid-level clouds. 

But notice those wisps beneath many of them. That's rain falling from them. It shows that even the tiniest clouds can form rain under the right conditions 

The rain never came close to reaching the ground. The raindrops evaporated in the very dry air overhead. The relative humidity was only about 35 percent at the time, so that's really dry air. 

Sharp line between clear skies and overcast looking
southwest from Colchester, Vermont this afternoon. 

The second photo is looking southwest from the same spot in Colchester at about the same time as our tiny little rain showers were hovering off to the north. 

It's a remarkably sharp cutoff between mostly clear skies and overcast. 

It was part of the northern edge of a huge cloud shield associated with the big nor'easter hitting the East Coast today. 

I'm guessing the clouds, running into the dry air over northern New York and Vermont, was having an effect on these clouds

Satellite photos show that this sharp band between clear and cloudy extended from northwest Vermont clear across far northern New York. 

That sharp cut off of clear skies and overcast is 
visible on satellite photos across northern 
New York and a piece of northwest Vermont
If you click on the image to make it bigger,
you can see the shadow the clouds cast on
areas near Burlington. 

In the satellite photo, also in this post, if you look closely, you can see the shadow cast by the cloud shield as well. 

The sun was fairly low in the sky when the phot was taken around 3:30 p.m this afternoon.

The satellite photo also shows a southwest to northeast band of feathery clouds across Vermont. That is part of the upper level outflow of moisture from the big storm. 

You can also see in the satellite photo thicker clouds off to the south. 

Those will be in Vermont tomorrow, though far northern Vermont is still not likely to see much rain. 

Southern Vermont is still up for a half inch to an inch of rain, which will be nice for a bit of drought relief. 

The gray overcast we expect on Monday won't make the sky as interesting as it was today, though.  

My Favorite Vermont Summer Storm Photos, 2025

A thunderstorm begins to loom over Lake Champlain
boaters near Alburgh, Vermont on May 16.

 Overall, this wasn't a big year for summer storms here in Vermont. 

They didn't happen all that frequently and there were only a couple of really damaging outbreaks, one one May 17, the other on July 10.   

As you'll see by the photos, July 10 was my favorite storm day of 2025. The only thing I hated was the resulting flash flood in the Northeast Kingdom.

I love to go out and storm chase. That might seem a little silly in Vermont, given our relative lack of dramatic storms. 

It also didn't help that wildfire smoke sometimes obscured some of the best summertime storm clouds this year. 

It also didn't help that the August drought meant there were precious few thunderstorms to photograph.

Being in Vermont, it's highly unlikely I'll ever get much in the way of striking images that show tornadoes, gorilla hail or high speed winds raking the landscape.  

Georgia, Vermont, June 18

When I hunt for Vermont summer storms, I'm just looking for pretty pictures. An unstable summer sky in the Green Mountains is probably the prettiest you can get. 

Vermont thunderstorms are usually gorgeous, no matter how dark the clouds. 

Sure, they are dangerous sometimes. But you can't escape their allure. 

 I sometimes make YouTube videos of them, too, complete with those pretty clouds, thunder, rain, and sometimes wind. 

 Some examples of this year's videos are here, here, here and here. 

I think the summer thunderstorm season is over. Though sometimes we can get September surprises, so I'll keep my eyes out. 

All the photos in this post had no or zero editing. 

Scroll down through this post and let me know which photos in this post you like the most. 

Charlotte, Vermont, June 24

Jeffersonville, Vermont, July 10

St. Albans, Vermont, July 10

St. Albans, Vermont, July 10

Georgia, Vermont, July 13

Georgia, Vermont, July 13

 Swanton, Vermont, July 17

St. Albans, Vermont, August 29

Weird Vermont Rain And Humidity Moments On Saturday; Slow Clearing Today, Hot Monday, Maybe Nice Fourth?

A small shower that formed east of St Albans, Vermont
in the humid Saturday evening air created this
pretty sky after a very rainy morning and muggy afternoon.

Meteorological weirdness of a sort continued through the day Saturday, after early morning weather hijinks created some wind, rain and humidity oddness, as noted in yesterday's post.  

At least the weather didn't cause trouble or anything particularly noticeably bad for everyone.   Still it was an odd day.

As Saturday continued, I saw one of the steepest single-day increases in humidity I've ever seen. 

A little before dawn in Burlington, dry air had been pulled down from aloft. The gave the city a dew point of 40 degrees, which is very, very low for June. By 5 p.m. the dew point was 65 degrees, which is pretty muggy.

This led to a typical summer evening with a humid mix of clouds and sun and some pop up showers and storms here ad there. 

Earlier, in the morning, there was quite a maldistribution of rainfall, too. Showers and thunderstorms kept flowing across Vermont, north of Route 2. But they largely missed most other places. 

Here in St. Albans, my unofficial rain gauge caught a storm total of 1.1 inches Friday night and Saturday morning, a really solid rainfall. Meanwhile, Burlington, just south of the rain band, captured a paltry 0.05 inches.  Impressively low, considering some forecast several days ahead of Saturday's system were forecasting more than two inches of rain for Burlington. 

Still, Burlington did have measurable rain Saturday.  There have been 100 days with measurable precipitation so far this year in Burlington, which is the most to date of any year in records dating back to 1884.

Rainfall so far this year in Burlington is actually running close to normal. It's just the precipitation has been oddly frequent. 

 This all leaves us with a far northern Vermont, and southern Vermont with decent soil moisture, and some dry conditions across central Vermont.  Odd "winner and loser" type rain situations often happen in a Vermont summer. Hopefully that will even out soon. 

TODAY

Skies have been slow to clear this morning, so it might be awhile for some of us to actually enjoy some sunshine. It'll get there, eventually. The atmosphere is playing with us again, just as it did yesterday. This time, an inversion has formed, with a layer of warm air above cool air.

That trapped some moisture in the lower atmosphere, hence the cloud. The strong late June sunshine is at work mixing the air up, which should disperse the clouds this afternoon. It should still get sunny this afternoon in most places, with highs near 80, a decent amount sun (we hope!) and comfortable humidity. 

LOOKING AHEAD TO THE FOURTH

Monday still looks hot, but at least the humidity will only be moderately high. Warmer valleys could easily make it to 90 degrees again, but the dew point should be in the 60s. That's kinda muggy, but not terrible. Not like last week's heat. 

A cold front of sorts Tuesday will probably spread some showers and thunderstorms across Vermont. There's a low chance some of them will be strong. Since Tuesday will become terribly humid,  some storms might dump some torrential downpours.  We'll keep an eye on that.  I doubt Tuesday will bring us widespread scariness, but the situation is still worth keeping an eye on.

I call Tuesday's system a cold front of sorts because the air behind it won't be any cooler, really, Just drier. Wednesday could be quite a warm day with readings well into the 80s.

It does look like another front with cooler air and even colder air aloft should come through Thursday with its own packet of non-severe showers and storms.

If this all plays out as expected, the Fourth of July could end up being pretty nice. It'll probably be cool for the season, with highs only in the 70s. I imagine we'd see a fair amount of sun, but that chilly air aloft might clutter the afternoon sky with  some so-called fair weather clouds.

I never understood how they can be called fair weather clouds on days when they make the sky mostly cloudy but what do I know? That said, I think we might end up with a good amount of sun on the Fourth.

Torrential Nor'easter Done In Vermont, But Its Remnants Will Mess Up Chances To See Big Northern Lights

The National Weather Service in South Burlington
released this map of total rainfall from yesterday's 
nor'easter. Almost all of Vermont had at least an
inch of rain (yellow shading). Orange was more
than 1.5 inches, red is two inches or more,
Northern New York had much less rain 
than Vermont did. 

The nor'easter is pretty much done, with all the heavy rain well out of Vermont. 

Aside from ponding and high water on maybe a couple roads, we avoided flooding, 

But the nor'easter has one last bummer for us. It will block an expected spectacular sky show tonight, More on that in a minute. 

THE RAIN 

First, some rainfall and details and forecasts and news from Saturday. Rain totals were in line with expectations, with almost everybody in Vermont seeing one to two inches.

The heaviest rain, again, as forecast, were in or near the Green Mountains. Also far southeast Vermont and parts of the southern Champlain Valley collected more than most people. 

The winner of the Vermont rainfall sweepstakes was Guilford, in the far southeast corner of the state with 2.88 inches. Runners up were 2.76 inches in Brattleboro; 2.66 in the Nashville section of Jericho; 2.43 inches in Bolton, 2.4 inches in Quechee and, 2.35 inches in Jeffersonville.

My unofficial rain gauge here in St. Albans, Vermont caught an impressive 1.75 inches of rainfall.

Ye of little faith thought the main rivers in Vermont would get higher than they got. I knew there would be little if any river flooding, but I thought that the National Weather Service and the USGS were under-forecasting peak crests a little.

But nope! They got it exactly right. 

The usually problematic Otter Creek in Center Rutland peaked at about 1.7 feet below flood stage. The Mad River at Moretown, another traditional trouble maker, stopped at more than three feet below minor flood level.

Those rivers and all the rest of them in Vermont, rose noticeably but stopped far, far from flooding anything. So good news there. 

The rain shut off for the most part by midnight. But there's a little more on the way from this. Not much, though. Those of us who do get more rain between now and Monday morning will see less than a tenth of an inch, 

You've no doubt noticed it's been cold today for June 1, Temperatures have been running in the 50s all afternoon, with a spot 60 or two in southern Vermont, where they have been glimpses of sun. This is nearly 20 degrees cooler than average for this time of year. 

The clouds, and the lingering few showers out there this afternoon sets us up for a potential big disappointment tonight. 

NORTHERN LIGHTS

Naked eye view, with no photographic enhancement
of northern lights over St. Albans, Vermont on
May 10, 2024.  Another spectacular northern 
lights display is forecast for tonight, but 
unfortunately, Vermont is also 
forecast to be under a thick blanket of clouds.

The sun erupted with large outburst, known as a coronal mass ejection the other day.  It was bigger than usual and more or less aimed at Earth. 

Which heightens the chances of seeing northern lights far more south than usual, and covering more of the sky than you'd expect. 

 Some observers think this one would be the best since at least May 10, 2024, when most of the United States had quite a show. Here in Vermont, skies unexpectedly cleared that evening, so we got to enjoy it, too.  

NOAA's Space Weather Division says the event will have its greatest impact on Earth today and tonight, meaning you should be outdoors looking at the sky after dark. 

Except if you live in Vermont (and a few other places in northern New England and southern Quebec). It turns out Saturday's nor'easter will take one last slap at us tonight. 

That storm is way up in Quebec now, but it will a swing one last disturbance through Vermont tonight. The disturbance will bring a lot of clouds and light showers overnight, especially to northern and central  parts of Vermont.  

The overcast would block any view we have of what's going on in the sky. The forecast timing of the thickest clouds is atrocious. As of this afternoon, forecasters expect the cloudiest skies with fewest breaks between 8 pm. this evening and 5 a.m. Monday. 

After that, once daylight hits, skies should rapidly clear in much of Vermont. It figures. 

The valleys of southern Vermont, especially the Connecticut River Valley below White River Junction, do have a shot at partly clear skies overnight. 

NOAA says the effects of this thing might linger into Monday night. So Vermonters have another shot at seeing the northern lights, but they might not be as good as tonight would have been.  Skies over Vermont Monday night and before dawn Tuesday are expected to be mostly clear. 

On the other hand, we already have reports of some spectacular shows in the northern Plains and Rockies before dawn today. So the show might well be over by Monday night. 

These things can new pretty unpredictable, so you never know. 

Vermont Gloom And Cold: One More Awful Day, Then Gradual Improvement

Near the summit of Killington, Vermont on May 23, 2025

Everybody's talking about how gloomy and cold it's been in Vermont lately. 

For good reason. 

It's been snowing on mountain summits for two days. Just like it did on a cold day last week. I don't remember the last time it's been overcast so often in May. Even many of the days it didn't rain much were cloudy. 

And it's been cold.  Social media is full of people remarking the they had to turn on the heat, fire up the wood stove and dig out the winter clothes they just put away for the season. Today' is the fifth out of the past six days the heat's been on in my St. Albans home.

Henry the weather dog insists on curling up right up against me in bed at night to ward off the chill.

Montpelier on Friday had a record low high temperature of 47 degrees. Four of the last five days have had highs in the 40s.  Today probably won't make it to 50 degrees there, either. This at a time of year the temperature should be near 70 degrees.

So far in Montpelier this month they've had 6.16 inches of rain. And counting. Woodstock, Vermont has been deluged with about 7.5 inches of rain so far this month. In Burlington this month, only five days have  been rain-free.

When will it all end?  Not today!! 

TODAY AND BEYOND

If you liked the weather Friday you'll love today. It's more of the same.  A dark, dank overcast. Frequent bouts of light, annoying, cold rain. The only difference from Friday is the wind will pick up a little, making it seem even chillier.  

On the bright side, the atmosphere will warm up a little later today so it will finally stop snowing on the Green Mountain summits. I wouldn't suggest a hike today, though up those frigid, muddy mountains, 

But there's hope. The weather pattern that has kept stalled storms near us is slowly beginning to break down. 

On Sunday, the pesky storm that's been stalled near Maine will have moved a little further east. At least the weather will improve some.  Clouds will thin and the sun will come out at least every once in awhile. There's still a chance of showers, but they will be few and far between.  Temperature will get up near 60 degrees. That's still cool for this time of year. But at least it's better.

Memorial Day features even more improvement.  We should see a fair amount of sun.  Yes, there's still an outside chance of a shower, but they'll be few and far between, light and brief. More importantly, temperatures will rise to near 70 degrees.  That will be the first seasonably warm day since May 17.

Even better, for now, it looks like it will get into the 70s pretty much every day next week. There's not much of a chance for showers until later Thursday and Friday.  And the storm toward the end of week does not look all that impressive.

The weather pattern does favor another upper low getting stuck near New England in the final days of May and the opening few days of June.  But that might or might not happen. If it does, it won't be as cold, rainy or intense as the stuck storms we've had lately.   

Will The Clouds Over Vermont Last Forever? No, But......

The perennial gardens in St. Albans, Vermont have
really taken off in this week's mild, damp weather.

 As expected, this week has been awfully rainy in southern Vermont and pretty damn cloudy up north.

The clouds will continue for a few day. And a new fly in the ointment is threatening to continue the dreariness into the weekend.

More on that in a bit.   

Showers finally did work their way into northern Vermont early this morning, though they are not amounting to a huge amount of rain.

Meanwhile, parts of southern Vermont have had one or two inches of rain the past couple of days, so things are soggy down that way. 

That opens the door for a low but not zero risk of localized flooding this afternoon south of Route 4. 

After the morning showers depart, scattered afternoon showers and thunderstorms could develop here and there across the area.  If any particularly heavy ones slowly rumble over sodden southern Vermont, there could be some local flash flood issues.

It does look like if any downpours do get going this afternoon, they're most likely in southern Vermont. 

That's a common problem in the summer, so I guess it's the first time this season we have to bring the risk of flash flooding up.

That said, I don't see a great risk of this happening today. But it's a sign of the season, and a signal that flash flooding is the most common, dangerous weather hazard Vermont usually faces. 

WEDNESDAY

We actually get sort of a break tomorrow. The sun should cut through the clouds occasionally. Scattered showers and thunderstorms should roam around again, but they'll be hit and miss.  The day won't be a washout. It'll be mild, too, with highs near 70.  It's remarkable how a week of mild, damp weather has really greened up Vermont.

It's peak foliage season as far as I'm concerned. My favorite time of year is now, when there are new leaves on the trees, in all sorts of various shades of new pale green.  The woods are punctuated with the white blooms of shadbush here and there. In a few lucky areas, the forest floor is carpeted with blooming trillium. 

Just lovely, no matter what the weather. 

Anyway, enough waxing poetic about spring. I can't help myself. I do this every year.

LATE WEEK

Thursday and Friday look chilly for the season as north winds take over.   Highs both days will only get into the low 50s for math of us. Cold spots might stay in the 40s under generally cloudy skies.  I told you it would be awhile before we see a lot of sun. 

At least we won't get a lot of rain during this period, just light showers. 

SATURDAY THREAT

Early this week, it appeared that this coming Saturday would break the long streak of rainy weekends.  Now, we're not so sure. 

Yet another cut off low, to replace the one that's been harassing us this week, will form somewhere in the Northeast. That would provide us with another rainy Saturday.

Maybe.

There is some hope that this will form far enough east so that maybe western parts of Vermont at least escape the rain. The computer models are still arguing over whether Vermont hits the bullseye with rain, or we end up just off the outer edge of this thing.  

So far, most forecast trends have been favoring the outer edge scenario, but given our Saturday track record of late, I'm not promising anything. 

There's also hope that this thing would be out of here by Sunday, providing a bright, sunny Mother's Day to grace the Green Mountains.

Another maybe to look forward to: There's a chance that next week could give us the warmest weather we've had all year so far.  

Here comes summer. Perhaps.  

Tale Of Two Vermonts: Very Soggy South, Just Damp North

Don't worry, not another snowfall prediction map. This
one shows expected rainfall today through Wednesday
morning. Less than a quarter inch up by
 St. Albans, but nearly three inches down
by Brattleboro, so that's quite a range. 

Saturday marked the state of a long, damp, cloudy stretch in the Green Mountain State. 

But things will be very different north to south. Starting today and through most of the week,  you're going to see a very soggy southern Vermont, while people up north will just dodge occasional raindrops.

Northern areas will probably trend a little warmer than southern Vermont, too, as less rain means more (mostly failed) attempts for the sun to break through the clouds in the coming days.

Unfortunately, it's going to be awhile before any of us in Vermont see wall to wall spring sunshine. 

SATURDAY REVIEW

Northern Vermont has started this episode a little wet, anyway. Saturday and overnight, rain fell statewide from the Canadian border all they way to Massachusetts and beyond.  

On Saturday, we were watching for the risk of severe storms in far southern Vermont, and that part of the state had the first severe thunderstorm watch of the season.

The storms ended up just barely clipping the southeast corner of the state down by Vernon and Brattleboro. No damage was reported there, but it came really close. 

Jaffrey, New Hampshire, not all that far from Brattleboro had quarter-sized hail. Thunderstorm winds gusted to 65 mph in central Massachusetts.

THE FORECAST

Going forward, the chances for severe thunderstorms are low, though there might be some storms here and there later in the week. 

The main story will be the rain, mainly south.

It's going to be tricky today through Tuesday and maybe Wednesday to determine how far north the rain gets and how heavy it will come down and where. But, again, the further south you are, the wetter you'll be.

Today

It'll be a big battle between that sluggish upper level low in the Ohio Valley flinging Atlantic moisture up north toward us, and dry high pressure in Canada trying to bleed in a little dry air from the north. 

The moisture will mostly win out.  

The morning light rain in northern Vermont this morning seems like it might taper off, with areas near the Canadian border maybe staying dry this afternoon.

The further south you go, the more likely you are to be wet. The southern part of Vermont will likely have a drab, washout Sunday.

Still, forecasters this morning were still not absolutely sure how far north the rain will stay this afternoon. So bring the rain gear no matter where you are in Vermont today, just in case.

If the rain holds off far north this afternoon, it will get into the 60s there. Under the rain, chilly damp 50s should do it south of Route 2.  

Monday

The dry air wins out a little, so even in southern Vermont the rain should at least be lighter. Far northern Vermont might actually squeeze out a decent day, with a low chance of rain perhaps some breaks in the clouds and temperatures getting well into the 60s

Tuesday and Beyond

As always, things look a little more questionable later in the week. The heaviest rain should stay in southern Vermont, but there are decent chances of rain north, too. Like I said, it's be a damp week. 

Toward the end of the week and next weekend, it's unclear whether more sluggish weather systems will keep us cloudy, or whether we're finally able to clear out.  It'll probably  get cooler at the end of the week.  If overnight skies clear out Thursday and Friday there could be some frost, so we'll keep an eye on that.   

Final Word On Vermont Snow, Now For A Quiet Christmas Aside From Bit Of Unpleasant Evening Freezing Drizzle

Map from National Weather Service in South Burlington
depicts how much snow fell in last nights small storm
Click on the map to make it bigger and easier to see,

 The snow ended earlier today as expected, leaving us with a dull Christmas Eve forecast and a little fog. 

Don't worry about the fog, at least in terms of what Santa's doing. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer managed to find his way through fog and mist way worse than this .

However, a bit of freezing drizzle is coming out of that fog across parts of northern and central Vermont this evening, so that could create some unexpected slick spots on the roads this evening,

There's a few flurries mixed in, too.

Do be careful out there! 

The National Weather Service in South Burlington has given us its full list of snowfall reports.  Aside from under-performing in Chittenden County, the forecast proved pretty accurate.

The big winner with this storm was Potsdam, in northwestern New York, with a foot of snow. Nearby Hannawa had 10 inches. 

In Vermont, the snow sweepstakes winner was a tie between Lincoln and Newport Center, with eight inches. Charlotte came in the losing end, with just an inch of fresh powder. The National Weather Service office in South Burlington only managed 1.5 inches of new snow.

For comparison's sake, this is the forecast from 
a few hours before the snow actually started.
Pretty close to reality, actually

One aspect of the forecast for Christmas Day through Friday is whether we'll see any sun. Strong high pressure nearby favors sun. But that strong temperature inversion we've been talking about might trap in a layer of low clouds. 

I'm still thinking that many areas might see a low overcast through the week, but that's not guaranteed. If it does clear out at night, temperatures Christmas night and the next night could get near zero.

Mountaintops still look like they'll poke up above any low overcast. Due to the inversion, mountain tops might well be warmer than the valleys during the next few days. 

We're still watching for the risk of some air pollution trapped beneath the inversion, too. We'll update you if there's any air quality alerts.

Eventually, that stalled, strong high pressure will move off to the east, opening us for storminess toward Sunday. It's still early to say what will happen with that, but odds at the moment favor rain to dampen the enthusiasm of winter sports fans. 

But it's still just the beginning of winter. Even if some rain sets back our snow fun, there's plenty of opportunity for the white fluff to come back in January, February and March. And, ugh. Maybe April 

Why Didn't The World Cool Down As Expected In 2024?

Earth was supposed a tiny bit cooler in 2024 than in
2023 but that ain't happening. Scientists are pondering
an apparent recent acceleration in the pace of
global warming. 

 Roughly at this time last year, I told you that 2023 would be the world's warmest year on record, due in large part to climate change, but 2024 would probably be slightly cooler.  

So much for that idea.

The final figures aren't in yet, but 2024 will certainly beat out last year as the world's warmest.

The Washington Post took a deep dive into what happened, and some scientists are worried we might have entered new, worse phase of climate change. But opinions are sharply divided on this idea.

 This year was supposed to be a tiny bit cooler than 2023 overall because an El Nino atmospheric and oceanic pattern ended. 

El Nino tends to boost global temperatures, so that El Nino teamed up with climate change to make 2023 especially torrid. 

One major factor is the oceans, which pretty much didn't cool off at all in 2024. That helped impart added warmth on land,

Scientists don't know whether this warmer ocean system is just a fluke that will correct itself in a few month or whether it's a still-poorly understood phenomenon that would make climate change even worse that thought.

Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at Berkeley Earth, told WaPo that it's possible ocean temperatures could still crater in the next few months, and this whole year of hot oceans is just some weird natural variability. But, he added, "I think signs are certainly pointing toward fairly persistent warmth."

More often than not, the globe heating El Nino is followed by the world-cooling La Nina, an oceanic and atmospheric patter roughly the opposite of El Nino. But the expected La Nina phase, which should have been in full force by now, has sputtered.

Again, we don't know whether that's because of natural cycle or whether climate change is messing things up. 

Per WaPo:

"Whatever the mix of factors or how long they last, scientists say they lack of a clear explanation lowers their confidence that climate change will follow the established pattern that models have predicted.

'We can't real out eventually much bigger changes,' Hausfather said. 'The more we research climate change, the more we learn that uncertainty isn't our friend.'"

There's one major additional factor explaining the unexpected heat of 2023 and 2024 that scientists are paying close attention to: Clouds, Or rather the lack thereof .

New scientific research reveals that Earth has gotten less cloudy than it once was. Especially in the last couple of years. Fewer clouds, more solar radiation, more heat for you and me.

Once again, this question arises: Is the lack of cloud cover just a weird blip that will go away? Or is climate change evaporating some of Earth's clouds. If it's the latter, then climate change will continue to accelerate faster than most scientists expect. 

Or there's a third possibility, as NBC News reports. New pollution control in recent years means far less sulfur emissions from ships. Scientists has previous said that these new pollution controls did reduce particles in the atmosphere, which had a very minor warming effect the atmosphere. 

Now, says NBC and numerous other news outlets,  the lack of sulfur particles in the atmosphere is reducing the amount of low cloud cover over the oceans. That cloud cover help prevent the oceans from warming too fast. With some of those clouds gone, perhaps the ocean is now able to heat up faster. 

Which in turn could produce warmer, and sometimes wetter air currents making landfall on continents and extending well inland. 

In any event, the expected cooling after El Nino ended hasn't materialized. If that trend continues, the next El Nino could really make the hot global years of 2023 and 2024 seem downright chilly.

 

A Shot At Another Vermont Northern Lights Display Tonight - If It Clears Up

Another shot at northern lights over Vermont tonight?
They could well appear - if the clouds clear up. 

 It looks like Vermont - and much of the rest of the northern hemisphere - has another excellent shot of seeing the northern lights again tonight.  

The sun is very active and yet another geomagnetic storm erupted from the sun, which can cause the aurora. 

I know I indicated in a post last Saturday that these would happen that night, and nothing materialized. 

But Sunday night, Vermont was treated to a brief, big display before a cold front with showers and thunderstorms cut the view short.

But some people in northern New York were able to capture photos of the aurora with lightning flashing in the clouds to the west. Very impressive. 

Last weekend's timing with the northern lights shows that they're not always that predictable.

The big thing potentially blocking the view tonight is clouds. It's been an overcast day across most of the Green Mountain State, and the clouds will be slow to clear tonight. 

The best shot at clearing skies are in the valleys of southwest and southeast Vermont. Also, the later it gets tonight and early tomorrow, the better chances of it clearing up. 

Of course, this is a double-edged sword. If it clears up earlier than expected tonight, we have a greater opportunity for us to see the show. But the earlier it clears up, the greater the chances of it getting cold enough by dawn for a frost that would hurt your late season garden.

Frost advisories are up tonight and early tomorrow for Rutland, Windham and Bennington counties because clouds should break up earlier tonight in those parts of the state. 

Whether or not it's cloudy, the most likely time for the northern lights overnight would be sometime between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.  

Vermont Week Ahead: Some Changes To Forecast, But Humidity, Local Downpours To Dominate

Here we go again. Smoke and haze obscure the view
of the Champlain Valley from St. Albans Hill on
Saturday. You can barely make out 
Lake Champlain in the distance. 

 It's been gorgeous, but kind of smoky here in Vermont the past day or two, and that state of affairs should continue today. 

But a weird twist in the weather pattern has changed the forecast for early in the week. More on that in a bit. 

The smoke from western wildfires is now covering much of North America - they're that bad. 

We will have to put up with smoke off and on for weeks, probably.  The fires aren't so much in Quebec like last year, so they're not as close to Vermont as they were in 2023.

Which means we will likely escape the thick smoke that choked us a few times last year.

Air quality, though isn't perfect. The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation rated the air quality yesterday and this morning as "moderate." Which means the air is not clean and fresh, but is falling short of being really dangerous. 

Plus the deep blue skies we all like have been replaced by sort of greyish slate blue. At least the sunrises and sunsets mixed with the smoke are pretty. 

"STORM" CHANGES FORECAST

Now, here's the odd twist to the forecast.

For days, we've been touting Monday as the hottest day in an upcoming stretch of very warm weather. It was supposed to be almost a slam dunk for at least a few Vermont towns getting up to 90 degrees. 

Instead a weird little storm has gotten going pretty far off the Mid-Atlantic coast.  As it moves north, it's expected to take a hard left turn and go pretty much westward into southeastern New England tonight. 

It is an odd little bugger, not only because of its non-traditional path.  It's definitely not a tropical storm, as it's carrying a coolish pool of air aloft with it. But has a few sort of subtropical characteristics thrown in because it's feeding off warm Gulf Stream waters that are even warmer than normal. 

Overall, it's sort of a way out of season nor'easter. 

Luckily, it's not strong, so it won't really cause much trouble. The New England sea coast will have to deal with showers and scattered downpours, some gusty winds and rip currents, which of course are dangerous to beachgoers. 

As it moves into interior New England Monday,  it will throw clouds across Vermont, and maybe some light showers south and east.  

The storm will essentially act as a cold front of sorts coming in from the southeast.  Cold fronts almost always come at us from the west and north, so this is another odd aspect to Monday's weather. 

The clouds and slightly cooler maritime air will keep southeastern Vermont in the low 80s at best Monday. Further away from this thing in northwestern Vermont, it just puts a lot of questions into the forecast for high temperatures. 

If the storm over-performs with clouds, we stay in the low 80s up by Burlington and that neck of the woods. If the clouds are thinner, we could see upper 80s. Ninety degree weather looks much less likely than it did, though. 

One nice thing about this weird storm is that it will temporarily bring in some of that ocean air, which lacks the wildfire smoke that's been coming at us for a couple days. 

BEYOND THAT

On Tuesday, the remnants of our weird little storm will head north through Vermont and out into Quebec, spreading some hit and miss showers and possible thunderstorms along the way. Nothing too scary, though. Tuesday will start a long stretch of muggy summer weather. 

Another disturbance - a much more traditional, rather weak, normal type of summer system - comes in Wednesday with a batch of showers and storms. Wednesday at this point looks like it'll be the day with the most activity. 

There could even be one or two strong to severe storms, but most of us will escape that. With the humidity building, some torrential rainfall is possible in spots, but again nothing widespread and not a huge flood risk. 

Beyond that, very warm, oppressively humid weather Thursday through Saturday starts off August. There's the ever-present chance of afternoon and evening hit and miss showers and storms during the period.