See The Cold Front Flush Out The Haze/Smoke Briefly In Vermont

Satellite view from this morning. Click on it to make
it bigger and easier to see. That band of clouds
across central Vermont, and northern New York 
and New Hampshire is a weakening cold
front that is flushing out the hazy air you
see in southern Vermont in favor of cooler,
drier, clearer air from Quebec.

 The visible satellite photo this Sunday morning tells you all you need to know about the kind of day we'll have today. Spoil: Nice.  

The photo,  (click on it to make it bigger and easier to see)   you see in this post pretty clearly shows the weak cold front as a band of clouds over central Vermont.  

The photo was taken around 8 a.m. today.  It's kind of a fascinating satellite pic from the perspective of a weather geek like me. 

That front had a bit more oomph to it when it crossed from Quebec into Vermont. A few places north of Route 2 had up to a quarter inch of rain. Not much, but more than many forecasts. Other places got just a few raindrops.

The cold front is weakening as it moves southward, and so the showers are breaking up fast, and it probably won't rain at all in central and southern Vermont. The clouds along it should break up, too. 

 Notice the milky quality to the air just south of the front. You might have also noticed is was slightly hazy Saturday afternoon. That was a bit of wildfire smoke in the atmosphere from blazes in the western United States and Canada.

The smoke is more concentrated just ahead of the front and the clouds. That's because the cold front it acting a bit like a snow plow, pushing the smoke out like that plow driver clearing the road in front of your house after a January six-incher. 

Another spoiler: Snow is not in the forecast, but you knew that. 

Also take a look at the air north of the front in the satellite photo, above Route 2 and up in Canada. That's much fresher, drier almost smoke-free air that we'll enjoy today.  Bright blue skies will spread quickly south across Vermont this morning and afternoon. 

We'll also probably have the "coldest" afternoon since July 1, with highs staying in the 70s, except low 80s in warmer valleys south. These temperatures of course, are only slightly below normal for the season. 

It makes for a total Chamber of Commerce kind of weather day in the Green Mountain State. This is the kind air that really makes the Green Mountains look, well, green. 

After an absolutely delightful sleeping night tonight, the humid, warm, wet air we've been dealing with all summer will start to flood back in. In the photo, you see the slightly hazy, humid air with clusters of showers and storms further down the East Coast. 

That's the air that's coming back this coming week, as our friendly weak Sunday cold front comes back north at us as a less friendly muggy warm front around Tuesday. 

We'll eke out a nice, dry, sunny, warm day Monday before the humidity and showers return for the rest of the week.

Enjoy it while you can.

Vermont Rain Struggling Against Dry Air Today During An Oddly Extreme-Free Spell Of Weather

 If you looked at weather radar overnight and early this  morning, you'd think it was about to rain any minute. 

This batch of daffodils in my St. Albans, Vermont gardens
seem happy enough with weather that has lacked
extremes over the past week to 10 days. So far, at 
least, the weather forecast looks mellow
for the next several days. 

But the rain kept disappearing by the time it approached the Vermont border. Were we in some kind of force field?

Kinda. 

The force field was just very low humidity. 

Dry air stubbornly held on overnight in Vermont, making any inroads the rain tried to make fail. It's the type of super dry air I talked about in yesterday morning's post.  When rain tries to invade, it often evaporates into that arid atmosphere. 

The rain was finally slowly edging into the Green Mountain State as of 7:45 this morning, but it's going to take its time. 

For instance, radar had the rain just to the southwest of my perch in St; Albans, Vermont for a couple hours previous to 7:45 a.m. I could see the rain from my house in the Adirondacks, but it only seems to advance toward me at a crawl.  It took another 45 minutes to just travel roughly ten miles to the point it started sprinkling at my place. 

The rain is moistening the atmosphere, so it will be able to advance across pretty much all of Vermont. But that dry air means it will only grudgingly advance across the state.  By the time it reaches the Northeast Kingdom later today, the weak system causing the rain will have exhausted most of its moisture supply. 

Rainfall will be light, amounting to as much as a quarter inch across western Vermont to only a few hundredths of an inch in the Northeast Kingdom. 

COOL DAY

April can be very temperamental. An example is this
blinding snow squall on April 22, 2021, which was
the second of two very snowy days in an
otherwise warm April that year. 

The light rain will keep the air cool today, holding in the 40s.  In the Champlain Valley, where temperatures sneaked to a little above 50 degrees early this morning, the light rain will chill us back into the 40s.  

Mild weather has been persistent this month.  Starting April 7, each day in Burlington has reached 50 and above.  The forecast calls for temperatures to reach at least 50 degrees for each of the next 7 days. 

Most days have been pretty close to normal, but it's been odd not to have a few chillier days thrown in with highs in 40s or only 30s.

 The only other April I can think of that had no such nippy days after the first week or so of the month was last year. 

For the record, the lowest high temperature on record for this date was 35 degrees in 1926.

I'm sure we'll eventually have a couple more truly chilly days before summer. (Remember last year we had a hard freeze on the 18th, and May 17 of last year featured highs in the 40s with snow flurries).

April is usually a pretty temperamental month in Vermont. Summery warm spells are followed by snowstorms. Warm sun and bone chilling winds can come on the same day, or within the same hour. 

This April has been oddly steady as she goes, at least after we got over that big ugly snowstorm on the fourth and fifth of this month.  And the forecast calls for continued moderation. 

It's as if April has stopped boozing and sobered up for a change. But don't worry, I fully expect our Vermont spring to go on another big bender sooner or later.  

Very Dry Air Surprisingly Frequent April Visitor To Vermont; Brings Gorgeous Weather And Fire Danger

A perennial garden in St. Albans, Vermont, just starting to
show a little greenery, was frosty and messy this Saturday
morning. Very dry weather will allow a cleanup to 
start, and will encourage warmer afternoon temperatures,
allowing more springtime plants to grow

April has a wet reputation. 

After all, "April showers bring May flowers," goes the saying. 

It's true we have our share of wet days in April. Just check out northern Vermont on thundery Wednesday  if you want proof. 

However, factors often come together that bring Vermont many of its driest days of the year. At least in terms of relative humidity. 

If the relative humidity is below, say, 35 percent, it's dry. Below these levels, you get the hair sticking out, ouchie static electricity moments that come frequently in April. Humidity across most of Vermont was between 25 and 35 percent Friday afternoon.

We can expect very dry air today and tomorrow, especially in the afternoons.  It will be quite nice, so no complaints.  Highs will be in the chilly low to mid 40s today and much better lower  50s on Sunday.  It'll get even warmer on Monday.   

High pressure systems that come in this time of year, especially the ones like this one drifting in from southern Canada often have especially dry air aloft. 

The strong April sun hits the ground, causing warm updrafts that hit that dry air aloft, That helps mix that dry air down to the surface. 

That's a contrast from late autumn and early winter, when the sun's power is weak.  Moisture coming off the Great Lakes and the many ponds and lakes in Canada and the Northeast tends to pool under temperature inversions that the lame, low angle sun can't break.  That leads to a lot of dank, overcast days . 

Part of the reason the air in these fair weather systems is many of the lakes in Canada are still frozen, so you pretty much get no moisture coming off those. Also, there's no leaves on the trees anywhere nearby.  Leaves emit moisture into the air.  It's lacking this time of year. 

Dry air like this means there's often a big range between nighttime lows and daytime highs. Moisture holds the heat in the air at night. If there's very little and it's clear and calm, it'll get quite cold.  

During the day, it's easier for the sun to heat the air when it's dry. So readings will quickly zoom upward to comfortable levels. 

As nice as this weather is, it does increase the risk of brush and forest fires. Especially if it's windy. 

All that dead stuff from last year is drying out quickly in this weather, even though it just rained a couple days ago.   

Very dry high pressure areas from southern Canada often
bring beautiful clear skies to Vermont, like in this
shot early morning Saturday in St. Albans, Vermont.

Winds today and tomorrow will be much lighter than they were yesterday. I'd still suggest leaving your burn pile alone until we see somewhat wetter weather.  And please, don't ever flick your cigarette buts out your car window. But especially now, when it's dry and you can start a fire.

 A cold front Tuesday or Tuesday might bring us a little light rain but not much. It'll also keep temperatures a little lower than originally thought. 

 Instead of 70s, we might be in the upper 50s to low 60s those days, which is still fine. Some 70s might still turn up on Thursday and Friday. 

The next risky fire day we face might be Wednesday.  What little rain we might or might not get Tuesday night will quickly dry up as the humidity crashes to rock bottom levels again by Wednesday. Gusty west or northwest winds could spread any fires that do develop.

Otherwise, enjoy a rather fine April weather for the next several days at least  

Soggy Ground, But Still A Real Fire Risk In Vermont Today, That's April For You

Despite all the rain we've had lately, fire
danger in Vermont is high to very high today.
Last year's dead weeds and foliage, low 
humidity, strong sun and gusty winds
are conspiring to raise the risk of brush fires.

It seems all we've been talking about is how soggy it's been underfoot all month here in Vermont.

Yesterday, we received another installment of rain, punctuated by thunder in a few places. Amounts weren't huge, with most places receiving a half inch of rain or less. But we're only halfway through April and we've had nearly as much rain as we should have the entire month. 

With all that wetness out there, here's a strange twist: There's a fire danger out there today, of all things. This happens easily in April.

The sopping ground will stay muddy, of course, it can't dry out that fast. But all that dead stuff from last fall is out there, you know, the brown grass, the fallen leaves, the dead, tall weeds. Today's weather will quickly dry that all out, sooner rather than later. 

An area of very dry air is moving in, so the humidity will crash rapidly this morning. The relative humidity should be under 30 percent this afternoon, which is super low for this neck of the woods.  Strong April sunshine will also dry things out very quickly as temperatures climb to the low 60s.

Then there's the wind. It was already picking up at dawn today and it's going to get quite gusty. It'll be a dry, strong southwest wind.   If any of that dry stuff out there gets a spark, that wind will set things off and spread a fire fast. 

Bottom line: Today is not the day to burn your brush pile. Your local fire warden probably isn't issuing burn permits today anyway. The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation rates today's fire risk as high across Vermont.. They give an even worse "very high" fire danger risk today for the valleys of southwestern Vermont and the Connecticut River Valley. 

In northwestern New York, wind gusts could become strong enough to be damaging, with gusts to 60 mph in the St. Lawrence Valley.  Across Vermont, winds will gust to at least 35 mph this afternoon, with some gusts in the 40 to 45 mph range in northern Vermont. 

This fire danger thing won't last all that long.  We're back to the chilly, rainy weather tomorrow as another modest storm comes through. It'll probably drop another quarter inch or so of rain on us. In the mountains, it'll go over to snow again with light accumulations in most places that do get snow. 

That said, I noticed some of the computer models this morning dump a surprising amount of snow near summit level in the Green Mountains Saturday night. Like, six inches or more way up there. Most of us won't have to deal with that, though. 

Firefighters battle a brush/forest fire several years ago near
Bristol, Vermont. Just one dry, windy day can raise the
fire risk this time of year, before things green up. 

Sunday will be a lot like last Sunday, breezy, cloudy, cold with rain and snow showers around. 

More bad news:  I've really got my eyes out for this coming Tuesday. Right now, the forecast is for another bout of chilly, light rain. 

But, if a coastal storm gets its act together, it could form of pocket of even colder air over New England, along with heavier precipitation.  If that happens, we could be looking at a late season snowstorm for parts of the region including Vermont. 

I saw one computer model that gives Vermont a general three to six inches of snow Tuesday. But that was an outlier. Most of the other indications aren's so bullish for snow. For now, I'd say light rain and snow for Tuesday, depending upon elevation. It's still worth keeping tabs on this, though.  You never know.