Thursday Evening Vermont Frost Update: Protect Your Plants Almost Everywhere In Vermont

Visible satellite photo has clear skies in northern and
central Vermont and high clouds south late this
afternoon. Many of those high clouds are expected 
to clear, so frost and freezes are likely in most\
of Vermont tonight and early Friday.

It's a gorgeous late afternoon, especially north, where the landscape features clear blue skies and the greening hills and mountains around us. 

Southern Vermont has quite a few high clouds. They might save the day, or I should say night, and prevent frost down there. But chances are better than even, allowing a frost risk all the way down to the Massachusetts border.

Frost, if not a freeze, is a given tonight and early Friday in northern Vermont away from Lake Champlain .

The Northeast Kingdom is still under a freeze warning, as it was this morning. But that freeze warning has been extended to all of northern Vermont east of the Green Mountains. Temperatures are forecast to be a little colder there than forecasters thought during this morning. The forecast low in Montpelier tonight is 29 or 30 degrees.Their record low tomorrow morning, by the way, is 29 degrees. 

The rest of Vermont outside the Champlain Valley is under a frost advisory for temperatures in the low to mid 30s overnight. 

Despite a lack of any advisories or warnings in the central and northern Champlain Valley, I still wonder if there might be some patches of frost. I think that might happen in spots, especially near and east of Route 7. Just to be safe, I'd cover up or bring sensitive plants in, unless you're right near Lake Champlain.  If you don't get a frost, it'll be no big deal to remove the covers tomorrow morning. 

As of 4 p.m. the dew point was between 27 and 30 across most of Vermont. The dew point is the temperature we have to cool down to get water droplets and dew.

The dew point is a good, but imperfect predictor of frosts and freezes.  If skies remain clear and wind stays calm tonight, that dew point means it can easily get to near freezing tonight across most of Vermont. 

So yup, dig out the sheets, cover all those brand new frost-prone plants you have and hope for the best. If you have a strong back, haul those big tropical potted plants back indoors if you're in the potential freeze zone. You know the drill

Frost, Freezes In Vermont Tonight. Protect Those Gardens

Tree foliage frozen to death during a destructive 
freeze in May, 2023.  Freeze warnings and frost
advisories are in effect in and around Vermont
tonight. It won't be as bad as 2023, but 
sensitive plants and gardens will 
need protection tonight. 

After a cool, cloudy afternoon in Vermont we're in for a frosty night with freezes, so it's time to cover sensitive plants and protect crops.    

The clouds and light showers north will tend to evaporate as the sun goes down this evening. Temperatures this afternoon were only in the 50s, so readings won't have far to go to get close to the freezing mark. 

Eventually, skies will become clear, which would make it even colder.  

So: A freeze warning is up for all of Vermont except the Northeast Kingdom, the Champlain Valley and the lower Connecticut River Valley south of Springfield. 

In those areas covered by the freeze warning, expect temperatures to fall to between 29 and 32 degrees by dawn. The freeze could damage crops and gardens. 

We'll have to watch apple and strawberry growers and wineries. This won't be as bad a freeze as the one in May, 2023, which cost farmers and other growers roughly $10 million in crop losses.  

The freeze tonight will not feature temperatures as low as on May 18, 2023. Also, that year featured a really premature spring, much more than this year. So plants and blooms were further along than they are this year, which left them more prone to damage. The hard 2023 freeze also covered the entire state, causing damage all across Vermont. 

Still, this one could be expensive, if farmers aren't able to take measures to protect crops, or if it unexpectedly gets colder than forecast. 

The Northeast Kingdom is not under any advisories or warnings because the growing season has not really started yet in that colder corner of Vermont. 

A frost advisory is in effect for all of the rest of Vermont I haven't mentioned yet. Except Grand Isle County. The islands in Lake Champlain should stay safely above freezing due to the comparatively warm lake water that will temper the chill in the air just a little. 

There might be some frost away from Lake Champlain tomorrow night, too. But increasing cloudiness and a warming air mass means it won't be as cold tomorrow night as tonight will be. 

Frigid April Vermont Morning Came As Predicted; Mostly Dry, Cool-ish Weather Is Up Next

A daffodil tries to recover in the morning sun today after
early morning lows here in St. Albans reached 24 degrees. 

 The worst of our April cold wave will be ending this morning as sunshine boosts temperatures out of the midwinter doldrums. It won't exactly get warm again right away, but at least it will be reasonable.  

After all, Monday was anything but toasty.  The remaining patches of snow in my yard didn't entirely disappear until mid-afternoon. 

Early in the day, Burlington picked up another 0.6 inches of snow.  The average date for the last trace of snow for the season in Burlington is April 15. 

But it could we worse. It could always be worse. Burlington has had as much as three inches of snow on May 9, in 1966 and a trace on May 31, 1945

The National Weather Service had another interesting statistic out of this sudden, brief return to cold. Burlington's records go into the 1880s. There have only been 17 occasions in which a particular day had both temperatures in the 60s and measurable snow.  Two of those days happened in the past couple of months.

On Sunday it was 61 degrees just after midnight early in the morning. By mid-afternoon, 0.2 inches of snow had fallen. A similar situation happened back on March 17.  We started the day before dawn at 65 degrees, but 0.2 inches of snow fell

The most extreme example of warmth on a "snowy" day was on February 25, 2017. A little before 3 p.m. that day, it reached 72 degrees, shattering the record for the warmest February day on record. A cold front arrived later that afternoon, and before midnight, 0.2 inches of snow fell. 

Just one more example of how weather changes quickly here in Vermont

THIS MORNING'S LOWS

Many of us will be picking through the wreckage of our early season gardens. But depending on the plant, we might not know for days what was damaged and what was not. In the case of  plants that are just budding, like lilacs, we might not know for a few weeks if the blooms are OK.

The most intense cold early this morning was brief, so I think there's a good chance that many blooming daffodils and other early flowers survived. I imagine many if not most of the lilac buds did, too. Time will tell. 

Generally the threshold for the start of damage to tough early season blooms is about 25 degrees. Burlington had a low temperature of 25 degrees this morning.

Here in St. Albans, it was 24 degrees just after dawn. Montpelier got to 18 degrees, breaking the record low for the date by one degree.   Lyndonville got down to 18 degrees. Morrisville was 19 degrees. Newport and Bennington was 20 degrees.   The majority of weather stations in Vermont were in the low 20s as of 6 a.m. 

Perennial cold spot Saranac Lake, New York got to at least 12 above.

At least this now-ending chill will be the coldest weather we'll see until October or November 

FORECAST

The next several days will be a little cool and almost entirely dry. Today will only make it into the upper 40s for the most part which is still pretty chilly for late April

A very weak disturbance tonight might produce some sprinkles. And maybe some snowflakes in the higher elevations. We just can't let go of winter, can we?

After that, the weather becomes rather boring for us.  Boring is a good thing. That means no tornadoes, no snowstorms, no extreme killing freezes. At least here in Vermont. I can't say the same for other parts of the state.

We will see almost no precipitation for the next week or so.  A block up weather pattern means storms trying to come at us from the west will either fall apart or get pushed well south of us. It still looks like the next chance of rain won't come along until April 29 or so. Even then, early indications are that April 29 rain won't exactly be impressive. 

The rest of this week will be on the cool side. High temperatures this time of year should be in the mid 50s cooler locations and close to 60 elsewhere.  Wednesday through Friday, highs will be in the upper 40s in the chilliest areas of the north to low to mid 50 for most of us. So, not that bad.

It looks like temperatures will warm ever so slightly to near normal levels this weekend. At least for a couple days. The overall weather pattern heading into early May is for slightly cooler than average weather. But this time of year, "slightly cool" is still spring weather.  The season will advance, and we'll forget about our little struggle with this morning's wintry chill. 

Vermont Monday Morning; Winter In April Continues

A burst of snow shortly after 7 a.m. this morning in
the Burlington area. This is a Vermont Transportation
Agency camera on Williston Road. Note the snow
sticking to the pavement on the bridge but
not on solid ground. I'm sure frozen bridges
surprised many motorists this morning. 

I awoke to another fresh dusting of snow in St. Albans, Vermont yesterday after it snowed most of the day Sunday. There was a dark overcast and it was still snowing a little.  

The National Weather Service issued a special weather statement for early this morning, warning of subfreezing temperatures and snow showers creating slick spots on the roads. A traffic camera shortly after 7 a.m. showed a moderate snow shower in Burlington with ice and snow sticking to the pavement of a bridge on Williston Road.

This morning looks and feels like the typical start of the day in late November, as we gird for a long winter. We obviously don't have a long winter coming, thank gawd, but unfortunately, winter weather is going to seriously subvert spring over the next 24 hours. 

After a cold day today, it'll be frigid tonight, as we've been forecasting for day.s 

It's not just us. Freeze warnings extend from Iowa through the southern Great Lakes and in pretty much all the Mid-Atlantic states. There's going to be a lot of garden damage with this cold wave.

Despite the expected deep chill tonight, there are no freeze warnings in Vermont. The growing season hasn't technically started yet, so the National Weather Service does not do such warnings this time of year. 

Let's get into the details 

TODAY

The snow showers should move out later this morning and some sun should break out, especially in the broader valleys. But frigid air is rocketing in to counteract the  strong April sun, it's going to be a typical mid-March day. That means highs generally in the upper 30s. A little warmer than that in southern valleys. A  little colder than that in northern higher elevations. 

Some places in the Northeast Kingdom and Adirondacks won't even get above freezing today. Pretty impressive for the third week in April. Impressive, but not in a good way. The ever-present gusty northwest winds will add to the chill 

Today's March wind and chilly temperatures set the stage for winter like morning lows tomorrow morning. 

TONIGHT

It still looks like skies will clear and winds will go nearly calm. Those are perfect conditions for super cold morning lows. 

As we've been harping on, garden plants and such have sprouted prematurely due to the recent warm weather, so that's why we're in trouble with the potential for frozen, ruined early season flowers and buds by morning.

There's the slightest bit of encouraging news. Maybe. Some  but not all of the  forecasts I saw this morning are a couple degrees warmer than yesterday's forecast. Those predicted lows are still well within the damage zone for garden plants. But every degree warmer than forecast lessens the damage. 

Also, a minority of forecasts indicate a few clouds might intrude overnight. We want to hope the minority wins, as clouds would help keep temperatures up. 

The current National Weather Service forecast has a low tonight in Burlington at 25 degrees, Rutland at 24, Brattleboro near 23, Montpelier at 21 and St. Johnshury at 19 degrees.

The plant damage will be worse in southern Vermont because they had much warmer weather for a longer period of time last week than in northern parts of the state. So things are really far along down there, and primed to get nipped by the freeze.

The traditional cold hollows are looking ridiculous tonight. Some towns in the Northeast Kingdom could end up in the low teens. Saranac Lake, New York is expected a Tuesday morning low of 11 degrees. 

I guess I'm focusing too much on tonight's cold weather on this because I'm an avid gardener. To most of the Vermont world, this cold spell will be forgotten very soon. Especially since the weather will turn to something very close to normal by the middle and end of the week

REST OF THE WEEK

And after the volatile weather of the past several days, the weather starting tomorrow will be well, boring. Which will honestly be a nice change of pace. . 

Tuesday will still be rather cold for this time of year, with highs in the 40s. They should be in the 50s to around 60 

The weather pattern setting up includes a stalled upper level low in the Canadian Maritimes and high pressure near Hudson Bay.  This is normally a recipe for much colder, unsettled, almost wintry conditions for this time of year. 

But the Canadian storm and the cold high pressure in Canada will be so far away from us that temperatures will be near or just a couple degrees cooler than average for late April.  The weather set up will mean storms coming from the west will get broken apart before they get here or get shunted to our south. 

That means if we get any rainfall over the next week it will be quite light, but timing out those light showers at this point is hard to do. 

Long range forecasts are notoriously dicey .But for now, the next chance of substantial rain doesn't come along until around April 29. And yes, if that April 29 storm materializes, it will be rain, not snow.

Quiet weather is expected for the end of the work week
along with slightly cooler than normal temperatures and periods of
cloud cover as a closed upper level low gyres over the Canadian
Maritimes. As an upper level ridge over the Great Lakes breaks down
and the maritime low shifts east, chances for precipitation increase
heading into next weekend, but with low predictability given the
evolving pattern and model spread. Highs for the end of the week
will be in the 50s, reaching into the 60s on the weekend, with lows
30s rising into the 40s.

Winter In April Vermont Sunday Evening Update: Snow Mostly Done, But The Cold Will Intensify

A patch of miniature daffodils endures Sunday's snow
in St. Albans, Vermont. Unfortunately, intense cold
tomorrow night will probably kill them off 

 It was a wintry day here in Vermont as we start the third week of April. It snowed much of the day across most of the state. 

The snow came during the middle of the day after a warm spell. The ground was warm and some sunlight was trying to get through the clouds. 

Those two factors prevented a lot of accumulation. Had this been a month or two ago, we would have had several inches of snow in the valleys .

The fact that snow accumulated at all testifies to the intensity of it for awhile today. 

In the valleys, the roads stayed mostly wet, maybe with a few slush patches during heavier bursts of snow. Higher elevation roads got slick and slushy, which is incredibly uncharacteristic for an April afternoon 

Route 15 near Rowell Road in Walden had to be closed due to slide-offs. Interstate 91 in Sheffield Heights in the Northeast Kingdom also had some crashes. 

The cold, elevated surface of my truck accumulated 1.6 inches here in St. Albans. Of course, there was less snow on the ground, but it did accumulate on grassy surfaces and trees. Burlington reported just 0.2 inches of snow. .

The snow pretty much ended here shortly around 3 p.m.m but as of 5 p.m. there is surprisingly sone snow still in the ground. It's not melting all that fast. 

The last and of heavier snow was in central Vermont late this afternoon and heading east. 

A few breaks in the clouds were appearing over western Vermont, so that might melt the rest of rte snow before sunset.  New snow showers have developed in New York, so we'll probably see some of that in Vermont this evening. Some of the snow showers could be very briefly heavy early this evening, but they won't lead to any new accumulation. 

TONIGHT, TOMORROW, TOMORROW NIGHT

A reinforcing cold front late tonight and early tomorrow morning could reinvigorate the snow showers briefly, but again they won't amount to much. 

But early morning commuters will start the day amid subfreezing temperatures. Left over water might freeze, and any snow showers might briefly stick to the pavement better than it did today.  Monday continues to continue blustery and cold. 

Unfortunately, we've gotten no good news for Monday night cold temperatures in the afternoon forecast updates  The forecast lows for Tuesday morning still look to be in the 15 to 25 degree range. Lots or spring garden freeze destruction looms.

I'll have more updates on this cold weather tomorrow morning, of course!  

Yes, It Will Snow In Vermont Later Today. How Much Is Still A Question

Yup! Another NWS snow prediction map. Valleys
should get very littl e snow this afternoon, but 
the mountains and Northeast Kingdom could get
a few inches of new snow.

UPDATE:  Rain was already starting to change to snow in St. Albans, Vernont as of 9:50 a.m. The earlier changeover might mean more snow than forecast. I'm not sure on that, stay tuned!!

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

If you got up early this Sunday morning, you enjoyed the last vestiges of the warm weather we just experienced. The high temperature today in Burlington looks like it was 61 degrees not long after midnight. 

It was still 57 degrees at 5 a.m. just before the cold front arrived. By 8 a.m. it was 48 degrees and rain was falling. 

Before we go on with the very bad weather news, let's reminisce briefly about Saturday. 

Southeast winds flowing down the slopes of the western Green Mountains often warm up a lot as they do so. Yesterday was no exception, allowing Burlington to get up to 76 degrees with the rest of the Champlain Valley experiencing similar temperatures. 

The rest of Vermont was in the 60s. The warmth and sunshine made for a gorgeous spring Saturday. 

Now for the depressing part. The snow, and the intense cold might do a number on some garden plants, depending exactly how cold it gets.  Here are the details

TODAY: 

The cold front is slowing down as it moves through Vermont and New Hampshire. That's allowing moisture to flow northward behind the front, ensuring a fair amount of precipitation all day. Notice I didn't just say rain.

Sure, a lot of this will be rain. But as temperatures fall into the 30s by afternoon, the rain will mix with and change to snow in many areas.   We're still struggling with how much snow we'll get.

Officially the National Weather Service forecast calls for a trace to an inch in most valleys, ranging up to four to seven inches on mountain summits. 

Most of us have removed our snow tires, so just a note that traveling could get tricky during the heaviest snow, especially in higher elevations. The ground is warm, so most of the snow will stick to grassy surfaces and  not roads. But the snow could be heavy enough in spots to make the roads slushy.

I'm also going to throw out a very slight chance of an unpleasant surprise. The kind of April surprise I'll describe has happened in the past, so it's possible.  Again, not likely, but it's a slight chance worst case scenario

The National Weather Service has a 10 percent chance that the snow could get really aggressive. Under this scenario, Burlington gets three inches of snow. St. Albans four inches, Montpelier 5 and Island Pond 9. 

The weather front now passing through is set up in a similar fashion to the big April snowstorms of 1983 and 2000. But there seems to be less cold air available than in those two occasions, which makes a big dump of snow today much less likely. 

Any snow might go back to a light rain for a time in the valleys as precipitation tapers off later today. 

TONIGHT

The only thing coming out of the sky tonight will be scattered light snow showers. The mountains could pick up another inch but everybody else will see no more than a dusting.  Especially for those of you with summer tires, some of the water out there on pavement could freeze, making for some icy patches. Yes, I know that's obnoxious for the third week in April.

Even worse, a reinforcing shot of cold air might rejuvenate the snow showers a bit toward morning.

MONDAY

Enjoy your spring blooms while you can. There's a good
chance that lows from 15-25 degrees Monday night
could destroy them. 

Monday will bring a throwback to mid-March. Stiff northwest winds will hold temperatures all day in the 30s to near 40. A few of the warmer valleys south could make it to the mid-40s.

Scattered  morning snow showers in northern and central valleys will tend to fade by midday but could continue in the afternoon across the Green Mountains. In other words, it will be a typical mid-March day. 

It'll be a good day to cut any flowers you have blooming and bring them inside to enjoy because.....

MONDAY NIGHT

Skies will clear and winds will go calm.  "High" temperatures are going to be so low on Monday it won't be much of a journey to get below freezing. And it will get far below freezing by dawn Tuesday. 

As of this morning, the National Weather Service is going for a low early Tuesday morning of 23 degrees in Burlington, 20 in Montpelier, 21 in Rutland and 17 in St. Johnsbury. Parts of the Northeast Kingdom and Adirondacks of New York could each 14 or 15 degrees. 

These aren't quite record lows, but are quite frigid for the third week in April.

As I've mentioned before, climate change has created earlier springs. Also more volatile ones. So, spring trees, plants and flowers bloom prematurely, only to get zapped by a freeze. 

Decades ago, a freeze of this magnitude during the third week of April would have been no big deal because plants would not have progressed far enough along to be damaged.   It's not every year in the recent past we've had damaging late freezes, but it's been frequent. I'm thinking late April, 2021 and especially May, 2023 as examples. We're going to add April, 2026 to this list 

Early spring blooms are tough and there will be survivors this time. But we won't know for weeks whether lilacs and other plants that are still budding but not quite blooming received damage or not. I know that daffodil blooms get wrecked at temperatures under 25 degrees. And depending on how far along lilac buds are, they have a good chance of turning brown and ugly too.

So this whole thing is just a depressing mess. The only hope is if we unexpectedly get increasing clouds or wind Monday night to hold temperatures a little higher.

BEYOND THE COLD WAVE

As we likely survey the wreckage of our gardens later this week, the weather, almost cruelly, will turn very, very normal.  Tuesday will still be quite cool, but the rest of the week will be pretty average, with highs i the 50s to around 60 and lows in the 30s to around 40.  It looks like there will be very little rain during this period. And more importantly, no snow!

Completely Backwards: Vermont Lilacs Blooming In October!

Lilacs bloom on the tree outside my house in 
St. Albans, Vermont this week. Stress from a
wet spring, a blight and drought have caused
this out of season display. 

You might have seen the following in your travels lately and said, what the hell?!?!?

Lilacs are blooming in Vermont. In October. 

Lilacs are of course a highly welcomed sight in May. What's not to love about them? When they bloom, they signal that you're in the heart of spring.

 They smell absolutely divine. And they're gorgeous. And traditional. I don't think I've ever seen an old farm house in Vermont without a lilac bush that's almost as old as the house. 

These lilac bushes usually cede beauty to the sugar maples in the autumn. While our hillsides glow orange and red and yellow, lilac bushes normally just drop their green leaves late in the autumn, and you're done until spring. Ho-hum.

This year, our lilac bushes were stressed by topsy turvy weather much more so than usual. Yes, we can blame climate change for another round of weather extremes in 2025.  

This year, we had an unusually wet, sopping spring. That encouraged a leaf blight to take hold in lilac leaves. That's a huge part of the reason why you saw so many lilac bushes with curled up, browning leaves that fell off prematurely. The blight - as you can imagine - stressed the lilac bushes. 

Then, the rain shut off in July, and we sank into our big flash drought. That stressed the lilac trees even more. 

"Stressful conditions put the plant in a dormant-like state and when the cooler temperatures and shorter days of fall arrive, some of the flower buds are triggered to bloom," Iowa State University Extension explains. 

We also finally got some rain in late September, which also might have helped trigger the odd new blooms.  

The good news is the blight, the drought and the weird October blooming won't kill or really harm your lilac bushes. These are really, really tough plants. Ever try to kill a lilac? It's almost impossible. Besides, why would anyone want to kill a lilac?

Next May, your suffering lilac will bloom beautifully, and on schedule. It might have fewer blooms than usual, because the tree put on some of its blooming effort this month. 

The strange doings with lilacs are a sign that weather extremes brought on by climate change are having an effect on everything.  In the springs of 2021 and 2023, for the first time in my life, I noticed freeze damage to lilac blooms.

In both those years, oddly warm early spring weather got trees leafing out and blooming way too early. Then snow and frost and deep freezes hit, turning some of those gorgeous lavender lilac blooms a disappointing brown. Or they didn't bloom at all in some cases.

Hopefully, normal amounts of precipitation will return soon. The drought here in Vermont and the rest of northern New England is still in full force. The latest weekly U.S. Drought reports comes out later this morning. I'll put up a post about that update here in this blog thingy later today. 

Maybe we'll get lucky and the weather during the spring and summer of 2026 will be pretty moderate to give all our garden plants a break. 

But give the climate change that everyone is experiencing, I'm sure something bizarro will happen next growing season, too.  

Stick A Fork In It, Garden Season Ends Tonight For Almost Everybody In Vermont

Agapanthus, an orange tree and other tropical plants on
my St. Albans, Vermont deck need to come in today
amid a freeze warning tonight. Other plants, like the 
half dead thing in the blue pot, will just be
abandoned to the frost, as the gardening 
season ends tonight amid subfreezing temperatures. 

 Well, this day had to come eventually. 

Your gardening days in Vermont are pretty much over. Until next spring. 

The biggest freeze of the season is on our doorstep, and from now on the only gardening the vast majority of us will be doing for the rest of the season is fall cleanup and storage.

 I've got some heavy lifting to do today as the orange tree, the hibiscus and several agapanthus plants in heavy pots that are on my deck all need to come indoors today. 

Who knew an autumn freeze would turn into a nice gym workout?

Anyway, it should get below freezing everywhere in Vermont except places right next to Lake Champlain. 

A freeze warning is in effect for the entire state, except the Northeast Kingdom, where the growing season ended with freezes earlier this autumn. And Grand Isle County, which is surrounded by the warm waters of Lake Champlain.

Even in Grand Isle County,  the National Weather Service is thinking about issuing a frost advisory for tonight, as temperatures might get close enough to the freezing mark to worry about frost. 

Most, but not all of us escaped a frost or freeze last night because clouds and wind kept up most of the night.  But you can tell the cold air is flooding in by looking at the mountains. 

As of 6 a.m., the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire was just 16 degrees, with a northwest wind gusting to 66 mph.  They're living up to their "world's worst weather" reputation.

The summit of Vermont's Mount Mansfield was down to 25 degrees at 6 a.m. Clouds might have left some rime ice at the summit. Skies cleared at dawn so you should take a peak at the Green Mountain summits. The tops might be white with ice.

Today will be bright and cool for your garden Emergency Frost Harvest. Sunshine won't help warm things up too much as actual temperatures struggle into the low 50s and a gusty northwest wind will add to the chill.

Tonight is a perfect setup for cold temperatures. The air will be dry, the wind will die down to calm, and the sky will stay clear. Which means you'll almost definitely be scraping ice off your windshield tomorrow morning. 

After our stretch of record October warmth, Montpelier could actually get to or at least close to a record low for the date tomorrow. Their record low for Friday is 24, and that's the expected low temperatures there. 

Any record lows won't be widespread, though. Most other towns and cities in and near Vermont should stay three to five degrees above record lows for tomorrow's date. 

Montpelier's forecast notwithstanding, this cold wave is not all that unusual for the first half of October. Though with climate change, it's been a few years since it's gotten this cold this early in the season. 

Another warmup is coming, starting Friday afternoon. But instead of record warmth, we're still looking at merely average temperatures. Heading through the weekend and into next week, that means lows within a few degrees of 40 and highs in the low 60s. 

Notice I didn't mention drought. There's too much to talk about there in this post, so look for an  update later this morning on that. Spoiler: The new U.S. Weekly Drought Report comes out this morning, and there has been some changes to the forecast for Sunday and Monday. 

UPDATE: Frost Advisory Upgraded To Freeze Warning In Much Of Vermont

A frost advisory that was in effect has been upgraded
to a freeze warning for much of Vermont away 
from the Champlain Valley. The valley continues
to be under a frost advisory. 

 The frost advisory that was in effect for the majority of Vermont has been upgraded to a freeze warning.

Expected lows early Thursday morning away from Lake Champlain will be a tad cooler than first thought, which means it'll get to or a bit below 32 degrees by dawn in much of the Green Mountain State.  

Such temperatures are not at all unusual for early October, but it's been so warm that a lot of people still have outdoor plants they want to protect.

So, it's back to digging out those old sheets to cover everything you want to save this evening. And hope for the best.

The big garden coverup should happen in the Champlain Valley as well. 

A frost advisory is still in effect there, which means temperatures should get perilously close to 32 degrees there. Remember, even if it's 34 or 35 degrees five feet off the ground where you'll read your thermometer, you can still get frost at your feet, where you lingering tomato and cucumber and flower plants are. 

There's still two places in Vermont without a freeze or frost alert. One of them is the Northeast Kingdom. The growing season is considered over up there. So there's no point in issuing a freeze warning there. 

Still, if you live up that way and were trying to hang on to outdoor plants, try covering them up. Better yet, bring 'em indoors if you can because most tender plants don't survive temperatures in the upper 20s.

The other spot escaping the frost advisory is Grand Isle County. It's surrounded by Lake Champlain, so the still warm waters of the lake should radiate a bit onto the county, keeping temperatures a bit above the level that you can get frost. 

It wasn't actually that cold this afternoon, so you'd think we'd escape an overnight frost. Temperatures were in the upper 50s to near 60 in most places. But that breeze we've had will diminish to calm. Skies will be clear all night. Daytime humidity was low. All those ingredients set us up for those temperatures to plummet overnight. 

Another thing to watch out for is locally dense fog early in the morning. Lord knows there's not much moisture in the ground to contribute to any fog. But the low rivers, ponds and lakes should be enough to create fog in the river valleys early tomorrow. 

You'll want to get a bit of an early start if you have to leave before, near or just after dawn tomorrow. You'll need to scrape the ice off your windshield, and you'll have to drive slowly through those dense fog patches. 

Tomorrow will be another nice, sunny, day, a little warmer than today. There's still a risk of scattered frost tomorrow night, but it won't be as widespread as what we'll get tonight. 

A big warm up is coming this weekend and early next week, so if your gardens survive tonight, they'll have a little October life in them yet. 

Spring Is Over, Looking Back At How Beautiful The Season Is In Vermont

Sun shines on some colorful daffodils in St. Albans,
Vermont back on May 6.  Spring, now over, is
my favorite time of year. 

 Basically, it's summer now. 

Oh, sure, astronomical summer doesn't officially start until 4:50 p.m. June 20.  But meteorological summer is here, having started June 1. And the weather has quite often surely felt like summer lately. The landscape looks like full summer, too. 

Spring, though, is my favorite time of year, with summer a close second. I just low how the drabness of winter disappears into the bold colors of spring.

Every day during the spring looks different and more colorful than the day before.   

I try to spend as much time outdoors that time of year, despite the clouds of black flies. 

Here's a look back at the spring, through my eyes (and the lens of an old iPhone).

For each of the videos, click on the hyperlink, or, if you see the image below that link, click on that.  

Here's the first one:

Early spring can be wet and cold and windy, but it's still beautiful. Eventually, the sun does come out. Not sure if the rain or sun is more beautiful in this one.  Click on this link.

I'm a daffodil nut.  The following video checks out some of the many, many  daffodils around my yard.   Again, click on this link or image below if you see it. 

As I've said in past posts, the height of spring is peak foliage season. Here's a video to prove it, by clicking on this link, or seeing below. 

Finally, spring brings us lilacs. You can almost smell their aroma in this video, clicking on this link or viewing below. 

 

Vermont Spring Gardens Persevere Through Early Season Run Of Bad Luck

I gotta ask my fellow gardeners out there: Has this spring so far been especially challenging for you?

Challenging spring in my St. Albans, Vermont gardens
so far, but things are still getting more and more
beautiful as the season progresses.       

I know, I know, the growing season has just barely hinted at starting. We've got an incredibly long way to go. 

This is whiny but the past few weeks have been a little more onerous out there than usual. That April 4-5 snowstorm wrecked two trees on my property that I liked. It could have been worse as other, more important trees I thought might suffer managed to get through that. 

Unlike so many people here in St. Albans, my property suffered minimal wind damage in those horrible  twin wind storms back in January.  Phew, dodged a bullet right?

I shouldn't have been so smug. On April 12, gusty winds took down two large trees, which fell on and shattered into pieces on my largest perennial garden. Not a lot of actual damage, but a huge cleanup. Thank goodness my husband - always looking for a project - sawed up an immense amount of those branches for me. 

Then we just had that freeze. The garden was blooming to early. Thanks to another climate change early spring. Which meant the late April cold snap we just had, which wasn't the least bit odd on a historical basis, caused some tense moments. 

And some nonconsequential but disheartening damage. Some of the daffodils flopped over onto the ground, their stems frozen then thawed into a mush that couldn't support the blooms on top. The little magnolia tree won't bloom this year. The lilac in front of the house has tons of flower buds, but will they bloom now that they've been frozen twice? Stay tune. 

Has anyone noticed the mosquitoes? Or is it just at my place? They first went on the attack here during the Great American eclipse on April 8.  That is incredibly early to see mosquitoes. 

Now there's swarms of them. I've always dealt with lots of black flies this time of year. Mosquitoes are an occasional problem all spring and summer. But where did these swarms come from?  For the first time since I've had this house, way more than a decade, we can't open the sliding glass doors in the living room on warm afternoons. The mosquitoes swarm right in.

I wonder if the warm winter - it never did get below zero - allowed mosquitoes to survive the winter and thrive?

All this is by no means the end of gardening, at least around my house. The daffodils are beautiful, even if a few of them are leaning awkwardly. Everything's greening up nicely, and unless disaster really strikes, it still looks like I have a full spring, summer and early autumn of perennials to enjoy. Hopefully, the pollinators buzzing around out there like this spread, too.

Climate change and invasive species have certainly made gardening more challenging than it used to be in Vermont and pretty much everywhere else.  

What have you experienced in your garden?  Is the weather causing unexpected problems for you? Or have things actually gotten better? Inquiring minds want to know. 

More Vermont Fire Risk Before Wintry Blast, Hard Freeze, Then Spring

Lots of wannabe lilac blooms on my big lilac
shrub in front of my St. Albans, Vermont house. 
Crossing my fingers they will survive 
Wednesday night's expected hard freeze.

 You can certainly tell at dawn this morning where the first stirrings of a warming south wind had started and where it was still calm and cold.  

It was in the low 40s in the Champlain Valley where a steady south wind was already blowing, but in the mid-20s elsewhere in Vermont after a clear, calm night. 

Those south winds will increase areawide today, giving us a quick squirt of warm air before winter unfortunately returns for a brief visit. 

The air is still really dry and is expected to stay that way all day. Winds gusting to 30 mph continues the fire danger that started yesterday.  

Yes, it's muddy underfoot still, and there's vernal pools in the woods. But the dead grass and leaves from last autumn have dried out in the sun. That's what can catch fire. Those fires can spread fast in today's winds. 

So, for the second day in a row, the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation has us in a high fire danger for the day. 

WINTER

The kind of respite from this brief period of fire risk is not the kind we want. 

Rain will break out overnight, then change to snow - yes, snow - during the afternoon Wednesday. That's normally the warmest time of day this time of year, when temperatures should be approaching 60 degrees.

Not on Wednesday! Temperatures in the 40s will crash through the 30s in the afternoon.  Snow will accumulate even in many of the valleys. Not much, though. Perhaps a dusting to an inch.  But it's still harsh. 

That's not the real problem this time of year. It's the temperatures. 

These lilac buds died and failed to bloom after
this harsh winter storm and freeze in April, 2021
Not nearly as much snow as that episode is expected
with the upcoming freeze, but temperatures will
fall far into the 20s by Thursday morning.
Coldest hollows will be in the upper teens. 

They'll go below freezing in the late afternoon and evening and stay subfreezing into Thursday morning.

 Skies will quickly clear and winds will die down overnight. That means lows by Thursday morning ranging from around 18 in the cold spots to maybe 30 degrees right next to Lake Champlain.

That puts most of us in the 22 to 27 degree range. 

That's similar to the horribly damaging freeze of last May 18. Thankfully, plants and trees aren't nearly as far along now as they were last May. 

Trees haven't leafed out.  Fruit trees aren't flowering yet. So damage this time will be much less.  Those orchards are budding for sure, but fingers crossed I think most (but perhaps not all) of those buds should make it through this cold snap. 

Vineyards are probably relatively safe, too.

Because it is before the official growing season, there won't be any freeze warnings in Vermont with this. We should be glad this frigid episode isn't happening a couple weeks later than it is.

Still, this might be a disheartening spell for gardeners, like me. If your magnolia tree is blooming and those blooms survived this morning's freeze, enjoy them today. Those blooms will be brown wreckage by Thursday. 

It'll be interesting to see how hardier early plants do. My lilacs have tons of flower buds, more than in most years, so I was looking forward to a huge lilac season.  

I do worry this will be like 2021, when my lilac buds ended up failing to flower after dying in a harsh snowstorm and deep freeze. We shall see, but I'm not super optimistic. 

This is turning out to be yet another spring in which plants outside start to bud and blossom too early because of oddly warm weather. Then a harsh freeze threatens them. It's become a depressing spring pattern. With this frigid spell, it will be the fifth year in a row it's happened, with varying degrees of damage. Mostly relatively minor, except for last year. 

It's the new, changed climate.  It's generally warmer than it used to be, so spring advances earlier than it once did. But the new climate is also more extreme, so we get these brief blasts of winter air to cause potential damage. 

SPRING 

These spring cold blasts are always very brief, and this one will be no exception. Thursday will be cold for the season, with highs in the 40s, and another nasty frost/freeze is likely Thursday night. Though it won't be as cold as the night before.

By Friday afternoon, we'll be well into the 50s, Saturday will see highs passing 60 degrees and we could get into the low 70s by Sunday or Monday.  

I Jinxed It: Vermont Forecasts Shifts To Cold Snaps, Freezes, Maybe Even Snow

A lilac twig in the rain Thursday in St. Albans, Vermont.
Despite a shift in the forecast towards freezes next week
it's early enough so that most garden plants
should weather the cold just fine. 

 In Thursday morning's post, I remarked about how steady the weather has been in Vermont over the past couple of weeks and how it looks like it might stay that way for awhile. 

Boy, did I jinx things!  

It's beginning to look like we have will have two freezes, one of them perhaps pretty sharp, and maybe some snow as it's looking like we're in for more of a typical April roller coaster. Of course, judging how forecasts have shifted since yesterday chances are they'll shift again.

For now, here's how it looks like it will proceed.

Today will be fine with clouds, some sun and maybe a shower around.  It will be a bit mild for the season - upper 50s to near 60. That's fine. 

The weekend will be breezy, partly cloudy and chilly, but again that relatively normal trend I talked about will hold. Highs will be in the upper 40s to mid 50s depending on where you are, with lows in the low 30s. Again, nothing odd.

By Monday, though, temperatures look like they'll only make it into the 40s with brisk winds continuing. There will be a freeze at night, but nothing terrible for April - mid to upper 20s.

That's the start of the roller coaster. Tuesday looks mild, Wednesday looks showery. Then it looks like we get a cold blast Wednesday night into Friday. 

From this vantage point it looks like we are in for some snow showers even in the valleys during this period. Highs Thursday would struggle into the 40s, maybe staying in the upper 30s in colder spots.  Nights will feature pretty hard freezes, with lows in the 20s. 

It's early enough in the season so that not much will get damaged from the late week freeze. Magnolia blooms will probably wilt and turn a disappointing brown, but most everything else should make it through, unless we're surprised by a much more intense cold snap than forecast.

Apple orchards and vineyards are not far enough along yet to sustain damage from the expected chill.

Probably after next Friday, it will warm right back up again. 

Springtime After Christmas: More Rain In Vermont, Too

Since it was so springlike yesterday in Vermont, I dragged
out my tools and started a bit of early spring garden
cleanup.  It's been remarkably warm this month. 

Honestly, it really feels like early spring.

Yesterday, Boxing Day, had me outdoors on a really nice early April late December day. 

The air had the muddy, organic aroma of spring promise. For the first time in days, low clouds and fog broke up for a few hours to bring us some sunshine. 

The weather surely had many of us wanting go out and start your spring garden cleanup tasks, at least in the corners of the garden that weren't too soggy. Of course that's exactly what I did Tuesday.

It was both nice and disconcerting out there, me with no jacket, comfortable in a thick-ish black t-shirt, primping up at least some corners of the perennial beds. It was only 50 degrees or so, but with light winds and a little sun and getting some exercise, you didn't need to bundle up at all. 

 It was even more strange seeing tentative new fresh green daffodil shoots poking up.  That's the fourth warm December in a row that's happened. 

This ain't your grandfather's Christmas season, that's for sure. 

April, oops I mean December showers returned after dark last evening, and we're back to the fog, gloom, drizzle and light rain we've gotten used to this month. At least it's not pouring, like it has on some occasions in the past few weeks. 

The strange warmth will continue the rest of the week, but will begin to fade toward the end of the week. Temperatures will remain a little above normal through the New Year holiday, but not as warm as today and tomorrow. 

Daytime highs are not extreme.  The thick clouds today and tomorrow will hold us in the 40s, which is about 15 degrees on the warm side. Records for warmest daily lows for the date are in jeopardy today and tomorrow. Many of us won't go under 40 degrees until Thursday night. That's insanely warm. About average for early May. 

Rainfall will keep coming and going amid a complex mess of weather disturbances meandering around and near a sprawling upper level low pressure in the Midwest, heading toward the southeast as forecast.

No one system will really wind up to provide any huge dumps of rain.  So we'll deal with the risk of periods of light rain, especially this afternoon and during the day tomorrow.  There's no worries about flooding. 

By Friday, at least some of the higher elevations will see a return of some snow, though nothing heavy. We might eventually see dustings of snow in the valleys, too.  Gee, what a shock for New Years.

Long range forecasts suggest that January will be more wintry than December has been. Then again that's an awfully low bar. 

All this winter warmth is not to say frigid weather is impossible. We can still get bitingly cold months here in Vermont.  It's the luck of the draw. As recently as January, 2022, we had a much colder than average month with numerous days below zero.

But with climate change, those bitterly cold months will be less frequent.  The dice that decide whether it will be a cold or warm month are now definitely loaded in favor of the warm side. 

You're a lot less likely to be able to tell your grandchildren you trudged through four feet of snow on your walk to school, uphill both ways.  

Video: A Garden Gets A Drink Of Water Before Another Long Dry Spell

Water beads on plant leaves after the last rain we had
on May 24 in St. Albans, Vermont. Video in this
post shows a garden and trees enjoying 
some gusty rain showers. 

 A quick hit this morning, just a video showing a grateful garden in St. Albans, Vermont getting a little drink of water from the sky this past Wednesday. 

It's been dry lately and getting drier. We got about a third of an inch of rain Wednesday, which isn't much, but we'll take anything we can get. 

Since Wednesday, the air has been bone dry with wall to wall sunshine. This state of affairs is pretty much expected to continue through Thursday at least. 

We have a shot of a few showers at the end of the week, but whatever comes does not look at all impressive, at least according to the latest forecasts. 

The gardens are getting pretty dusty, and I'm spending a lot of time on irrigation lately.  I guess that will continue all week with warm to hot temperatures and continued very low humidity. 

Eventually, it will rain again. There are hints in the long range forecasts of possible cooler, somewhat wetter weather in the second week of June. We'll see about that. 

Meanwhile, we can watch the video as sort of a rain dance for our Vermont gardens and farms. The rain and wind kind of made look like the trees and gardens were dancing. 

At the end, the sun comes back out for a quick evening visit. 

Click on this link to watch the video if you don't see the image below. Otherwise, click on the image below to watch: 

Another Frost Risk In Vermont Tonight, As If We Need It

Water beads cling to a plant in St. Albans, Vermont 
Wednesday evening after a little rain. A frost risk
tonight and very dry weather will continue to
challenge Vermont gardeners and farmers. 

 Frost advisories are flying for all of Vermont except the Champlain Valley for tonight as another blast of late season Canadian air is now entrenched in the Northeast for another day. 

The National Weather Service in South Burlington is awaiting more data today to decide whether or not to expand the advisory into the Champlain Valley, so most of us are at risk. 

This is not what we need, given the apparent extensive damage from last week's frost. 

I'll have much more on that issue in a separate post later this morning. That upcoming post will explain why I suspect at least parts of Vermont will be declared a disaster area because of the freeze damage.

The cold tonight won't be as bad as last week's record setting chill. But with many fruit crops already damaged, this isn't great news. I don't think additional damage will be that severe, at least I hope, as most places should stay above about 30 degrees. 

But remember: It doesn't have to officially get down to 32 degrees for frost to damage sensitive plants. Temperatures are typically measured five feet or so off the ground. On clear, calm nights like we anticipate tonight, it can be much colder around our toes than it is around our head and chest. It could be 35 degrees where your arms are checking the thermometer and 32 degrees down where your tomato starts are freezing. 

The sun re-appears Wednesday evening in St. Albans, 
Vermont after a cold front dropped about a quarter
inch of rain, which isn't much. Next up: A frost
risk in Vermont tonight and more dry weather. 

For most of us, this will very likely be the last frost and freeze of the season, except in the normally coldest hollows. Which will probably have a frost tomorrow night, too. But the rest of us will be safe.

If you get through tonight's frost risk, everything will be fine in your garden or on your farm, except for more looming dry weather. 

The rain that came with yesterday's cold front wasn't all that impressive. Most of us got a quarter inch or less. It amounted to a small sip, but not the drenching we need. I even noticed last evening the soil was still dry under the thickest foliage in my garden. 

Things will continue to dry out rather ominously.  Absolutely no rain is in the forecast through next Tuesday, and probably beyond. 

We are also set to start a strong warming trend.  By Sunday, temperatures should top 80 degrees, and by Tuesday or Wednesday, we could see some upper 80s. 

The sun will stay out through this time (except at night, of course) and humidity will stay pretty low, which maximizes drying. It's going to be pretty dusty around here by the early and middle parts of next week. 

I still think we might be headed for a drought. We're not there yet, but we'd better have some nice soakers as we get into June. 

Vermont Frost/Freeze Update: The Forecast And How To Survive If You're A Gardener

Things won't get nearly as bad as this severely frozen
daffodil clump endured back in April, 2020, but
the upcoming freeze Wednesday night has the 
potential to damage some garden plants. 

Although it's mild and still dry across Vermont early this morning, that nasty cold front is poised a little north of the Canadian border.  

It's set to sweep through this afternoon. The forecast has been consistent. This will be a brief, but real interruption to spring. 

A band of showers will sweep southward to southeastward through northern Vermont very late this morning and this afternoon.  Northern areas could get a light 0.1 to 0.2 inches of rain. It's not much, but it's badly needed.  However, the showers will fall apart as they  head south, so by the time you get to Route 4 and south, very little will fall. 

That has implications for a frigid May Wednesday in Vermont.  The northern rains should tamp down the fire danger a little bit. Not so in the south.  With dry conditions and strong, gusty north winds, any forest that start could spread quickly.  Very dry air won't help.  Relative humidities will drop into the teens during the afternoon, which is quite arid for Vermont. 

By the way, note that I said strong, gusty north winds. The temperature will crash tonight, and be down into the mid-30s by dawn.  Winds could gust to 25 mph at the time, putting our wind chills into the low to mid 20s! 

I knew I shouldn't have put away my winter coat for the summer the other day.  Dress your kids accordingly getting ready for school.   You might even see a little coating of snow on the mountain tops tomorrow. 

The whole day will be blustery and cold. Many of us won't get out of the upper 40s, when upper 60s is the normal high for this time of year. 

Then the freeze hits. By dawn Thursday, everybody in Vermont should be at or below freezing, except those of you right near Lake Champlain and within some bigger urban centers, like Burlington or perhaps downtown Rutland. (That's even iffy.)

I still worry about crop losses, but I think most of the apple orchards in the  Champlain Valley at least should do sort of OK.  Apple blossoms tend to get killed when the temperature drops to 29 degrees. Lows in most of the Champlain Valley should be in the 30 to 33 degree range, at least according to current forecasts.  It'll even be a little warmer than that in the Lake Champlain Islands. 

Of course, any bloom that freezes will never give us an apple later this year. 

Strawberry blooms freeze at 30 degrees. If you have some blooming, you night try turning a sprinkler on over them Wednesday night. Even if the water ices over the strawberries, it just might protect them. 

Especially in the banana belt of western Vermont, lots of us gardeners have hostas that are sprouting along with peonies and irises that are almost ready to bloom.

I think most of them will be OK if the temperature stays at or above 30 degrees or so.  Much lower than that and you might lose out on peony and iris blooms this year, but the plants themselves will survive for another year. 

After the frost, carefully cut away any leaves or stems that died in the frost.  For hostas, cut away completely dead leaves. Leaves that are mostly green but a little iffy around the edges should be left alone so that the hostas can use photosynthesis to recover. 

If you put your tomatoes in the garden already, most of you are screwed. Try covering them and hope for the best. If you're hardening out your tomatoes and peppers and such out on the back deck, drag 'em back inside today and leave them there until it warms up on Thursday. 

Many annual flowers you bought at the nursery are also sensitive to frost damage.  I'm glad I procrastinated and don't have mine out yet.  But the hibiscus that lives out on our sunny warm deck from May to September is certainly coming indoors tonight! And staying there until late Thursday morning. 

Thursday morning's temperatures will be near record lows in some parts of the state. The National Weather Service is forecasting a low of 27 in Montpelier Thursday. The record low for the date is 28 degrees.

In Burlington, the record low Thursday is 29 and forecasters don't think it will get quite that nippy.  The coldest hollows of the Adirondacks and Northeast Kingdom could reach the upper teens! 

Freezes like the one that is coming have become less and less common in the age of climate change. But as we well know, they can still happen. 

And this is far from unprecedented. 

It could be worse. For instance, an even later freeze than this one on May 31, 1961 dropped temperatures down to as low as 25 degrees in Burlington and 19 degrees in West Burke. That year, Vermont's apple crop was pretty much wiped out. 

Hopefully it won't get that bad. 

We also might not be done with this yet. Another frost and freeze still seems like it's in the cards for early next week, but it probably won't be as intense as the one that's about to hit. 

Midweek Vermont Freeze/Frost To Threaten Crops, Gardens

Areas of frost in Vermont this morning, but a nastier, 
potentially damaging freeze and frost are
in the forecast for the middle of the week. 

 We had a bit of a practice run this morning for what will be a brief, but nasty May cold snap later this week.  

Quite a few places in and around Vermont had a frost with near freezing temperatures this morning. The chill wasn't enough to mess with gardens, unless you left really sensitive plants outdoors overnight. 

The Champlain Valley avoided any frost, from what I can tell. The coldest hollow, like Island Pond and Gallup Mills in the Northeast Kingdom, got down to at least 28 degrees. The perennial cold spot Saran Lake, New York reached at least 26.

If you thought this was nippy for May, wait until the middle of this week.  I'm getting more and more worried about an unseasonable blast from Canada that might damage crops and gardens around here.

The upcoming cold snap has the strength of something you'd see in March, not May. Temperatures early Thursday morning could be near record lows in some spots, 

Today will be nice.  It'll warm up quickly from this morning's lows and approach 70 degrees. The brilliant sunshine we had over the weekend will be dimmed some by more smoke from those fires in Alberta, Canada and some high clouds moving in this afternoon.

After a mild night tonight, the nasty cold front will crash the spring party starting tomorrow afternoon. As it comes in, it'll create quite a temperature contrast in Vermont for a time. Near the Canadian border, temperatures mid to late afternoon will be crashing downward through the 50s.  Southern Vermont will still be well up into the 70s.

There's not a lot of moisture with this cold front, so we only expect some fairly light showers. As the cold rushes in Tuesday night, lingering showers could turn to flurries in the mountains, 

But the frigid air is dry, so that atmosphere will limit accumulations on the mountaintops. 

Most of us won't have a freeze Tuesday night, but it will be close. Start protecting sensitive plants or bring them indoors Tuesday evening and leave them indoors until Thursday. 

Wednesday will be blustery and very cold for May.  The "warm" spots will top out in the low 50s, while many of us stay in the 40s.  For comparison, normal highs this time of year are in the 65 to 70 degree range. 

Another thing to watch out for during the day Wednesday is the risk of fires.  If the showers under-perform on Tuesday and skies stay generally clear Wednesday, very dry air would mix down from aloft. The super dry air and gusty winds would really spread any brush or forest fires quickly.   

Worth keeping an eye out.

The main problem is Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. If there's any clouds left, they'll clear out in the evening. The gusty north winds will diminish to calm as the night goes on.

This is a perfect set up for a late season freeze.  At this point, it looks like it will get down to freezing everywhere except right near Lake Champlain. 

Burlington until now was on track to have one of, or THE earliest last freeze of the spring. The last time it got to 32 degrees there was on April 10.

Now, it appears Burlington will have one of its latest freezes in recent years. For the record, the latest spring freeze there was on May 31, 1965.

Fruit crops like apples and strawberries are blooming much earlier than average because of what has until now been a warm spring. I do worry there could be some damage to those crops. 

Gardeners are going to be dismayed, too, as some early blooming perennials and such might get nipped. Depends on how cold it gets. 

This forecast will be fine-tuned as we get closer to the event.  It's still possible that the freeze threat is overblown, and it won't be as bad as we think now. On the other hand, it could still end up even worse than I'm outlining here. 

I'll post updates.

On Thursday, temperatures will rise rapidly and the frost and freeze will be over.  However, there are some iffy signs that another frost and freeze could strike about a week from now. 

The Ultimate Perfect Vermont Spring Saturday Leading Toward A Near Perfect Spring Week

Brilliant blue skies, new leaves on the trees. It was 
impossible to not absolutely love the spring 
weather in Vermont on Saturday. 

 In my 60-year life so far in Vermont I'm hard pressed to recall a spring day as perfect and quintessential as Saturday.   

All the boxes were checked.  The sky was a brilliant blue.  The temperature was perfect, rising into the low 70s. 

 A nice breeze came up, helping to keep the black flies at bay and making the hundreds of daffodils around my house dance in the sunshine. 

We are also in what I regard as peak foliage season.  Most people gawk in awe at our autumn foliage. Me included. 

But my favorite Vermont foliage season comes in May, when the forests are erupting with new green leaves. There are too many subtle shades of green in these newly blossoming leaves to count. The way the new leaves glisten in the sun is almost too much to bear.

Let's just say yesterday's weather put me in a really, really really good mood. 

Nothing in life is perfect, but yesterday, and the coming week will be almost as close as you can get. I did note some clouds blocking the sun in parts of southern Vermont and the Adirondacks yesterday, but it was still nice. 

A St. Albans, Vermont garden glistens in the warm sun
on Saturday, May 6. 

Starting today and going through the week, it won't necessarily be crystal clear out there all the time, but the weather will remain absolutely stunning. And peak foliage will continue, augmented by apple, crab apple and lilac blooms that are starting to burst forth. 

We'll see some clouds creep in this Sunday afternoon, but it will still be a spectacular day. Highs will be about as warm as they were yesterday, near 70. A breeze will develop again, so that will be nice. 

Tonight, a weather disturbance might drop a few light showers across southern Vermont but they won't amount to much. 

Then we'll get hit by a weak "back door" cold front.  It's called that because these come at us from the northeast, instead of the west or northwest like normal cold fronts. Back door cold fronts are most common in the spring. 

Late afternoon sun mixed with speckled shade in a
St. Albans, Vermont garden Saturday. 

I think it's because the North Atlantic is near its coldest point this time of year, so it can cool the atmosphere and send cold fronts our way. 

We'll see almost no rain with it, but you'll definitely notice a cool down. 

Nothing dramatic or scary, but we should barely make it to 60 degrees for highs tomorrow and Tuesday. 

Monday night and Tuesday night will get down into the 30s. So if  you prematurely put out sensitive plants, you might want to think about protecting them.

The sunshine and breezes will continue on Monday through at least Wednesday. 

The next shot at any rain comes Thursday and Friday, but even then, the weather at this point looks as if it will stay mostly beautiful. 

Gloomy Days Are Still Really Pretty In A Vermont Spring

Wet flowers and spring leaves in a rainy St. Albans,
Vermont garden on Sunday 

As forecast, Sunday was a washout in Vermont. 

A steady, soaking rain fell all day. We kind of needed it, as the middle of the month was so warm and dry. 

Of course, a rainy Sunday meant outdoor activities were pretty much not going to happen.  Or maybe they could, in a limited sense anyway. 

Unlike in, say, November or March, a rainy day when everything is sprouting for spring isn't all that gloomy. As you can see in a couple photos in this post and the video below, there are pops of color everywhere. 

I've intentionally planted a lot of perennials around my St. Albans, Vermont house that bloom early in spring. After a long winter, I need some green and some bright colors. This year is not disappointing. 

Emerging sugar maple leaves on a rainy Sunday in
St. Albans, Vermont. 

It's way ahead of schedule. Leaves are sprouting on most of the trees already.  You usually don't see that until we start getting into the second week in May. 

Sure, the poplars are early birds and spring to life at the end of April. But not the sugar maples and beeches. They're usually smart enough to wait until May. But not in this warm spring.

I got a good idea of how ahead we are this year when one of those "memories" posts came up on Facebook. 

 It showed my gardens on April 23, 2018.  My gardens are bigger now than they were then, but I still had a fair number of daffodils. 

But on this date in 2018, the shoots were barely out of the ground. There were no daffodil blossoms to be found. And the trees in the background of the photo were as leafless as they would be in January. 

As long as we don't get a hard freeze, I'm OK with this early spring.  Like I said, I need some life and nature around the house. 

Rainy day garden in St. Albans, Vermont. 

It does look like the pace of spring will slow down for awhile.  Remember, in one of yesterday's posts in this here blog thingy, I said that we're in for a long stretch of mostly cool, showery, weather. 

That remains true. Although we might get a bit of a break from the showers toward Friday and Saturday, there's no super warm air in the forecast for the foreseeable future. 

This cooler weather, and the more leisurely pace of spring, will let us savor the season all the more. 

Maybe the cooler weather will also postpone the black flies, which would be nice

I've got my video ready for you. Hope you like the rainy garden tour. 

Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.