August Was World's Hottest On Record As El Nino Grows; U.S. Had Hottest Summer

The world had its  hottest August on record. Only
tiny areas on the map are blue, which is a little on the 
cool side of normal. All the orange is warmer than
normal. Dark orange is a record hot month. 

New data released this week show that the world endured its August on record, beating out a tie between 2023 and 2024.  

The hot August was a big contributor to what turned out to be the world's hottest summer on record. Global oceans, taken as a whole, were also at record warmth. 

The United States also had its hottest August, and hottest summer on record. 

HOT WORLD

This all comes from NOAA's National Centers for Environment Information. Every month, NCEI is among a handful of meteorological agencies that take detailed temperatures of the world. Copernicus, the European climatological agency, also deemed August, 2026 the hottest on record. 

August, 2026 broke the record for hottest by 0.14 degrees F., according to NOAA's assessment. That doesn't sound like much, but it's a pretty wide margin if you add up all the thousands of weather stations that measure temperatures daily.

If you want a long, depressing trend, I've got one for you. This is the 48th consecutive year the world has seen an August warmer than the 20th century average, The top ten hottest Augusts have all happened since 2016.

The hot August comes from an amalgamation of data from throughout the world. Some were sort of hot, some were very hot, some were record hot, and a very, very few were a little on the chilly side. Taken together, we have confirmation of our record hot global August

Regions that experienced a record hot August included large swaths of Greenland, northern and central Africa, southern and western Europe, northwest Asia and much of the western United States. Reflecting the El Nino conditions, a huge area of the eastern and central tropical Pacific also had record warmth. 

Even in the warmest months, you can find pockets of relatively cool weather. Parts of the Arctic, eastern Russia and Antarctica had an August that was a tad cooler than the 20th century average. But not by much. 

The world had its warmest June-August period on record as well. That's meteorological summer in the northern hemisphere and meteorological winter in the southern hemisphere. The records for all of the above go back 177 years

 UNITED STATES

All of the continental United States had a warm month
North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Indiana were only
slightly warmer than normal. California, Nevada,
Colorado and New Mexico had the hottest August.

August was also the hottest on record in the United States, as was the summer as a whole. The average temperature across all of the Lower 48, if you aggregate all the established weather stations, was 75.6 degrees. Daytime maximums set an all time record to averaging 88.6 degrees across the continental U.S.   

The records go back 132 years

California, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado had their hottest August on record. Seventeen other states had one of their top 10 warmest Augusts.

Nobody in the United States had a cooler than average August North Dakota came closest, having its 58th warmest August on record. 

Here in Vermont, we had our 23rd hottest August, so I guess we escaped the worst of a torrid month. 

It was both stuffy warm nights and torrid afternoons that gave us the hot August. While there were plenty of daily record highs set across the U.S. in August, there wasn't the all-time highs you often see in super warm months. 

August also lacked any real cool spells anywhere in the Lower 48.

Another factor in creating such a hot month were those nights. This happened everywhere in the continental United States. But it was especially noticeable in the lower Great Lakes. That region was along a sort of borderline between especially hot weather to the south, with somewhat more moderate air to the north. 

The cloudy, humid weather in Indiana that cooled afternoons and made nights stuffy gave the state its 44th coolest average maximum temperatures on record. But it also gave Indiana the 28th warmest average minimum temperatures. Add it all up and it was Indiana's 49th hottest August out of the past 132 years.

Indiana was in the epicenter of bad weather in the United States. Indiana and neighborhood Ohio had their wettest August on record. A band extending west to east from Utah to New Jersey, with dry conditions north and south of that band.

Summer and Looking Ahead

Summer in the United States was also the hottest on record. June was warmer than normal. July was the hottest on record in the Lower 48. And, as noted above, August was hottest on record.  The previous record hot summers were a tie between 2021 and 1936

That Dust Bowl summer of 1936 is still regarded by many as the benchmark for hot summers, despite what happened in 2021 and now 2026.

The summer of 1936 certainly had its extreme hot spells, hotter than anything we saw in 2026.  

The summer of 1936 still holds the record for the hottest temperatures on record in eight states. However, it wasn't hot everywhere. The 1936 heat was focused on the Plains States. The Pacific Northwest and New England actually had a cool summer in 1936,.

During August, 2026, the heat wasn't as extreme, but it was far more widespread. There were 1.541 record highs set or tied at weather stations across the Lower 48 compared to kist 87 record low temperatures. That's about as big an imbalance as I've ever seen. 

The summer heat has become a trend this decade in the United States, as climate change worsens. Four of the five hottest summers in the United States have occurred in the past five years, according to NOAA data. 

AUTUMN

 When El Nino takes hold, autumn in the United States are often unusually warm. Especially with climate change holding court. 

The first 10 days of September have featured torrid, often record-breaking hot weather across the southern third of the United States. The rest of the United States have so far mostly lacked the usual cool spells that often spill across the border from Canada we usually see this time of year. 

NOAA predicted a warm September for most of the nation, except in the Pacific Northwest and possibly New England. Overall, autumn is predicted to be warm across most of the Lower 48, especially in the northern Rockies. 

Hurricane Melissa Now Tied For Strongest Atlantic Hurricane On Record

Satellite view of Hurricane Melissa just before it hit
Jamaica in October. A National Hurricane Center 
review, issued today, indicates Melissa tied for 
the strongest hurricane on record in
the Atlantic basin. 

When we were reporting on Hurricane Melissa trashing Jamaica  back in October, we described it as one of the strongest Atlantic Ocean hurricanes on record. 

Since then, the National Hurricane Center has taken a deep dive into the mechanics and existence of that powerful hurricane. On Thursday, they announced their analysis shows Hurricane Melissa is actually tied with a 1980 hurricane as the strongest on record for the Atlantic.

Hurricane Melissa killed 95 people, including 45 Jamaicans and 43 Haitians.  

When the hurricane was raging, its highest winds were estimated at 185 mph, putting it in the top six list of strongest Atlantic hurricanes.

But a National Hurricane Center post-storm analysis, released Thursday, shows the hurricane actually had top sustained winds of 190 mph not long before landfall. Winds did "diminish" to 185 mph when it came ashore in Jamaica, but I'm sure nobody there noticed the difference the the screaming roar of the beastly storm. 

The only hurricane known to be as strong as Melissa in the Atlantic was Hurricane Allen in 1980. That storm reached its top strength in the the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. Allen caused 220 deaths in Haiti due mostly to flooding.  The hurricane weakened rapidly as it made landfall near Brownsville, Texas. 

As it hit the coastline of Jamaica, Hurricane Melissa's sustained winds of 185 put it in a three way tie for strongest winds in a hurricane at landfall. The others were Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas in 2018 and a deadly hurricane in South Florida back in 1935.

Not surprisingly, the winds caused immense damage in the part of Jamaica hit by the strongest winds. According to the National Hurricane Center's report:

"Extreme winds destroyed virtually all wooden structures, stripped roofs from most building and even causes severe damage to concrete construction. Vegetation suffered extreme damage not only near the coast, but in mountainous areas across the entirety of western Jamaica as the eyewall passed over the island. Trees in that area were completely defoliated, and in several locations the force of the wind was sufficient to strip bark from trunks and scour paint from walls and buildings."

 Another measure of a hurricane's strength is how low the barometric pressure gets in the core of the storm. Melissa's air pressure in the eye got as low as 26.34 inches or 892 millibars. That ties with the 1935 hurricane as the lowest pressure in an Atlantic hurricane as it was making landfall. . 

The National Hurricane Center's final report also notes the incredible amount of lightning in Melissa's eyewall.  The eyes wall is the circle of intense winds and rain surrounding a hurricanes. The eye walls in most hurricanes usually have little or no lightning. Melissa had a ton of it, at one point showing 600 flashes per 30 minutes. 

Wind sensors in Jamaica were few and far between and most of those failed in Melissa's high winds. A school in Jamaica did record a gust to 131 mph. 

As is the case with most hurricanes, Melissa dumped incredible amounts of rain. Up to 35 inches fell in southern Haiti, 32 inches across the interior highlands of Jamaica and 27 inches in southwestern Dominican Republic. 

Melissa appears to be part of a disturbing trend in Atlanta Ocean hurricanes. The overall number of them doesn't seem to be increasing, but the number of Category 5 storms - the strongest of the bunch -seems to be increasing. 

In 2025, only five hurricanes formed in the Atlantic Ocean, but four of them were major, with sustained winds of at least 111 mph. Three of them were powerful Category 5 storms with sustained winds of at least 157 mph. 

Warm ocean water is jet fuel for hurricanes, and the water temperature where hurricanes usually develop has been getting hotter and hotter, thanks to climate change. If the conditions are right, these ultra-warm waters have an easier time developing extra strong hurricanes. 

One study found that climate change increased the strength of all 11 Atlantic hurricanes that formed in 2024.

It's really looking like a warming world will make hurricane season more terrifying that it has ever been before.  

Epic Blizzard Of '26 Winding Down After Setting Records, And Wowing People With Snow, Wind

New York City, like many other places in the Northeast
endured blizzard conditions today. A few areas set
all time snowfall records, while a few more
were closing in on their records. 

 The Great Blizzard of '26 is departing this evening, but it certainly will take awhile for many to get over it. It was a record-setter in some places. And a lot of places are buried under more than two feet of snow.
 

As of 3:45 p.m. today, a little over 6,000 flights had been canceled today, says FlightAware.com.  The mess doesn't necessarily end tomorrow. Even though the snow will be over, the hang over from today had already forced 2,000 cancelations Tuesday. Some more will probably be added. 

As of around 4 p.m. today, more than 570,000 homes and businesses were without power in the Northeast. That includes more than 287,000 in Massachusetts and just under 100,000 in New Jersey. 

Power crews in Massachusetts weren't able to get to outages this morning and early afternoon because of zero visibility, blocked roads and winds of up to 65 mph

New England

It was still snowing in eastern New England late this afternoon, but some pretty incredible totals have already been reported. And they're setting records. 

As of 1 p.m., Providence, Rhode Island has 32.8 inches of snow, shattering the city's record for biggest snowstorm in its history. The old record was 28.6 inches in the famous Blizzard of '78, February 6-7, 1978

Rhode Island's statewide record for biggest snowstorm also has an excellent shot at being broken. 

The National Weather Service office in Boston said it would update all the snow totals in southern New England at around 7 p.m. this evening. 

Warwick, Rhode Island, about eight miles south Providence, had 36 inches of new snow. The record for biggest snowstorm in Rhode Island was also in the Blizzard of 1978, when 38 inches of snow fell on Woonsocket. 

North Kingston, Rhode Island was close behind at 35 inches. In Massachusetts, 33 inches of snow fell on Dartmouth, 31 inches fell so far in Somerset and 30 inches hit West Hanson.

The National Weather Service office in Boston said it would update all the snow totals in southern New England at around 7 p.m. this evening. 

Coastal flooding was a problem today, too. As with all the strongest nor'easters in New England, weather influencers flocked to Scituate, Massachusetts to watch enormous waves crash into a seawall then surge onto the rooftops of a row of houses. 

New York/New Jersey

The New York City area wasn't hit as hard as Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts, but hard enough.  

As 1 p.m.  New York City's Central Park had collected 19.7 inches of snow, but more snow fell after that. If no more accumulates, it will be the city's ninth largest snowstorm on record. 

New York seems to have gotten a glut of big snowstorms in the past 30 years. Including today, eight of the Big Apple's 10 biggest snowstorms have occurred since 1996. That's an impressive statistic since Central Park records go back all the way to 1869.

Most places in the New York metro area, southern Connecticut and New Jersey received at least 15 inches of snow with several reports of more than two feet. 

Newark, New Jersey was coming close to its all time record for biggest snowstorm. They had 27.1 inches by 1 p.m. today. The record in Newark for biggest snowstorm was 27.8 inches in the blizzard of 1996.

As mentioned this morning, the strongest winds were on the eastern end of Long Island. Montauk Point registered a gust to 84 mph. 

Blizzard warnings in and near New York have been lifted, but winds will keep blowing snow around. As the storm wound down, temperatures in New York City got slightly above freezing, but it will get much colder tonight. That means the slush on city streets will freeze.

However, in a sign oa a return to normalcy, New York City Public schools will reopen tomorrow. 

New York City was still seeking emergency shovelers to get at bus stops, crosswalks, fire hydrants and other public places. Pay starts at $30 an hour and increases to $45 an hour after the first 40 hours worked. 

VERMONT EFFECTS

As expected, this monster storm was too far south to be a big deal in the Green Mountain State.

Bennington received only 3.6 inches of snow out of this. I have an unconfirmed report of 7 inches on a high elevation in far southwest Vermont.

 I don't have any other snow reports from anywhere else in Vermont, but I know that nobody in the Green Mountain State got anything notable.  Way up in the northwest corner of Vermont, I managed to see a brief, very light snow flurry today. So the official total here from the Blizzard of '26 is a whopping trace.

It's going to stay cold now through Tuesday night as the departing offshore enormous nor'easter pulls down cold air from far to our north. It'll get into the single digits for the most part tonight, only reach the upper teens and low 20s tomorrow and then probably get into the single digits tomorrow night. 

A weak system could give us maybe an inch of snow Wednesday, but that doesn't sound scary.

I'll have more details on Vermont's weather future in tomorrow morning's post. Spoiler: No historic storms are in Vermont's near future 

 

Lightning Strike Extended Over 500 Miles, There Might Be Even Bigger Ones. Also Lightning Contiinues To Kill

Schematic shows the extent of what is now regarded
as the biggest lighting flash on record, coming from
a complex of storms in the southern Plains
on October 22, 2017

We have a new world record for a strange, and rather old event. 

Back on October, 22 2017, a lighting bolt flashed over the southern Plains. That fact isn't the least bit unusual, considering how often thunderstorms happen there. 

This one, though, was recently certified as the longest lighting strike on record, It was a whopping 515 miles long, spanning from near Dallas to just east of Kansas City, Missouri.  

 It wasn't just a narrow line between the two points either. Branches of this bolt lit up the sky over much of southeast Oklahoma, northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri. 

The old record was for actually  more recent  477.2 mile long bolt across the southern Plains on April 29, 2020. 

As the Washington Post tells us:

Relatively new technology allows data from GOES 16, 17, 18 and 19 satellites hovering 22,236 miles about the ground to map the origins of each flash. These satellites can sense lightning discharges from above, even if they don't strike the ground. 

Although most of this mega-strike and all other almost-as-big strikes stay aloft, some parts of them strike the ground. The data from the satellites is then merged to ground based lighting strike data from something called the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network.  This particular record setter from October, 2017 produced 64 bolts (branches, really) that struck the ground. 

So yeah, these mega-strikes can be dangerous.

The technology to analyze these giant lightning strikes has only existed for about a decade. Given that short time frame, researchers are sure they will find even bigger bolts than the one from October 2017. 

FASCINATING LIGHTNING

Mega-flashes are fascinating, not only because they are so big. 

They also last much longer than you see in standard-issue lightning bolts you see in "normal" summertime storms. 

The record breaking mega-flash lasted seven seconds. Another mega-strike over Uruguay and northern Argentina on June 18, 2020 lasted 17.1 seconds. 

As CNN tells us, oddly, mega-bolts tend to form in the weaker, outer parts of storms systems, and not the intense core where we'd think lighting would originate.

Fewer than 1 percent of all lightning bolts can be considered mega-flashes. 

The World Meteorological Organization said this particular flash was not spotted in an original analysis of the storm, but scientist re-examined the storm and measured this 2017 mega-flash. 

The WMO in its announcement brought two other lightning records to our attention. They are both, unfortunately, horrific. As the Washington Post reports:

"The WMO also referenced two other lightning records - both for fatality counts from single strikes. In 1975, 21 people in Zimbabwe were killed by a bolt as they huddled inside a hut for safety. And in 1994, 469 people were killed in Dronka, Egypt when lightning struck a set of oil tanks, sparking a fire and causing burning oil to flood the town."

Meanwhile, in the United States, lightning continues to take a toll. So far, 13 Americans have died from lightning strikes, the same number as in all of last year.  

If there's a bright side, we're not on pace to be the worst lightning year in recent memory. Back in 2016, the nation saw 40 lightning deaths. 

 

Kind Of A Stormy Vermont Sunday, New Wet Weekend Record Set. Then: More Rain, Cool, Then More Heat?

Dark green and yellow areas of this map are under
some risk of severe storms today, with yellow areas
at a slightly higher chance of severe weather. 

As of 7 a.m, this morning, it has officially rained today at the National Weather Service office in South Burlington, Vermont.  

Not much rain, but enough to make this the 31st consecutive weekend with precipitation. That's a new record for consecutive wet and/or snowy weekends.

The bit of rain Burlington had early this morning is not the end of it.  More showers and storms are due today. In fact, there's still a chance of a severe thunderstorm or two today, primarily in southern Vermont. 

It's kind of a messy weather system with a sharp end to it. 

Usually, if you want severe storms, sunshine during the heat of the day helps destabilize the atmosphere, providing more lift for the strong updrafts that produce torrential downpours and strong thunderstorm wind gusts.

It'll be pretty cloudy today, so that ingredient is missing. However, the incoming cold front is more like one you'd see in the autumn than one in mid-summer. 

This autumnal style means there's a sharp temperature gradient involved. You usually don't see that in July. Winds aloft will be strong for this time of year.  South winds ahead of the cold front will collide with incoming north winds behind today's cold front. 

All that should fire up some pretty decent storms, or at least some downpours. Plus, there is some sun in southern Vermont, which will help prime the atmosphere, too. 

Scattered showers will continue this morning, then it appears a main band of showers and storms should enter northwestern Vermont around noon, give or take. 

The band of showers and storms should head northwest to southeast across Vermont during the early to mid afternoon, strengthening as it goes. 

According to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center, we could have isolated instances of strong winds along and south of Route 2, and slightly more cases of potentially damaging winds along and south of Route 4.  The rest of central and southern New England is in that same boat.

Most places will be fine. But a few of us Vermonters will be dealing with toppled trees and power lines. Almost all the trouble should be near or south of Rutland and White River Junction.

Much like on Tuesday, there's an extremely low but not zero chance of a brief, weak spin up tornado in southern Vermont and the rest of central New England.  That's not a big concern, since the chances are so low. But I'm throwing it out there to show that this cold front does mean business.

I also suppose a couple of the most intense and long lasting downpours could create a local issue with flash flooding in one or two spots today in Vermont. But if that happens, it will be really isolated, relatively minor and definitely not a statewide problem. 

Generally speaking Vermont should get a quarter to three quarters of an inch of rain out of this with isolated higher amounts. 

COLD THEN HOT

As mentioned, this is an unusual cold front for July. It's more like something that would come through in September. (One of the reasons some storms might be so strong is because this front is out of season. An autumn cold front would not be interacting with such humid air from the south to boost the instability).

Anyway, by late afternoon, northern and probably central Vermont will be in the clear, with sunshine breaking out. There might be an isolated sprinkle left over, but nothing to worry about. Cool north winds will might make you want to grab a sweater if you're doing an evening outdoor barbecue or something like that. 

Monday will be a typical September day with sun and clouds alternating and afternoon highs just making it into the mid 60s and low 70s. Monday night temperatures will drop into the 40s with some low 50s in warmer valleys. This won't anything close to record cold, but still, we're not used to it.

But summer is not over,  that's for sure. 

As I described Friday, the "heat dome" which controls big summer heat waves in the United States, is migrating a little more toward the central U.S. But we're still prone to squirts of hot weather coming in from the west. It now looks like we'll have a sharp boost of heat and humidity late week. 

Wednesday should get into the 80s but the humidity will be reasonable. On Thursday, we have another possible shot at 90 degree temperatures, with oppressive humidity 

Another cold front should arrive by Friday, but that one will be a typically weak, July style version, so it will stay quite warm even after the front goes by.  The changing weather pattern looks like it will still favor additional mostly weak cold fronts in late July and early August.

That means we'll continue with mostly warm summer weather, but on most days the really intense heat would stay to out south and west, with just an occasional oppressive or broiling day thrown in.  

Vermont Record Above Zero Streak Snaps; Snow Forecast Increases, And Air Pollution Later In Week?

Burlington, Vermont got below zero overnight, ending
a record 663 days of continuously above zero readings.

The record streak of continuously above zero temperatures in Burlington, Vermont finally ended Sunday night. 

Before midnight, it got below zero, ending a 663-day streak that started on February 26 2023.  The previous record longest streak was 654 days between February 22, 2000 and December 9, 2002.

It was obviously cold everywhere around the region.  The usual icebox, Saranac Lake, New York, got down to at least 22 below early today. Lake Eden, Vermont was at 17 below.  Morrisville and Montpelier shared a 10 below reading. 

High temperatures Sunday never got above the single numbers in many areas, setting the stage for the morning's subzero cold.

It was a worrisome night for homeless people in the area, and there are unfortunately many in Vermont. There was no room left at shelters and hotels around the state, according to advocates for the homeless, so they resorted to handing out sleeping bags and other winter gear and hoped for the best. 

A warming center was set up in one Burlington building last night, and volunteers drove around to make unhoused people aware.  I know some people look with distain on the homeless, as some of them are substance abusers and a few of them commit crimes. But as exasperating as shoplifting can get, those who do that sort of thing don't deserve the death penalty by freezing.

If you don't like such frigid weather, you're in luck. This will be the last time it gets below zero at least until we get past New Year's Day.  Highs today will get into the 20s, a decided improvement over Sunday afternoon But wintry weather is going to stay with us for awhile yet.

SNOW INCOMING

Another round of snow is incoming for Vermont and surrounding areas, mostly tonight and early tomorrow.  

Next up, a moderate-sized snowfall mostly tonight, and
focusing on northern Vermont, along with
northern and central New York and northern 
New Hampshire. In Vermont, 4 to 6 inches is likely
along and north of Route 2, with slightly 
lesser amounts to the south. 

It's another Alberta Clipper, one of those usually weak systems that come in from the west or northwest and scoot through with little fanfare.

This one has some real oomph to it, though.  

A winter weather advisory has been issued for northern Vermont, generally along and north of Route 2.  Those winter weather advisories also extend across northern and central New York, northern New Hampshire, parts of Maine, and in most of Wisconsin and Michigan.

So holiday travel is getting screwed up in a several areas. 

Here in Vermont, broad the National Weather Service in South Burlington is telling us most places along and north of Route 2 should see four to six inches of new snow out of this system.  Some isolated areas in the northern mountains could see eight inches. 

Areas between Route 2 and Route 4 look to be in the three to five inch range, and places south of Route 4 are pegged for one to three inches. 

With the snow coming, you might want to think about your Christmas travel plans a bit.

Travel today should be fine. The snow should start between 6 and 8 this evening in northern New York, and reach western Vermont between 8 and 10 p.m. says the National Weather Service. So if you get to where you're going by then, you're golden.

The snow will probably end by midmorning tomorrow in most places. So if you're traveling anywhere on Christmas Eve, try to postpone the trip until late morning or afternoon. 

After that, we should have no snow, ice, schmutz or anything else clogging up Vermont roads from Tuesday afternoon through at least Friday, and probably beyond. But that doesn't end completely end the weirdness

INVERSION/POLLUTION

Starting on Christmas Day and lasting through probably until at least Friday, it is going to get a little odd in Vermont. And in some places, maybe a bit hard to breathe.

I should explain: 

A strong high pressure system is forecast to park itself basically overhead through at least Friday.  The atmosphere overall is expected to warm a great deal.  Except right down near the surface. This time of year, the sun angle is so low it can't heat us up much

If it wants to get warm, we need a south wind to carry the warm air into places we live.  But with light winds under this high pressure, the snow on the ground will just keep the air near the surface refrigerated.

 This creates what is known as a temperature inversion.  Usually, the air is warmest in the lowest elevations and gets progressively colder as you go up hill. 

In an inversion, it's cold in the valleys and warm in the mountains, up a few thousand feet. 

The result will be some warm, even thawing temperatures up at the ski areas, while valleys are stuck in the teens at night, 20s during the day.  There might even be a low overcast, so the valleys are dreary while the mountains are in bright sun.

Inversions happen occasionally in Vermont this time of year, but this one will be more intense and longer lasting than usual. That's a problem.

A problem, because the inversion acts like a lid, trapping pollutants in the valleys.  So all the cars, exhaust for furnaces, wood smoke, etc will get trapped in valleys, possibly causing enough pollution to create issues in people with lung conditions. 

This could happen in the upcoming week in any Vermont valley. But the topography around Rutland is particularly prone to setting up these pollution issues, so that's the region we'll want to watch carefully for pollution this week. 

We're hoping the inversion finally breaks toward the weekend.  

Vermont Summer: At Least The Pumpkins Are Big

Vermont Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts snapped
this photo of this year's giant pumpkin contest at the 
Champlain Valley Fair.  The winner, middle pumpkin
weighed a record 1,327.5 pounds. 

I had a post the other day, I inventoried some of the negative effects such a hot, humid, wet summer we had on Vermont.  

But there were plusses to that oppressive weather, too.

Like giant pumpkins.

Wilbur Horton of Springfield, Vermont entered a giant pumpkin at the Champlain Valley Fair this past week that shattered the record for the heaviest one on record there. His pumpkin weighed a staggering, 1,327.5 pounds, as WPTZ reports. 

The old record for the most giant pumpkin any the fair was set last year, another hot, wet summer. That 2023 pumpkin weighed a mere 1,280 pounds. 

Most of the credit for this year's giant pumpkin record has to go to Horton's pumpkin growing prowess. He is, after all, a member of the Vermont Giant Pumpkin Growers Association. (I had no idea such an organization exists, but it sounds fun).

Still, pumpkins love hot, humid weather so the conditions were ripe, so to speak, for Horton's gourd. Southeastern Vermont, where Horton lives, was not as wet and somewhat sunnier than northern sections of the state during the summer, so that surely helped. 

If you want to see the winning pumpkin for yourself, there's still time. It's on display in the fairgrounds in Essex Junction until September 1.

Certain other crops do well in a Vermont summer that was more like you'd see in the Mid-Atlantic States.  My garden is producing cucumbers so prolifically and fast that my husband finds himself frantically pickling them so they last longer. 

I understand there's bumper crops of tomatoes. I see apple trees are sagging under the weight of a huge number of fruit. Also, don't get me started on zucchini.  

If you have a bumper crop, or giant pumpkins or other huge veggies, let me know. 

March Was World's 10th Consecutive Record Hot Month

I'm sounding a bit like a broken record here, but for the 10th month in a row, I'm telling you the world just had a new record for warmest March,  at least since they started keeping track of such things.   

Another very red global climate map, another
record warm month in March, 2024 for Planet Earth. 

NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information said this March was just a hair above the previous record set in 2016. This was the 48th consecutive March that was warmer than the long term average. 

The data sets for NCEI goes back 175 years, so we know it's was the hottest March since at least 1850.  But climate scientists believe the last time the world was this warm was about 125,000 years ago. 

Before my time, that's for sure. 

NCEI says there's a 55 percent chance this year will outdo 2023 and become the world's hottest year on record. There's a 99 percent chance it'll be among the top five warmest.

The reason NCEI gives this year about a 50-50 chance of being hottest despite the first three months breaking records by pretty big margins is El Nino.

Or rather the demise of it. El Nino is rapidly falling apart, to be replaced by La Nina.  

La Nina on balance cools the Earth slightly. That means subsequent months this year might not break new record for hottest ever. Because of climate change, though, months going forward will be among the hottest on record, no matter what happens with La Nina.

With El Nino rapidly fading, you can see cracks in the 10-month long stretch of global record warmth.  Oceans were the warmest on record in March, but land areas were just fourth warmest. But combine oceans and land, you still get a record warm March on Earth. 

As in the previous ten months, very warm conditions relative to average covered huge areas of the globe. These include almost all of Africa, Europe and South American, along with eastern North America, eastern Asia and eastern Australia.

You'd be hard-pressed to find anyplace that was cooler than average in March.  Cool areas relative to average were pretty much limited to  parts of Antarctica, which is interesting, western Australia and a little patch of the North Atlantic just south of Iceland.

That cool patch off of Iceland is not a good sign. This "cold blob" has been often re-appearing in this region for the better part of a decade now. 

There are conflicting theories on this. Some of it could be cold fresh water melting off of Greenland in ever-greater quantities.  Cold, salty water is dense, so it sinks, and warmer water goes over the top of it. But cold fresh water doesn't sink like salty water does, so that could be part of the issue.

However, the cold blob is often there in the winter, when there is virtually no melting from Greenland. 

Increased winds in the region might also encourage the cold blob. However, scientists say those higher regional winds are also a sign of climate change. 

As usual, other climate monitoring organizations agreed closely with NCEI. 

The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service last Tuesday released their assessment, also with the news that March globally was the warmest on record. 

The Washington Post's account of Tuesday's Copernicus report has a Vermont connection worth noting. The hotter air, the fact that the Atlantic Ocean has heated up so much, has implications for us in the coming months, even if upcoming months turn out to be not quite the hottest ever.

Says WaPO:

"'It should be eye-catching - we are going toward uncharted territory,' said Gillian Gilford, the lead of the Vermont Climate Assessment and a professor at the University of Vermont who reviewed the report. 'It's rather unusual we see such an increased temperature over months and seasons.'

She added that the warmer waters of the Atlantic in particular can lead to larger storms and a more intense hurricane season. It's could also lead, she said, to more storms dumping more water in places like Vermont, in the northeastern United States, which saw intense flooding last summer."

Warmer ocean water adds additional moisture to the atmosphere, which can blow inland and crate serious floods. 

To calm fears, I must say the hot Atlantic is no guarantee Vermont will see additional big floods this spring and summer. Specific weather patterns would need to draw that super saturated air our way. 

We don't know what will happen this summer. For all we know, we in Vermont could have a dry summer if persistent winds come from the dry west or north.  It seems like the wet times are often wetter and the dry times are drier than they used to be. 

The point being with our ever hotter world, expect more surprises and more weather extremes.  Even if a particular month is not the warmest on record for planet Earth. This will go on for the rest of your lives and beyond.   

2023 Was Hottest Year On Record In Burlington, Vermont. One Of The Wettest, Too `

Spectators watch near record flood waters in the Winooski
River blast past Winooski on July 11, 2023. Not only did 
the past year bring lots of extreme weather to Vermont,
it also turned out to be the hottest year on 
record, at least as measured in Burlington. 

 It's official. 

For the first time since they started keeping track of these things back in the 1880s, Burlington, Vermont had its first year with an average temperature of 50 degrees.  

That beats the old record for hottest year, set in 2012, which came out to 49.9 degrees. 

Even more remarkably, this makes it the fourth year in a row that was among Burlington's top 10 record hottest years.  The years 1953 and 1898 are tied for the 10th warmest years in Burlington, but all of the top nine years have been since 1998, just a quarter century. 

By contrast, 1978 was the last  year to score in the top ten coldest, and that year barely made #10.

Climate change is really re-writing the weather history books in Vermont, as well as the rest of the planet. It's not just Burlington, after all. When the data is all in, it's widely expect that the entire globe will have had its hottest year on record in 2023.

In fact, some climatologists believe 2023 was the world's hottest year in the past 125,000 years.

Back here in Vermont, climatologists say that in general, Vermont's is not only getting hotter. It's becoming wetter through climate change, though that wettest will be interrupted by at times more serious drought. 

That trend bore out big time in 2023.  Burlington had its seventh wettest year on record, with 44.78 inches. This is despite largely missing out on the torrents of rain in July and the area experiencing a spring drought.   

The correlation with climate change and wetness in the Burlington weather records isn't as strong as it is with temperatures but it's there.   Six of Burlington's top 10 wettest years have happened since 1998, but only one of the top ten driest years happened in that time frame (2001, to be exact).

Over the course of 2023, Burlington saw daily record highs broken or tied on 10 days. That included the hottest temperature on record for all of October, with 86 degrees. Only one record low was hit, on May 18. 

Last year, I didn't think we'd have a fourth year in a row with a top 10 hottest temperature. Although I've been proven wrong this year, I do wonder if 2024 will be among the hottest on record in Vermont. Maybe, but doubtful, though the world is expected to break 2023's mark for hottest year, or at least come close to it. 

Here in Vermont, if 2024 isn't another top 10 warmest year, it will very, very likely be warmer than normal. Even with climate change, it's still possible to have the occasional cooler than average year thrown in over the next few decades. But they'll be increasingly few and far between.

I also highly doubt we'll ever have another year that ends up in the list of top 10 coolest, unless something dramatic and unlikely happens, like a massive volcanic eruption on the scale or bigger than the 1815 Tambora eruption. That caused temporary cooling, and gave us in Vermont the famous "Year Without A Summer in 1816

Tomorrow, I'll have a review of some of the many weather extremes Vermont endured in 2023.

 

Nation's November Was Warm And Dry, Many States Heading Toward Record Warmest Year

Once we start getting into mid-month, climate figures for the previous month start trickling in. Friday, we learned the United States had its 19th warmest and 12th driest November out of the past 128 years.

November was a warm month in a warm year in the 
United States. States colored in orange were warmer
than normal, states with no shading were pretty
close to average,

Most of the western and central United States was warmer than average, with six states scoring among the top 20 warmest Novembers in the past century and a quarter or so.  

The eastern United States was a little on the cool side, but not by much. Vermont and Massachusetts tied for the chilliest, at least relative to the long term average. But it wasn't that cold.  Both states had their 47th coldest November out of the past 128 years.

Here's one more way to look at the warmth of November in the United States: Weather stations across the U.S,. reported 1248 daily record highs during the month compare to just 658 record lows. (There are always at least some record lows. Climate change hasn't rid the world of cold snaps just yet).

Despite the slight nippiness of November in the eastern U.S., many states had one of their warmest meteorological autumns on record. Meteorological autumn runs from September 1 through November 30. For the Lower 48, it was the fourth warmest autumn out of the past 128 years. 

Nineteen states, including Vermont, had one of their top 10 warmest autumn on record. (Vermont ranked sixth warmest).

Almost always in any given month, parts of the Lower 48 are dry, other parts are wet.  November, 2023 was an exception. Every state except Florida was dry. And the Florida wetness was due mostly to an extreme storm on November 16 that dumped more than a foot of rain on parts of South Florida. 

The Midwest was especially dry. Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky each had one of their top 10 driest Novembers on record. 

Going back to temperature info, there's only one month of data left for 2023 and the United States is headed toward a very warm year. 

Thirty-one states have had the warmest January-November period this year. With December looking like it will turn out to be near average or warmer than average, most, perhaps all of those states will have one of their top ten warmest years on record. Vermont is among those states. 

With El Nino continuing to blare on and climate change unabated, 2023 looks like it will be globally the world's hottest year on record. And 2024 looks even hotter. I'll have updated global November data within a few days  

Record Global Trend Continues: August Was World's Hottest On Record

The world had its hottest August on record this year.
The only place that was cooler than the 20th century
average was in and near Antarctica for some reason.

 The numbers are in for August and to almost nobody's surprise once again, it was the hottest on record for Earth as a whole. 

Here's Yale Climate Connections with the update: 

"Berkeley Earth, the Japan Meteorological Agency, and the European Copernicus Climate Change Service also rated August 2023 as the warmest August on record, crushing the previous August record by a huge margin. Global temperature amalyses extend back to 1850 in the NOAA database."

As I do every month, I'll note how long it's been since the world had even so much as a marginally cool August. If you're under the age of 45, you've never seen a global cool August. 

August was the 534th consecutive month with temperatures at least nominally above the 20th century average. So yeah, this global warm trend has been going on for a little while, huh?

Before El Nino took hold earlier this year, most months were running in the top five warmest category, but not hottest ever.   Now, with El Nino, which usually gives global temperatures a boost, July and August have come in at record warmest.   

With El Nino expected to go full steam for the rest of the year, and climate change showing absolutely zero signs of letting up, all of 2023 looks like it will establish a new global record. NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information says there's a 93 percent chance that this year will be the warmest on record

Reliable records go back two about 1850.

A whopping 228 major reporting stations across the world reported their hottest on record August temperatures. A grand total of zero reporting stations reported all-time coldest readings. 

Most of the cities that had record high August temperatures were in Japan, Turkey, Spain, France, and the southern United States. 

Through the end of August, fourteen nations or territories reported their hottest ever temperatures, Yale Climate Connections reports. 

 Reports from polar regions were mixed, but generally pretty damn bad. Antarctic sea ice extent for August was the lowest on record. On the sort of bright side, ice growth around Antartica was a little better than average. Even better, the Antarctic region had its 16th coolest August on record, seriously bucking the trend seen in the rest of the world during the month. 

Arctic sea ice extent was the eighth lowest on record. So not the worst, but definitely far from the best. 

Greenland is also closely watched, because unlike frozen oceans, any ice that melts off of the Greenland ice sheet will raise global sea levels

This summer in Greenland got less attention than it deserved. The amount of melting off of Greenland was the second worst this year since they starting keep track of this in 1978 via satellite. Only the epic melt year of 2012 was worse.

Greenland's melt rate was far above average from late June through July, when you'd expect the most melting in Greenland. However, by late August, it normally has started to get cooler up there, so ice melt doesn't usually amount to much.  

Not this year.  A mid-month melting spike astounded scientists, as the thawing approached record melt paces from June and July. 

With El Nino expected to last into the winter, and climate change roaring along, it looks like we'll see a few more record global hot months heading through the fall and winter. 

Geriatric Cyclone Freddy Sets A World Record For Longevity

 Cyclone Freddy, which I mentioned in a previous post on February 26 as it was damaging Madagascar, this week is about to break a world record for the longest lived tropical storm on record. 

As of Wednesday, it had survived 29 days, and will probably get to 32 days before finally falling apart. 

 Tropical systems, whether they are called hurricanes, cyclones or typhoons, stay alive over warm water. If these storms encounter land or cold water, they fall apart.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, Freddy developed way back on February 6 somewhere over the Indian Ocean between Indonesia and Australia.  It crossed the entire South Indian Ocean, moving westward until it finally made landfall on February 21 in east-central Madagascar.  It then crossed a straight between Madagascar and the east coast of Africa and made landfall in Mozambique on February 24.

At that point, you'd think the storm was done, dying over land in eastern Africa. 

But nope! Freddy did a U-turn and headed out back over the warm waters of the Mozambique Channel. Freddy kind of hung out over the channel, re-gaining strength before it clipped the southwestern coset of Madagascar again.

Then, it sort of meandered before finally heading back toward Mozambique, as of Wednesday, and is expected to hit that nation later this week further north than the first strike. At that point, we'll probably be finally able to say goodbye to Freddy.

Or not. Many forecasters do expect Freddy to plow into Mozambique and eventually die. But some computer models have it nearing or bouncing off the coast, the meander some more in the Mozambique channel.

Freddy might turn out to be quite a zombie storm if that's the case. It figures it was named after the main character in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" horror movie franchise. 

The straight east-to-west path Freddy took across the Indian Ocean is quite rare, as was its "decision" to meander aimlessly between Madagascar and Mozambique. 

 Freddy has caused severe flooding in Madagascar, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.  At least 21 people have died, and 1,800 people are displaced. The death toll would have been higher, but warning systems in advance of cyclones have improved in the three nations in recent years. 

However, Freddy's next landfall might have quite a punch.  It has rapidly intensified, going from a strong tropical storm to a Category 2 storm with top winds of just under 100 mph as of Tuesday.  It was forecast to strengthen to a Category 3, which would bring its wind speeds to between 111 and 129 mph. 

Satellite view of Cyclone Freddy near southwestern
Madagascar Monday. This storm is likely to break
the record for the longest lived tropical cyclone on record,

The WMO is setting up a committee to study Cyclone Freddy and verify if it is indeed the longest lasting tropical storm on record. The current long life holder is Hurricane/Typhoon John in the Pacific Ocean back in 1994.

 One thing that might prevent Freddy from becoming the record holder is that it periodically weakened during its life, so was it a tropical cyclone during its entire life?

Likely it was, but that'll have to be studied. 

Freddy has had quite a history. Along with its longevity, it has occasionally been quite powerful, and waxed and waned in surprising ways. 

This is Freddy's third episode of rapid intensification, which is officially defined as a wind increase of at least 35 mph within 24 hours. This is the most times an Indian Ocean cyclone has rapidly blossomed. At one point over the open ocean Freddy was a Category 5 storm, the strongest you can get. 

One of the best way to measure and compare the impact, longevity and overall strength of tropical systems is to records its Accumulated Cyclone Energy or ACE. The index measures the total amount of wind energy with a tropical system over its lifetime. (I'm not going to do the math lesson on how they calculate ACE, as I don't want to give everybody a headache).

As of Tuesday, Freddy had piled top 74.5 ACE units. That's the second most of any tropical storm in the Southern Hemisphere since at least 1980. 

Hurricane Ioke in the Central Pacific back in 2006 is the current record holder for ACE with 85 units. There's a chance Freddy could beat that record, too,

The inevitable question is whether climate change has contributed to Cyclone Freddy's longevity. All I can say is maybe.  

Warmer ocean waters created by climate change help tropical storms strengthen, or at least maintain their strength. It's possible Freddy would not have lasted so long without the toasty ocean temperatures the world is seeing now.

I have no idea whether climate change had anything to do with its path over the past month. 

Confirmed: December Broke National Tornado Record

Lightning illuminates the nighttime and deadly tornado
in Kentucky last month that all but destroyed the city of 
Mayfield. The United States broke the record for the
most tornadoes in December by a large margin. 

As of the end of last week, meteorologists counted 217 tornadoes in the United States during December, far and away the most on record for that month. 

On average, just 24 tornadoes hit the United States in December. 

Cold air descending from Canada on a regular basis tends to squelch warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico from invading the United States. No humid air, no tornadoes.

This year, that unseasonably muggy, warm air often had unfettered access deep into the heart of the United States. 

December turned out to be by far the Lower 48's warmest on record, and the warmth was most focused on the Southeast and Midwest. When the usual December storms smacked into this summer-like air, that created a perfect recipe for tornadoes.

Tornadoes happened throughout the month, but two large outbreaks on December 10 and December 15 comprised the bulk of them. The December 10 outbreak caused incredibly strong tornadoes for so late in the season, including an EF-4 that traveled 161 miles and killed 76 people in and near Kentucky. It was the deadliest December tornado in U.S. history. 

The December 15 outbreak featured tornadoes that were oddly far north. Prior to 2021, there had been no known confirmed tornadoes in Minnesota during December. On December 15, there were 16 of them.  

For the year as a whole, the United States has about as many tornadoes as usual, with a preliminary total of 1275.  Depending on who's studying these things, normally there's somewhere between 1250 an 1350 tornadoes annually in the United States.  

The usual spring peak of tornado season was somewhat quieter than usual. However, in addition to December, March, August and October. 

Of course, there's no telling how 2022 will turn out in terms of tornadoes.  In January, the United States has on average about 35 of them. As of Monday, the United States already has a preliminary count of 22 tornadoes so far this month. 

July Was World's Hottest Month On Record

Here in Vermont, we had our coolest July since 2009, but that's not particularly cool, just kinda average from a historical perspective.  

However, we here in the Green Mountain State were bystanders to global climate history last month. 

Turns out July was the world's hottest month on record.  It was the hottest at least since the 1880s, when reliable records started. It was probably the hottest month in many centuries. 

July, in fact, might have been the Earth's hottest month in at least 100,000 years, but of course there's no easy way to absolutely prove or disprove that. 

July, 2021 was 1.67 degrees above the historical average for the world as a whole, just barely beating out the Julys of 2016, 2019 and 2020 that were until the hottest months on record. So, yep. July, 2021 was #1 for global heat.

Um yay?

Not really.

"In this case, first place is the worst place to be......July is typically the world's warmest month of the year, but July, 2021 outdid itself as the hottest July and month ever recorded. This new record adds to the disturbing and disruptive path that climate change has set for the globe," said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, in a statement released to the media Friday. 

The hot summary for July came the same week that the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its rather dire, newest  4,000 page report that puts "unequivocal" blame on humans, not natural forcing on the ever rising global temperatures.  

Climate change and worldwide heating contributes to extreme weather, and we certainly saw that in July.  Immense flooding during July hit China and Germany, among other places. Destructive wildfires roared through parts of the western United States, Canada, Siberia, Turkey, Greece and other spots. 

The global July heat focused on land areas, where people live.  Oceans had "only" their sixth hottest July on record, while land areas as a whole were the hottest on record.

In the July report from NOAA, cool spots, relative to average,  were few and far between in July, 2021. The cooler spots were limited a piece of northwestern Siberia, northeastern Canada, southern Africa and the southeastern United States.

Particularly hot spots, and there many, included western and central North America, all but the middle of South America, northern Africa, southern Asia, Oceania, and Europe. No fewer than 22 United States cities mostly in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho, had their hottest month on record

So far this year, seven nations -  Canada, Morocco, Oman, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the United States - have recorded their hottest reliably measured temperature on record. (For United States record was 130 degrees in Furnace Creek, California on July 9).

Unless something incredibly surprising happens, 2021 will join the ranks as one of the top 10 hottest years on record on Planet Earth

Not Just Us: Already, Another Global Summer Of Extreme Heat, Fires

Water beads up on a clematis in my St. Albans, Vermont
garden today after a pre-dawn thunderstorm. The storm
only deposited a quarter inch of rain, so drought 
worries will linger, even as cooler air blows
in to Vermont today and tongiht. 

The record heat that gripped Vermont the past few days was thankfully short-lived, and we have a pretty extended period of comfortable weather to look forward to.

However, across the Northern Hemisphere, this is shaping up to be another climate changed, torrid summer, with many more records sure to fall. 

It's only the first half of June, and already, some terrible heat waves have hit disparate places.  

We're in for a long, smoky summer.  Smoky, because huge wildfires inevitably come with the heat waves and droughts across vast northern and mid-latitude forests.

The hot spell here in Vermont was certainly impressive, bringing us the toastiest readings for so early in the season. 

Relief is at hand. Today will be another warm one here in Vermont, but you'll notice the humidity dropping pretty quickly. 

As of 6 a.m. dew points in Vermont were still near 70, pretty oppressive. But the dew point in Montreal had already crashed to 55 degrees and in Quebec City the dew point was a refreshing 48 degrees. That's the kind of air that's about to come toward us.

A final band of showers and thunderstorms was working its way southeastward across Vermont at dawn. Some spots got a little needed rain yesterday in southern Vermont and before dawn today in northern areas.

There was actually a flash flood warning in effect in parts of southeastern Vermont for a time Tuesday due to some torrential rains there. 

Early this morning, Burlington picked up 0.28 inches of rain, which really isn't much at all, but it was still the wettest day since May 5 - over a month! 

There are no signs of more hot weather for at least the next 10 days around here, but that doesn't mean lots of other places will avoid it. Heat is already the story of this young summer

WESTERN "DEATH RIDGE"

The heat is sloshing  back to the western United States, where another "death ridge" as I and others call it lately, is going to envelop the Rocky Mountains and Intermountain West.  This not-so-scientifically named "death ridge" is an enormous, stubborn northward bulge in the jet stream.

Underneath a summer death ridge, droughts rapidly intensify as temperatures records break under relentless sunshine. 

In the Midwest and Great Lakes the heat wave that grabbed at us in New England started last Friday, and with the "death ridge" building, it's going to stay wicked hot in the Intermountain West and Plains. 

This dry heat will probably break more record highs out west, and worsen the drought, and the wildfire situation. 

I think I mentioned it was 106 degrees the other day in North Dakota, by far a record for so early in the season, so you know that state, often an icebox, is wilting.  Since the heat is sloshing back out that way, much of the western and northern Plains are in for an extended period of torrid condition. 

Tuesday was the sixth consecutive day over 90 degrees in Minneapolis. They'll have two more hot days to go before temperatures temporarily "cool" into the upper 80s. 

In Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the 90 degree heat started June 3 and escalated to 101 by June 5.  It'll be probably be in the 90s there every day through most of next week except for perhaps a break on Friday.

It's always hot in the Desert Southwest this time of year, but the  "death ridge' will really pile things on.  Phoenix should get into the mid one hundred teens early next week. Death Valley will have little trouble hitting 120 degrees. 

The United States isn't the only place that's broiling. 

GLOBAL HOT SPOTS

 As in most recent summers, pockets of extremely hot weather are popping up across much of the Northern Hemisphere. This year, it's getting an early start.

Some areas of the Middle East and Central Asia just suffered through the worst heat on record for so early in the season. In the United Arab Emirates it got up to 125.2 degrees, the hottest on record for that nation. It equals the national record set in July, 2017.  According to @extremetemps on Twitter, a city in Iran hit 51 C..  In Turkmenistan, it as 46.7 degrees. It was as hot as 44.7 in Uzbekisgan and 43.7 in Tajikistan.  

FIRES AND DROUGHT

All this heat is naturally helping fuel wildfires.  

There have been periodic forest fire alerts in the north woods of Minnesota for days, and that's expected to continue.  A wildfire in Arizona expanded dramatically over the weekend, forcing evacuation in and near the town of Superior. 

A bigger concern is the West Coast and Intermountain West, which is in the grips of a severe drought. Wildfire alerts have become a daily occurrence out there, and that's no going to change. Probably for the rest of the summer. 

Water shortages are becoming critical in the Southwest.  The dry heat expected over the next week or more exacerbates evaporation, and increases the use of water by us humans. 

Lake Oroville, a reservoir in northern California is almost
empty due to drought.  Trees on the left are scorched and
dead due to a wildfire last year. Photo by 
Noah Berger/AP

The Colorado River provides water to 40 million people in seven states. Lake Mead, the reservoir behind the famous Hoover Dam on the Colorado River,  is at just 37 percent capacity, says CBS News. 

More from CBS:

"Since 2000, Lake Mead has dropped 130 feet, about the height of a 13-story building. Islands in the lake that used to be completely submerged are now visible." 

By late summer, many areas of California, Nevada and Arizona will have cuts in water allocation for consumers, mostly farmers, due to this mega-drought.

Further north at Lake Oroville in California, the reservoir is only at 39 percent capacity and dropping.  This after a winter in which precipitation fell short by over a foot.  The dam at Lake Oroville might have to stop generating hydro power later this summer due to the low water level. To underscore the point, trees along much of the lake's shore are scorched and dead, victims of a wildfire last summer. 

New wildfires in California are inevitable this summer. They'll start any minute now.

Meanwhile, satellite images caught large wild fires already burning, very early in the season, north of the Arctic Circle in Siberia.   California vegetation is ready to explode into flames, and parts of Canada are a tinderbox, too.

And though we are about to start a pretty good stretch of comfortable weather here in Vermont, there's no telling whether we will have even bigger, longer, hotter heat waves than the one we just had once we get into July and August.

The way things are going, that's a real threat.

That Must Have Hurt: Likely New Record Sized Hailstone In Texas

This hailstone, found near Hondo, Texas on April 28, was
6.4 inches in diameter, likely the largest hailstone
in Texas history. 

They say they make everything bigger in Texas.

Including hailstones, apparently. 

During a barrage of Texas hail storms on April 28 that likely caused well over $1 billion in damage, a giant hailstone fell near Hondo, Texas, and it is likely a record big one. 

The hailstone was measured at 6.4 inches in diameter, or about the size of a honeydew melon. 

The hail fell from an immense supercell thunderstorm near Hondo, Texas, west of San Antonio.  That storm - at least on radar and satellite, was one of the largest, most intense supercells I have seen.  It produced a tornado, winds of more than 80 mph and lots of giant hail stones, many of them as big or bigger than softballs. 

The storm weakened a bit by the time it got to the major city of San Antonio, but still caused a lot of damage there. 

In Hondo, which experience the supercell at peak strength, the wind driven, gigantic hail was so intense that the stones crashed through roofs and even walls of some homes. 

As soon as the storm passed, a woman retrieved the big hailstone from her property and threw it in her freezer. 

The National Weather Service office in New Braunfels, Texas helped dispatch the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety to check out the big hailstone. 

The IBHS has a fancy 3-D image scanner that can examine hailstones in detail.  They used the scanner to measure the hailstone at 6.4 inches in diameter. 

Radar image of the intense supercell storm over Hondo,
Texas on April 28 that likely produced the largest 
hailstone in Texas history. 

If you're wondering why an insurance related company would buy and expensive 3-D  scanner and go around measuring hailstones, it's because they want to reduce hail-related costs.  

The scanners can help the insurance industry understand the density and shape of hailstones and how they cause damage. 

Perhaps from there, roofs, windows, vehicles and other objects can be designed in ways to minimize hail damage, especially in areas of the country that are most prone to such storms. Hail typically causes more than $10 billion in damage annually in the United States.

As big as that Hondo hailstone was, it's still not the biggest on record for the United States. A hailstone that fell from the sky and onto Vivian, South Dakota on July 23,2010 measured a huge eight inches in diameter. 

That's about as wide as a sheet of standard printer paper, but lord knows that Vivian hailstone was a lot heavier than that!