Heat Is Now Here In Vermont, What To Know, How To Stay Safe

The heat wave is here.

Not just Vermont. All the areas in orange, red, 
purple, etc on this map are under various
heat advisories and warnings. Record high
temperatures are forecast in dozens of
U.S cities today, including here in Vermont.

It sort of began Sunday after those morning thunderstorms blew through.  It didn't quite make it to 90 degrees, but it was hot enough. With temperatures in the 80s and high humidity, the heat index flirted with 90 degrees.  

We'll get to the more extreme heat we've got coming. Stay with me in this post, because you'll see tips on why Vermonters  need to be careful with this extreme heat and what to do about it, 

But first a quick update on the Sunday morning storms.

Those storms might not have been as severe as feared in Vermont, as I wrote in yesterday's post. It turns out the most dangerous part of this system mostly bypassed Vermont and dove southward from Canada down through central and western New York.

It got pretty bad in central parts of the Empire State. A tornado along with extreme winds hit Oneida County, New York around 4:30 a.m, Sunday, killing three people. Oneida County is where cities like Rome and Utica are located.

The same storms set off severe flash flooding in the same county and surrounding areas. Now, people will start picking up the pieces today amid the extreme heat.  New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency in 32 counties due to the storms. 

VERMONT HEAT

If you were an early riser, I hope you weren't lulled by the muggy, but not terribly hot dawn today in Vermont. Temperatures then were in the 60s to around 70.

The truly hot air is now coming in.  The "heat dome" everyone is talking about will be upon us all day. That creates sinking air. That sinking air makes the already hot air heat it more. We should have no trouble reaching the 90s this afternoon in Vermont.

That'll be low 90s in somewhat higher elevation towns and perhaps upper 90s in parts of the Champlain and lower Connecticut River valleys.   

The accompanying high humidity will make today and tomorrow will send the heat index or "real feel" of the air to over 100 degrees in much of Vermont. These will likely the two most dangerously hot days Vermont has seen since July, 2018. 

THE DANGER

Being a northern state, Vermonters are especially susceptible to extreme heat. First of all, we're not acclimatized to it. Our bodies haven't adapted to big hot spells, as we haven't had much in the way of hot weather so far this year. 

And there's more:

According to the Vermont Department of Health:

"In recent years hot weather has affected the health of people living in Vermont more and more. These effects are expected to get worse as our climate continues to warm.  In cooler states like Vermont, most heat-related deaths occur inside homes without air conditioning.

This happened during the heat wave in Vermont in June (editor's note, actually early July) when four older adults died. Vermont has one of the lowest rates of access to home air conditioning in the country, putting many people at higher risk for heat-related illnesses. Unhoused people also suffer more in the heat when they cannot access air-conditioned shelters."

Heat waves are tending to become increasingly humid, which makes their dangers worse. When we overheat, we sweat. When the air is dry, that sweat evaporates, which has a cooling effect on our bodies. 

When it's humid, the sweat doesn't evaporate so readily, so we don't cool off so much. 

The higher humidity also keeps nighttime temperature from falling as much as when the air is less muggy.  These hotter nights don't give us a chance to recover from a torrid day.  You can see the trend in Burlington; The two days with the highest "low" temperature on record (80 degrees) were pretty recent. The first one was on July 2, 2018, the other was just last year, June 19, 2024. 

True to recent form, tonight will stay hot and muggy. The forecast "low" temperature tonight in Burlington is a stifling 77 degrees. 

The health effects of heat accumulate the longer the heat goes on, especially when it doesn't really get cool at night.  Which means in general, we'll be worse off tomorrow than we are today.

WHAT TO DO

Me soaking in a livestock watering tub on a hot evening
last summer. You gotta do anything you can to stay cool!
Photo by Jeff Modereger. 

You're going to want to drink a lot of water today and tomorrow. That will help keep your internal sweat factory at peak capacity, which is important. 

Start the day with a glass of water and keep going.If at all possible, get your butt into an air conditioned room. If only for a few hours. 

Avoid the booze and caffeinated beverages if possible. These drinks can actually dehydrate you.

Eat light and cold, things like salad and fruits. During heat waves, my husband and I in the evening like to fix what we call a "cold suppah" (that's how we pronounce it).  It usually consists of fresh salads, cold cuts, a baguette and cheeses.  The stove and oven stay off,

If at all possible, get your butt into an air conditioned room. If only for a few hours.  If you don't have air conditioning, find cool places.  Only one room of my house is air conditioned, so my husband and I often set up shop in our cool basements, setting up our laptops and TV down there so we can avoid the heat. 

Also, try taking cool showers and baths. They do help,  

Since we don't have a swimming pool at our house, we've gone so far as to set up a livestock water feeding tub on our back deck. I fill it with cool water and sit in it.  It's deep enough so when I do that, the refreshing water comes up to my neck. Ahhhhh. Feels good.  

In other words, do whatever it takes to stay cool.

Hey employers!  Don't be a hardass.  If your workers do most of their stuff outdoors, go easy on them  today and tomorrow. Exertion in this weather is extremely dangerous. Make sure the crew has  plenty of water and give them frequent breaks. What the hell, maybe even give them the day or the hottest part of the day off.  

If you do that, they'll survive to work for you another day, Plus, if you treat employees fairly, that's a great way to get loyalty and hard work from them in the future. It's a win/win for you and the employees.  

If you're worried about your elderly friends and relatives without air conditioning, you should be. Today and tomorrow are great days to "kidnap" them and haul them and yourself to an air conditioned movie matinee, restaurant, shopping center or museum.  

YOUR PETS

Whatever you do, keep your pets in a cool place. Do NOT leave them outside unattended for hours, or worse, all day. 

Our weather dog Henry will probably hang out in the basement with us today. 

Make sure they always have plenty of water. NEVER leave them in your car, not even for that so-called "minute" when you dash into a store to grab something. Cars turn into ovens almost immediately in this weather, 

Also, get into the habit of carefully checking the car, including back seat when you get out.  Did you leave pets or children back there? You sure? It's so easy to have a brain fart and forget. 

If you take your dog for a walk, avoid asphalt and concrete.  Those heat up ridiculously during hot spells, and will burn their paws. 

BEYOND TUESDAY

Luckily, this heat wave will be mercifully brief. Tuesday night will remain stuffy and uncomfortable, but there might be signs of relief toward morning. Wednesday afternoon will be much cooler, with highs in the low 80s. So better. The humidity levels will keep falling during the day Wednesday, too.

The Dark Side Of All This Vermont White Snow

No signs of thawing yet as of today along my St. Albans,
Vermont driveway. I've decided to rename the path
Snow Canyon Drive for obvious reasons. 

 It's pretty out there in Vermont today, that deep snow glistening in today's' bright, cold February sunshine.  

The winter sports industry - skiing riding, cross country, snowshoe, snowmobiling, ice climbing, ice fishing and anything else winter - is thriving this President's Week. 

The spring melt will wipe away the last vestiges of last autumn's drought. 

Plus, it's a rare, old fashioned winter. The kind we don't often see nowadays in this age of climate change. It's a bit of a throwback to the 1970s, when the snow was always super deep and the air was always frigid.

True, this year isn't nearly as extreme as some of those in the 1970s but you get the idea. 

However, being a glass half empty kind of guy, I do have to point out the dark side of this blinding outdoor winter whiteness out there. 

This stuff can cause trouble. 

ROOF TROUBLE

It's been years since snow has gotten this deep, and some weaker structures might be in trouble with all this snow loading. 

A barn in Williamstown, Vermont collapsed under the weight of the snow Monday evening, killing at least six cows.  It was the first major structure collapse I've heard of in Vermont this year, but who knows? There might be others coming. 

In my drives around northwest Vermont, I'm noticing a lot of ice dams on roofs for the first time in a few years. That will surely lead to water leaks and interior water damage to who knows how many houses. I'm lucky at my house. Ever since we installed a standing seam roof in 2017, the snow slides off and we don't get ice dams.

However, the snow that slides off puts a LOT of weight on our back deck and that entails another rigorous shoveling job to keep the deck standing.  

It's been much worse this winter in parts of western and central New York, where the lake effect snow squalls have really been working overtime since late November, really. 

Just yesterday, the roof a a wire factory in Williamstown, New York, which is within the Lake Ontario snow belt collapsed under the weight of snow and ice.  Workers heard cracking noises in the ceiling early Tuesday and evacuated, so nobody got hurt. 

A short distance down the road from the wire factory, a church roof collapsed.

Elsewhere in New York, a business collapsed under the snow near Rome, New York. A Walmart Super Store in Central Square New York temporarily closed over concerns regarding snow on the roof. They hope to reopen once the snow is removed. 

SALT SHORTAGE

Expect Vermont roads to be even worse than usual during and after any remaining snowfalls and mixed precipitation episodes we see before spring sets in.

Vermont is among a number of states facing a road salt shortage. 

The town of Lyndon is almost completely out of salt. St. Johnsbury is reserving what little salt they have and only treating roads once storms have ended, reports WPTZ.

No word yet on how that will affect the Vermont highway department and other towns. But I bet they're conserving salt. 

CLEARING SNOW

If you have a fire hydrant near your house, head out and clear away a big patch of snow away from the hydrant if you have not done so already. Shovel a path from the road to the hydrant, and push the snow at least three feet away from the hydrant in every direction, 

Go around your house to see if there are vents or other equipment that are blocked by snow or nearly blocked. Vents especially can back up dangerous carbon monoxide into a house if the snow if blocking them. 

Got a mailbox out front? This is hard because of all the rock solid stuff plowed from the road, but try to clear an indentation so the mail vehicle can reach your mailbox without getting stuck.  Try to make it so they can move forward without getting stuck after dropping off your mail. 

Do you heat your house with heating oil?  Or propane?  Getting low on fuel and need a delivery? Make sure you've cleared a path so that the delivery person can make it to the intake easily to fill your fuel tank. 

My brother in law is a former fuel delivery driver and he has nightmare stories of trying to drag the hose through snow a few feet deep to reach the intake. Do them a favor. 

SPRING FLOOD?

Believe it or not, as of last Thursday, most of Vermont was considered "abnormally dry" and a small portion of southern Vermont was still regarded as in drought. 

I think that' mostly because it has pretty much just snowed and sleeted in recent weeks. Moisture from all snow is yet to make it into the ground and our rivers and streams.

This weekly drought monitor will be updated tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see if there are any changes. The National Weather Service in South Burlington will also update their biweekly late winter/early spring outlook tomorrow. 

Since January, those updates have rated the risk of flooding below normal, mostly because no big thaws are in the offing. That's still true. But in January, snow and the water equivalent in the snow was below normal. Now I expect the snow depth and water equivalent to be at or above normal. We shall see.

So, as I mentioned earlier in this post, this snow is good news.

Unless it isn't. 

If the snow melts very fast toward spring and is accompanied by heavy rain, we'd end up with some pretty nasty flooding. That's especially true since river ice is thicker than it's been in a few years. A sudden thaw could break up the ice and create ice jams. Which cause flooding. 

The best scenario would be if we have a perfect maple sugaring March and April. That means warm, mostly dry days and hard overnight freezes. Preferably daily. 

 That would cause a gradual snow melt. The moisture would just soak into the ground and we'd start our growing season with plenty of water sitting there to keep our gardens and crops happy.  

Friday Heat Wave Forecast Update: It Could Last A Long Time

Next Thursday's National Weather Service heat risk map
now has much of Vermont, and the Northeast and eastern
Great Lakes in Level 4 (in Purple) which denotes
an extreme heat wave. Those are the most dangerous.

 We're going to be talking about heat waves for the next few days to buckle up. It's the weather event of the month, that's for sure. 

Before we get there, we have a cold front today that will bring one last shot of refreshing air before the ugh hits next week.

As the cold front slips through Vermont today, there's a slight chance it could trigger a severe storm or two in southern parts of the state.

Overall, the timing of the front before peak heating of the day means we're threading the needle between yesterday and last night's severe storms in Ontario and northwest New York, and expected severe weather in southern New England today. 

It'll be deceptive cool this weekend, but that will give you a chance to prepare for it all.  You can get strenuous chores outdoors done. (Saturday will be an excellent day to mow your lawn, and Sunday will be pretty good, too).

THE HEAT

Little has changed in the forecast, though those predictions are more bullish on keeping the extreme heat going Thursday than they were this time yesterday. Between the heat and the humidity, there's a real chance now that Thursday could marginally be the worst day of the hot spell. 

Just how hot it will get is a bit of a crap shoot. We know it will be terrible, but low 90s? mid-90s? upper 90s? 

At this point, odds favor mid 90s in warmer valleys and low 90s elsewhere. But some models do get us warmer than that. I've even seen speculation that some places in Vermont could touch 100 degrees. I suppose that's possible, but I'll say pretty unlikely for now. 

Usually, when the ground is very dry, it can get hotter, as the sun heats the air rather than focusing on evaporation. Soils are fairly wet now, so that might hold temperatures down a couple degrees. But it would make it more humid than it otherwise be.  So either way, it will be miserable.

That said, despite the humidity, sunshine and temperatures way up in the 90s will really stress gardens and dry them out quickly. You'll need to irrigate them.  Helpful hint: You might take the hose out during the day to water, but have several "clumsy moments" hose and nozzle to stay cool. 

We still have a chance of thunderstorms firing up during the heat wave, but this point those look to be few and far between. However, such heat is an atmospheric powder keg, so any storms that do form can turn severe next week. 

They're still talking about a potential cold front later Thursday or Friday, but it could be a weak one that doesn't do all that much good. 

  The National Weather Service in South Burlington last evening posted the chances of it going past 90 degrees in different places across Vermont and New York.

As the forecasts over the past few days have noted, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday have very high chances of making it to 90 or better. 

The chances of 90 degree weather diminish a little after that, but don't go away.  There's a better than even chance of it making it to 90 again next Friday, and a decent chance of it getting that hot next Saturday and Sunday. 

Computer models are disagreeing on whether a cold front will spell bonafide, real relief from the heat by next weekend or not. 

Nights are what going to make the heat wave especially challenging. Temperatures in most places won't fall below the 70s, and of course the humidity will stay up there. That means people without air conditioning don't get much in the way of relief. 

Over time, the heat continues to build up in houses. People go night after night not sleeping well. The stress from the heat, the lack of sleep and difficulty staying hydrated makes any heat wave, and this one in particular dangerous for the elderly and people with health issues.

As we approach the heat wave, I'll throw in some hot weather life hacks as I think of them or become aware of them. 

Cool Rooms: I imagine Vermont will open up some cooling centers so that people can get some relief.   I'll continue may advice for people to find any cool place they can, and take their elderly neighbors with them. 

Hydrate: Stay hydrated next week. And if you find yourself sweating a lot, indulge in some sports drinks or something like that. I personally go to Pedialyte to restore my electrolytes. 

The cool weather we're expecting tomorrow and Sunday is a great time to go out and stock up on this stuff. 

Medications: Certain prescription medications increase sensitivity to heat. According to AARP, those include antibiotics, antihistamines, antifungals and many medications that treat cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Definitely keep taking those medications unless your doctor tells you to stop. Just be aware these medications make the heat feel worse and affect you more.

Booze and caffeine:  Sorry, those are the favorite things of lots of people, but they make the effects of heat waves worse on people, too. 

Getting back to weather forecasts, here's one more weird thing . While the heat here will begin firing up big time Monday and especially Tuesday, a winter storm with up to a foot of snow is in the forecast for the high elevations of the Rocky Mountains of Montana. 

Go figure. 

Vermont Eclipse Forecast: High Clouds, But Still A Great Show

High, thin clouds are expected to appear in the skies over
much of Vermont by the time the eclipse arrives Monday,
but the clouds will be thin enough so that we
should still enjoy a great show. 

 We have another instance coming up in which Vermont is wonderful, but not perfect.

That would be the eclipse.   

Tomorrow is the big day, so the forecasts are almost locked in. There could still be some changes, but meteorologists seem fairly confident about what's going to happen Monday 

HIGH CLOUDS 

The way the forecast for Monday looks now, a bluebird clear blue morning will be invaded by high, thin clouds by the time the eclipse rolls around in the afternoon. 

The great news is this will be no means be a thick overcast.  To an extent, you'll be able to see through the clouds and take in a lot of what's going on.  We're still in for a great show. 

You'll most likely still see the moon takes bites out of the sun as if it's eating a vanilla wafer, then cover the sun entirely. (You will be watching all this with your special eclipse glasses on, of course). The changing, fading light as the eclipse draws close will still be stunning. 

Maybe the clouds will enhance the experience. It will be interesting to see how the thin clouds look during the eclipse and the moment just before and after. There might be some interesting colors or shadows or effects because of those clouds. 

The high clouds, of course are making things not perfect. Especially for photographers and people who want an unobstructed view of it all. The eclipse will result in fantastic photographs, of course. But a crystal clear sight is probably not in the cards, for those who wanted pristine shots of the edges of the sun peeking from behind the moon. 

The thinnest, most scattered clouds along the eclipse route in Vermont will be in the Northeast Kingdom. 

Two or three days ago, the high clouds were initially forecast to only make it as far east as around Buffalo, New York. But each computer model run had the band of high clouds moving faster. So now, unless the computer models reverse themselves, we'll see the cirrus clouds overhead in the Green Mountain State. 

This is so much better than climatology would have it, though. This is a terribly cloudy time of year in Vermont. It's usually stormy You might remember the news stories a few weeks ago saying we had an 80 percent chance of overcast during the eclipse. 

Notice how most of us didn't see the sun this past Wednesday through Saturday. This coming week, Wednesday through at least Saturday, also looks like it will be overcast and dismal. 

The clouds this time of year are often thick and low. Can you imagine how disappointing the eclipse would have been had it hit during the big snowstorm Thursday, or amid the damp overcast of Friday?

Fingers crossed that the high clouds won't thicken up, but it appears we might be beating the odds. Despite the thin clouds, Vermont is catching a big break, timed well for the eclipse.

Temperatures will be comfortable for viewers, too.  We'll get well into the 50s just prior to the eclipse, though temperatures of course will drop noticeably during the event as the sun disappears.

NO HIKING!

Although we'll have pretty good viewing weather for the eclipse, there are certain things that are a really, really bad idea during the eclipse.  

For instance, if you know anybody who thinks it would be fun to hike to a mountain summit to view the eclipse, strongly tell them to think again. You're not supposed to use hiking trails this time of year anyway because it's mud season and you'll damage the trails. 

Even though the weather forecast looks good, we'll also have the worst possible weather Monday to hit the hiking trails. We just had a lot of snow and it will be melting rapidly Monday. The cold, running water and deep mud on the trails will be awful. There will still be a ton of snow in the highest elevations. (There's still six or seven feet of it atop Mount Mansfield). 

There's tons of ice to slip and fall on, too.

If you get stuck in the mountains, cell service will be spotty at best if you need to call for help. Cell service will be especially strained due to the heavy use expected.

Rescue crews will be stretched thin, too. If you get into trouble up in the mountains, you might not get help until well into the night. By then, temperatures will be in the 20s up there.

BOATING A BAD IDEA

Although winds will be light and waves pretty minimal, it's still a bad idea to take a boat or kayak or anything like that out onto Lake Champlain or other bodies of water for the eclipse. Water temperatures are still in the 30s in most areas. If you fall in, you won't last long. 

If you want a lake in your eclipse view, pick a spot on the shore with a nice west and south facing view.  Burlington's Waterfront and St. Albans Bay Town Park are great spots for eclipse lake views, but expect crowds and traffic. Note there will be some street closures in Burlington and other communities. 

STICK TO THE PAVEMENT

With all the melting snow and thawing frost and heavy precipitation we had all winter, back roads and dirt roads will be an absolute mess. I know some of you might want a spectacular, rural view of the eclipse. Most dirt roads will be mud bogs, though. It'll be really easy to get stuck. And really hard to obtain help getting pulled out. Definitely best to stay on the paved roads. 

Don't believe the GPS in your car. It often lies and can send you to a remote dirt road, often not maintained well.  Thursday's snow has long since been removed from paved roads and they will all be in great shape Monday, aside from the occasional pot hole and frost heave.

PICK YOUR SPOT

You'll want to plan ahead for this one. 

Today might be a good day to scout out a place where you'd like to view the eclipse.  Maybe go out between 2 and 4 p.m. this afternoon to judge spots where the eclipse will look good to you.  Unobstructed west and south views are best. 

Remember, traffic will be thick Monday, so allow plenty of time to get to your viewing spot. It'll be a bummer to be stuck on the roads when the eclipse hits, so be where you want to be ahead of time. Make sure you have a tank full of gas. And snacks and beverages. You might be stuck in traffic after it all ends. 

DON'T SWEAT IT

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so stay positive. Don't road rage in the traffic. Don't elbow people away to get a view. Don't tromp across private property. There's plenty of public areas to watch the spectacle. Don't be a Karen. There will be no eclipse manager to entertain your bullcrap.

Just enjoy the experience and live in the moment during the eclipse. 

It will be quite a moment. 

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. 

Black Fly Season Off To Rough Vermont Start. Here's Why And What To Do

Black flies are the scourge of spring in Vermont, 
especially this year with all the recent wet weather. The
community of Adamant, Vermont does try to make
the best of it with an annual festival. 

 I mentioned in passing in yesterday morning's post that the black flies in Vermont are awful this year. 

Very, very awful.  

Black flies are probably Vermont's least favorite tradition from mid spring to early summer. We want to be out there smelling the lilac blooms and collecting early season salad fixings from the garden, only to be swarmed by these biting little buggers. 

I've  noticed some black fly seasons are worse than others.  There's good reason why black flies season 2023 is off to such an annoying start.

As the Green Mountain Club explains, black flies tend to lay eggs in flowing water. With all the rain we've had recently, there's plenty of flowing water. Even in places where there usually isn't much flowing water. 

The conditions are perfect for this, so they're swarming. Some of you in colder parts of Vermont probably haven't noticed yet, as it's still early in the season. But beware. They're coming.  Green Mountain Club explains here why black flies are often worse than other annoying bugs:

"These biting insects will swarm humans and livestock, biting around the head, hair, and ears. Black fly bites are painful, as the bugs cut into the skin and lap up blood that pools into the wound. Bites appear as puncture wounds or a huge swelling. Common reaction rations include lymph node swelling and skin rash."

 Black flies are most active on cloudy, humid days and just before storms, which explains why this week has been such a pain. (As you've noticed, it's been cool and damp, with frequent showers and scattered downpours).

They're also most active mid to late morning and late afternoon and early evening. I always pray for windy weather when I'm outdoors during black fly season.  The gusts tend to overwhelm these tiny gnat-like attackers and keep them at bay. Sometimes. 

Insect repellents containing DEET seem to ward off mosquitoes, deer flies and the like. But it doesn't seem to have much effect on black flies. At least in my experience.  Some people say they have a bit of success with lavender, vanilla extract, pine branch extract and citronella. 

Wearing long pants and long sleeve shirts help ward off black flies, especially if you tuck in your shirt. Of course, that doesn't  help if you're out there doing physical activity in the sun, as you'll overheat with all those clothes on.  Wear light colored  clothing too.  Black flies, true to their name, are attracted to the color black.  Which is my favorite color to wear. Go figure.

Many species of black flies don't bite. But they constantly try to get into your ears, eyes and mouth, which is super frustrating.  While the following doesn't happen in humans, we can relate, given how thick the swarms are: Black flies have been known to suffocate birds, chickens and other animals because they're so numerous they clog respiratory tracts. 

On the bright side, black flies don't transmit diseases to humans, like mosquitoes and ticks do. 

 We're about to enter a multi-day dry spell in Vermont, which might reduce the amount of flowing water out there. But, too late. The damage is done. We're stuck with a lot of black flies through the spring and early summer.  There will be plenty of water left for the bugs to keep reproducing, too. A wet spring is good, except for the black flies. All that water out there on the landscape won't be going away anytime soon. 

There isn't much we can do about the existence of black flies, other than hibernate inside. But who wants to do that now that winter is over and spring is blooming with abundance?  I suppose we can take some advice from the tiny Vermont community of Adamant.

Adamant, an unincorporated village within the town of Calais, holds an annual Black Fly Festival, usually on the first Saturday of June. This year's event is scheduled for June 3. It features a parade, black fly inspired treats and other events.

I guess the village of Adamant is telling us if you can't beat the black flies, join 'em.