Weather Watch: Looks Cold, Feels Warm

The view out my window yesterday gave every appearance of a cold November day. Bare trees rose towards a slate grey sky, branches wiggling stiffly in the wind as brown leaves swirled on the sidewalk. It was quite possible to imagine a snowstorm was on the way... until I stepped outside.

Far from being chilly, the weather outside yesterday was actually quite warm. In fact, Middlebury College unofficially recorded a high temperature of 60 degrees. Looking up at the clouds offered another odd surprise – the clouds looked like mammatus clouds, which are often found in association with thunderstorms. It must be a rare sight indeed to see mammatus clouds above bare autumn trees. The storm that rolled in last night didn't bring lightning to Vermont, but it did bring a line of thunderstorms to western New York State and Pennsylvania.

Winter seemed to be arriving just on time this year. The first frost and the first snow in the Middlebury area both occurred right when climate averages indicate that they usually do. Then in November, for whatever reason, the weather in Vermont actually warmed up. Over the last couple of weeks, several record high temperatures have been set around the state.

For the rest of the week, it looks like the temperatures will return to a more ordinary level, with cold weather and possibly some rain or snow showers on Thursday. While the forecasts and computer models do indicate that colder, more seasonable weather is on the way, the National Weather Service did forecast a good chance of above-normal temperatures next week. I wouldn't be surprised if November has a couple more unexpected warm days in store for Vermont.  

Charlie Hohn is a recent graduate of the UVM Field Naturalist graduate program. He has been closely watching the weather ever since he was a child in southern California. Charlie will be posting occasional blog posts here about Addison County weather. He also maintains a blog about water at slowwatermovement.blogspot.com.