Through the summer, Vermont has been largely avoided the heat wave that has affected everywhere else in the country. I have certainly not missed the heat that had to deal with while growing up in Alabama and living in Mississippi. Vermont though has still suffered through this summer that seems to be a good look at global warming. Vermont has broken records for rainfall which has led to flooding around the state.

The heat affecting the rest of the country has reached Vermont. Thankfully, it’s not as bad as it’s been elsewhere. It’s gotten to around 90° (32° C) this past week, but 90° in Vermont after experiencing cooler temperatures feels much worse. I know there are places south of us who would love to have temperatures as low as 90°. Over the next few days, our temperatures will slowly decrease. By the end of next week, we’ll be back to having highs in the mid- to upper 60s (18-21° C). With the cooler temperatures will also come more rain.

Anyone who has experienced the weather this summer and still thinks that global warming/climate change isn’t real are just willfully ignorant and/or only listen to people who deny climate change. Most of the more vocal climate change deniers do so because it might cost them a little more to be less environmentally destructive or because their wealth is tied to the oil industry. If we don’t do more to safeguard the environment, the weather will continue to get hotter in the summer, winters will get shorter, though probably more intense, storms will continue to become more massive and destructive, among many more adverse effects.

If a heatwave came with the guy above, it might be more tolerable.

With all of the rain we have gotten in Vermont since Sunday, there has been extensive flooding around the state. If you’ve seen the news, you’ve probably seen some of the devastation in Montpelier. A lot of news coverage has been about Montpelier because it’s the state capital, but there has been flooding all over central Vermont: Barre, Berlin, East Montpelier, Waterbury, etc.  There was also flooding in Ludlow, Londonderry, and Middlebury. Towns all along the Winooski, Lamoille, and Missisqoi Rivers have seen flooding. For the moment, we seem to be past the worst of it. On the national news, the reporters in Montpelier were giving dire warnings about a dam that was close to being compromised just north of Montpelier, but by the time they were giving that report the danger had passed a few hours before and the dam was no longer in any danger.

While I was without power all Monday night, I have been fine otherwise. There has been flooding all around me, and all of my routes to work were closed due to flooding. I live on high ground, about several hundred feet above one of the flooded rivers, so I have not been in any danger. Road closures have not been updated this morning, so I am not sure about the status of the roads I’ll need to travel for work. However, the water has receded in n Montpelier, so it will probably be safe to get to work. I’m going to try to get to work, but if anything looks dangerous, I’ll head back home and work from home today. 

While the waters are receding and the level of the rivers is going down, there is more rain to come over the next several days. There may be more flooding but hopefully, we are passed the worst of it. Vermont had extensive flooding during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, but some places have not seen flooding this bad since the great floods of 1927. From what I’ve heard, there have been no deaths associated with the flooding, but the repairs to the extensive damage across the state will be a long, slow, and expensive process. Many businesses have suffered major damage. One shopping center next to me had flood waters up to the roofline. Sadly, that included the Chinese restaurant that I often stop to get dinner from on my way home and don’t want to cook. The full extent of the damage probably won’t be known for several days. Please keep my adopted state of Vermont in your prayers as it works to recover from this devastation.

QUICK UPDATE: Roads are still closed on my way to work, so I am working from home today. Hopefully, I will be able to make it into work tomorrow.

This weekend was picture perfect, and today should be as well. The sky has been blue without a cloud to be seen. Vermont tends to be a very cloudy state, especially in winter when there seems to almost always be snow in the air. Sunny days are a rarity. Even when we have them, there will be lots of clouds. So, to have three days in a row of sunshine without a cloud in the sky is a rarity indeed. Since I am not working today (or tomorrow) I’m going to try to enjoy the sunshine while I can.

The caption I saw for the above picture said that it was Bear Grylls and apparently, it’s from his Twitter account. However, that’s not really what this post is about. If you can see past his really nice derrière., you’ll see he’s standing on rocks and green grass while the stream in front of him is half frozen and there is snow on the ground across the stream. Vermont is a bit like this right now. Yesterday, we got up to 49 degrees, and today, we are expecting a high of 46. While it will be colder next week, this isn’t the weather I’ve come to expect during February in Vermont. It’s basically mud season and people are already beginning to tap their maple trees. I was outside today without a coat. I don’t think that has ever happened in February since I moved up here. 

This type of weather usually doesn’t come until April at the earliest, and more often than not, it isn’t like this until May. Everyone I know is afraid that the worst is yet to come. Not that they think it will continue to be warm, i.e., above freezing, but they think we will get slammed with lots of snow and bitterly cold temperatures before spring finally arrives for good.  It’s strange because two weeks ago, we had windchills of -40 and -50 degrees. Vermont weather is always unpredictable, but usually you can count on not seeing grass from late-December until mid-April. It just hasn’t been that way this year. It’s been very mild, other than those two days at the beginning of February. The ski resorts are struggling because not only is there a lack of snow, but it’s barely cold enough on the mountains for the snow to remain.

Anyway, talking about the weird weather right now was a good excuse to post a picture of a naked Bear Grylls.

Groundhog Day is a popular North American tradition observed in the United States and Canada and Australia on February 2. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and sees its shadow due to clear weather, it will retreat to its den, and winter will go on for six more weeks; if it does not see its shadow because of cloudiness, spring will arrive early. I’ve never taken much stock in Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil, probably the most famous of the groundhogs. However, this has been a very weird winter. We’ve had many days above freezing, and then this weekend we are expecting temperatures as low as -22 (with a windchill of -40) on Saturday and then 40 degree temperatures on Sunday. We’ve had days throughout January with barely any snow on the ground and then have two feet of snow the next day before the snow melts again by the end of the week.  

The weather is weird all over. Over Christmas when I was in Alabama, it was 50+ degrees when I landed, 18-22 degrees while I was there, and then went to 70 degrees on the day I left. They said I brought the cold with me, and maybe I did since it was “warmer” in Vermont on some of the days while I was gone. It was the coldest temperatures Alabama has had in decades.

Most people in Vermont believe that the worst of winter is yet to come, so if Punxsutawney Phil doesn’t hide from his shadow, I suspect all the Vermont’s woodchucks (what groundhogs are called in Vermont) will. I’ll never understand how people can see these extreme swings in the weather and the shorter winters and not believe the scientists who tell us global warming is a major danger and most certainly real. Most climate scientists say that the ski industry in Vermont, our major industry, will not be viable in a few decades because winters won’t be long enough to justify opening the resorts. It will also affect Vermont’s second major industry, maple syrup production.

If you’re in an area experiencing extreme cold this weekend, please stay warm.