Weather Rapport

Leggo My Eggo

2009-11-18T13:49:00.001-08:00

Weather events can really create a lot of unexpected consequences.

Remember that nasty flood in Atlanta back in September? It screwed up a Kellogg's Eggo production plant, and so now there's a shortage

The best part of the article in the link was a reference to a "distraught customer" who encountered an empty store shelf where the Eggos should have been.

No word yet on when this terrible crisis might ease. Hopefully we can get President Obama to abandon those inconsequential issues like health care and Afghanistan to solve this Eggo National Nightmare.

---Matt Sutkoski

Back to the Sun

2009-11-16T13:37:00.000-08:00

After Saturday's surprisingly heavy rainfall, we're back to the strangely sunny November weather, no complaints from me.
That rain Saturday was influence by the remains of Hurricane Ida. Burlington set a rainfall record for the date Saturday with 1.14 inches, beating 0.84 inches in 1959.
Montpelier also set a rainfall record for the date, with 1.74 inches, beating 0.93 inches in 1975.
At least that's not as bad as the Portland, Maine area, which got about five inches of rain.

In the storm's wake, before a cold front came through, it was strangely humid on Sunday. Dewpoints, a measure of how sticky it is, were in the low 50s, which is fairly common even in July.

Like I said, it's back to the sun for much of the rest of the week. Clear skies mean cold nights this time of year, and quite a few mountain valleys will see some morning lows in the teens during the middle of the week.

I found a cool YouTube time lapse video filmed at Middlebury College on Nov. 2. It was a nice day, but there were some interesting clouds. Some kept forming overhead. Some clouds were higher up in the sky than others. Since there were varying wind directions with elevation that day, they moved in varying directions.
---Matt Sutkoski

That nor'easter

2009-11-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

A lot of you have probably been watching that big nor'easter that caused a lot of damage in the mid-Atlantic states. Wasn't exactly The Perfect Storm, the granddaddy of them all from back in '91, but it was still something.

It was energized by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, plus another system out near Bermuda. You can see from the satellite pic from yesterday how wide ranging it was. And you can see thunderstorms out in the Atlantic feeding energy into the storm.

What does all this mean for us? Not much. The storm isn't coming, but a high pressure system that blocked the storm's moisture is going away. That means clouds will sweep in overnight and it looks rainy tomorrow, especially in the afternoon. But it will be no great shakes. It won't rain hard, the wind won't blow hard, it will just give us typical November gloom.

For those who want a vicarious thrill of the storm, since we won't get any drama, check out this YouTube video from Virginia Beach:

---Matt Sutkoski

Cool rock slide video

2009-11-11T06:28:00.000-08:00

Television station WDEF in Chattanooga, Tenn. caught this amazing video of a rock slide
in the mountains of Tennessee recently.
Was also on CNN:

----Matt Sutkoski

November sun

2009-11-10T10:33:00.000-08:00

You have no idea how lucky you are, Vermonters.

According to the National Weather Service tally so far this month, there has been only one cloudy day so far in November.

To keep the streak going, it'll clear up later today, and the next three days are forecast to be sunny.

Photo, by the Free Press Executive Editor Michael Townsend, shows people at Burlington's Oakledge Park enjoying a clear blue Sunday.

All this sun is all happening during what is normally the cloudiest month of the year. During an average November, the sun is out less than a third of the time it could be out. And of course the days are short, so it seems like it's always night.

On top of all this sun, we finally scored an Indian Summer. Better late than never, I suppose. Montpelier made it all the way up to 68 degrees yesterday breaking the old record high of 63, set in 1975. Burlington was 65 yesterday, not quite reaching the record of 67. Oh well.

For the maybe two people out there who like clouds, gloom and doom. Not to worry. Looks cloudy by Saturday.

----Matt Sutkoski

Ida, and Weatherman Obama

2009-11-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

Late season hurricane Ida was a bit of a surprise. It's been a quiet hurricane season, and it's winding down. There's usually not too much to report in November in the tropics.

Ida developed really fast since yesterday, and would have probably spun up as a pretty good hurricane, but it's coming ashore in Nicaragua too soon to really get going. Still, it looked pretty impressive on this satellite photo.

There's no way Ida will come here, but something to watch is that often the big storms that march across the country this time of year feed on Gulf of Mexico moisture. If moisture from Ida get into the act, it can really make it rain (or snow) hard here.

It's way too soon to say if that will happen a week or so down the road. It all depends on the timing and configuration of storms so we have to wait and see.

In something completely different: Love him or loathe him, you'd think President Obama would have enough on his plate, what with the economy, health care, Afghanistan, etc. But now he's a weather forecaster.
OK, not really THE president is doing the weather. But as CNN's Jeanne Moos reports, a Web site shows a cartoon of the president giving the daily forecast. The gist is, you have to see what he's wearing to get the forecast. For instance, shorts and a tank top means it's going to be hot.

What will people think of next? Wait, don't tell me. I don't want to know
---Matt Sutkoski

The Jay Cloud?

2009-11-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

I picked up the new copy of "Vermont Sports" today and they had an interesting article on the Jay Cloud.

The Jay Cloud refers to the fact that in the winter, there always seems to be a cloud over Jay Peak, dumping snow. The article asks whether the Jay Cloud is real or a marketing gimmick from Jay Peak Resort.

I thought the article by Peter Bronski was quite good, and spot on.

Basically, his conclusion was the cloud is certainly hyped by the resort, but it is for real, with some caveats.

Photo, by the way, from Weather Underground, shows a weak version of the Jay Cloud.

I bring all this up today because we are getting into a weather situation tomorrow in which the mountains will get some snow, for the same reason the Jay Cloud exists.

As Bronski points out, the Jay Cloud is not limited to Jay Peak. Anytime during the cold season, when there is a cold, relatively moist northwest airflow. (almost always in the winter, it seems) the air is forced to rise up the west slopes of the Green Mountains. The rising air wrings out the moisture, and it snows on the mountains. Often all the way from Jay Peak to near the Massachusetts border.

Jay Peak might get more snow because the ridge is oriented northeast to southwest, perpendicular to the airflow, so snow gets squeezed out more efficiently than in the rest of the Green Mountains, which are more north-south.

Also, as Bronski notes, Jay is at the northern end of Vermont. It's colder further north, so what falls as rain in many areas could be snow there.

Of course, there is the marketing. Look, Jay Peak President Bill Stenger isn't stupid. Of course he's going to hire a marketing department that goes on and on about all the snow Jay Peak gets. Any businessperson with half a brain wants to entice customers. So if it snows a lot on Jay Peak, why keep it a secret?

I've got a couple of good friends who basically live under the Jay Cloud, and it's interesting what a mixed reaction they have to it.

Denis, a resident of the town of Jay, is an avid snowshoer, He lives in the middle of a snowshoe paradise, thanks to the Jay Cloud. That makes him very, very happy. But it seems day and night in the winter, he's always shoveling out his driveway and his porch. This does not make him happy at all.

Just this morning, I was talking to the other good friend, Glen, who lives in Montgomery, just down the road from Jay Peak. A good chunk of his income depends upon the winter sports enthusiasts who flock to Jay Peak, so from that perspective, the Jay Cloud is excellent. But as we talked this morning, he bemoaned the fact it would probably rain here in the Champlain Valley, and he'd have to deal with snow at his house. Already. Here it comes, he said, not too enthusiastically.

I guess like everything else, there's good and bad in the iconic Jay Cloud.

---Matt Sutkoski

Spooky Halloween Weather

2009-10-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

Some trick or treaters might not like the forecast for Halloween, as showers will move in at the witching hour, the evening when most goblins and ghosts are out there.

Me, I think the weather will be perfect. Looks to be kinda stormy and windy, the kind of wet, dark evening where the wind makes shed doors creak and bang, bare limbs groan in the gale and dry, dead leaves skitter along the pavement like rushing, skeletal spirits.
So, I'll hang out at home, drink a little blood, do the Monster Mash with the ghouls amid the cobwebs in my dungeon and enjoy the storm.

Actually, we've lucked out, weatherwise, in recent years on Halloween, that is if you don't want particularly goulish weather. I did some checking and each of the past four Halloweens have been warmer than normal. Only one year in the past four had rain, and that was a trifling .02 inches in 2006.
The warmest Halloween by the way was 69 degrees in 1946 and the most bone chilling was 17 degrees in 1925, according to National Weather Service records for Burlington.

Some Halloweens had memorable weather. I remember one Halloween, might have been 1995, when a full moon came in and out between thunderstorms with scary, big lightning strikes and booming thunder.

And I really remember the Halloween of 1993 when an unusual large snowstorm started. I remember having a snowball fight that night on Burlington's Church Street with a gorilla, a pregnant nun, a pirate and a hooker. Oh, those were the days.

I included a couple of YouTube videos on this post that have nothing to do with the weather. But since I make up the rules here, I'll post 'em anyway. They fit the holiday.
Have a spooky, kooky Halloween
-Matt Sutkoski

Patterns repeat

2009-10-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

Very often, weather settles into a week long cycle, where storms hit each seventh day, almost like clockwork. We seem to be in one of those cycles.
Every Saturday since the middle of September, we've had to deal with a rain storm.
There are picky differences each time, of course. In some of those weeks, the storm was just departing on Saturday, other times the bad weather was just arriving on Saturday. And in one case, on Oct. 17, the storm went by just to our south, giving us little if any precip, but socking southern New England hard.
And sure enough, current projections give us some showers and wind Friday night and Saturday, we shall see if that all comes true.

Of course the storms that keep arriving on our weekends have generally been pretty benign, not causing significant damage for those of us in Vermont.
Like during other storms during the past couple of months, it's pretty wild in other parts of the country. There's the threat of tornadoes and floods today in the Southeast, from a storm that will give us a slight glancing blow tomorrow (few showers)
The upcoming weekend storm is causing high winds and the threat of fires in California, and a big snowstorm is forecast in Colorado.

For those who want more weather excitement in Vermont than we've been getting. Don't worry. I'm sure our time will come. Like it or not.
---Matt Sutkoski

Stick season intro

2009-10-22T06:09:00.000-07:00

The foliage was still pretty - bright with lots of gold and orange - as I made my way down from St. Albans to Burlington this morning, but expect things to be pretty leafless by the time Monday rolls around.

Leaves have been hanging on, but I noticed this morning in my yard they were falling at a pretty good rate, without being forced to by any wind or rain.

Next up: Wind and rain. A lot of the remaining leaves will thusly come down. Stick season arrives.

The winds of November, you know, the type Gordon Lightfoot sang about in "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," actually stir up in the second half of October, as the northern hemisphere transitions to bigger, windier winter-type storms.

A cold front will come through today with its showers and wind, so there go some leaves. A bigger storm Saturday promises more rain, and winds up to 40 mph, especially on the western slopes of the Green Mountains. Behind the storm on Sunday, blasts of gusty northwest winds will come through.

The bottom line: By Monday, get your raking muscles primed. By then, most, but not all, the leaves will be on the ground.

Stick season, for the uninitiated, is the time between foliage season and when the snow flies when it always seems to be dark, quiet, lifeless, gray, with a landscape of bare branches. I've used this photo illustrating stick season by West Rutland photographer David Jenne before, but I like the image so much I'll use it again.

---Matt Sutkoski

Incredibly cool satellite video

2009-10-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

Weather remains pretty quiet in these parts, but at least it has warmed up since the weekend.
Since things are kind of dull now, I was shopping around the Web looking for something interesting and boy did I hit paydirt.
The NOAA Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service put out an incredibly fascinating video of the 2008 hurricane season, which was on the active side. The video is a continuous loop from early summer into November of the movement of clouds and storms.

If you are fascinated by the weather like me, you have to watch the video again and again. The video shows virtually all of North America and the Atlantic Ocean. Not only do you see the tropical systems spin up, you can watch the fascinating movement and pattern of storms over the continent. And you can sort of focus on us to see how the storms over Vermont looked from space. (If you recall, it was quite a stormy summer and fall)

I'm going to keep exploring this Web site. They look like they have some great stuff.
Enjoy,
--Matt Sutkoski

Blah here, interesting elsewhere

2009-10-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

Another gray overcast day is underway in the Champlain Valley. We keep hearing about clearing skies, but there is low level moisture trapped in elevations under 5,000 feet. The sun is much weaker than it is in the summer. In the summer, the strong sun erodes the clouds and clears us up quickly. No such luck as we head toward winter.

Get used to this. The low clouds, drizzle and flurries are usually pretty common as we head into November and December. The final two months of the year are normally the cloudiest months of the year. The last half of October is sometimes pretty cloudy, too.

There is hope for some sun for the rest of the week, especially in northern Vermont as dry air from Canada might erode the clouds. Some breaks are already forming, as you can see from the accompanying Web cam shot from the National Weather Service in South Burlington, which was taken at about 11:20 a.m.

It's blah here, but exciting, or nasty elsewhere, depending on your perspective. Winter storm warnings are up for parts of Pennsylvania, where a heavy wet snow is forecast. That storm will miss us, though a few sprinkles or flurries might reach into southern Vermont.

In California, a storm the other day destroyed the world's largest corn maze. Photo shows the destroyed corn.

From Moscow, a video and photos have gone viral of a weird cloud over the city. Lots of people are saying "aliens" but meteorologists are saying it's a natural occurance, brought on by repeated cold fronts crossing the city, a local downdraft creating the hole in the clouds, and a very low sun angle serving to really light up the circular low area in the clouds.

I'm siding with the scientists, not the alien boosters. (Yes, I know, I'm absolutely no fun)

But watch the video and see for yourself:

---Matt Sutkoski

October snow

2009-10-13T08:30:00.000-07:00

Well, it did end up snowing in a lot of Vermont after all, as most of you already know. Nothing huge. The most I saw reported was 3.2 inches around Walden in Caledonia County. The National Weather Service in South Burlington issued a complete list of snow totals a little while ago.

The forecast was pretty much accurate, though I think the snow reached lower elevations that some people thought. There was rain mixed with snow at my house near the bottom of Fairfield Hill in St. Albans. I'm at an elevation of about 500 ft. The top of the hill, from about 800-1000 ft. above level, had a thin scrim of wet snow on the grass and trees.

A lot of people are saying, Oh my God, already, with this snow, but it's not that unusual. And there have been bigger snowstorms this time of year. On Oct. 3-4, 1987, parts of Vermont got more than a foot of wet snow. That made trees still in leaf collapse under the weight of the slush, cutting power and stranding quite a few thoroughly chilled leaf peepers. Another similar storm in Oct. , 2005 caused similar havoc.

Today's snow wasn't nearly enough to cause real problems. The only thing we have to deal with is a chilly rest of the week. It will feel like November, not October, through Saturday.

My colleague, Lynn Monty, recorded a nice video of today's snow near her Hinesburg home. Have a look:
---Matt Sutkoski

Falling Fast

2009-10-12T03:09:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to do some leaf peeping Saturday afternoon with my friend Jeff. The morning had been foggy and drizzly, so I despaired at not being able to see anything, but as you can see from the accompanying photo I took in Richmond, the day abruptly turned gorgeous.

We took so many back roads that poor Jeff had no idea where he was all afternoon. We mostly avoided tourist areas, but we did note that when we did see the out of state leaf peepers, they were mostly on their best behavior. There was no taking pictures on the middle of a busy road behind a blind curve, no meltdowns over unsatisfactory weather. The only rough spot was two bicyclists who would just not get out of the way for us on a road in Huntington. Hey, nobody's perfect.

As we drove on dirt roads in central Vermont, a blizzard of leaves was falling in the breeze. The foliage was fading before our eyes.

I hope you had a chance to see the foliage because it's going fast. The leaves, and the temperature are falling fast. Late tonight and tomorrow morning, a lot of us will see some snow fall as well.

Don't worry, it won't be scary. A couple of inches for those of you living at elevations above 1,500, and maybe a few wet snowflakes mixed with the rain drops in the Champlain Valley.

Burlington had its first frost of the season this morning, about six days later than average. That cold will also encourage the leaves to fall. The whole week will feel like November. The reality of winter is setting in.

Before I drive you to drink at 9 in the morning talking about gray skies and cold, cheer up. There will be some color on the trees for a week or two yet, and there will have to be an Indian Summer in there somewhere before deer hunting season.

---Matt Sutkoski

Wind and foliage

2009-10-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

I saw some Facebook traffic a little while ago with comments from people worried the windy thunderstorms that passed through earlier today would wreck the foliage.

This comes as the forecast for the next few days is for more wind and rain, especially Friday night. Photo, by the way, was taken by Free Press photographer Glenn Russell. It was taken Monday in Richmond, a day that had sort of a mix of sun, and wind and rain, as you can kind of tell by the photo.

My experience is that the wind and rain will diminish the foliage a little in some areas, but it won't be fatal. I'd stick to the leap peeping plans this weekend.

It's true today's wind and rain knocked down quite a few leaves. But except in high elevations and in the Northeast Kingdom, most of the leaves aren't quite ready to come down yet.

I've noticed in past years what really brings down the leaves is a hard, hard freeze. That could come next week, I'm not sure yet. We will be trending toward colder weather starting this weekend and lots of chilly air seems to want to come down from Canada. I wouldn't even be that surprised if a few snowflakes fall on valley floors by about Tuesday. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

So you'll probably find some leafless trees on your foliage travels this weekend, because of the relatively stormy weather lately. But you'll still find plenty of color, too. And no, this is not a paid advertisement from the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing.

---Matt Sutkoski

Another Cold Winter Forecast

2009-10-05T12:29:00.000-07:00

Yet another weather outfit has forecast a nasty winter for us. Earlier this autumn, the Old Farmer's Almanac and the Farmer's Almanac (two separate publications) said we were in for a very cold winter.

Now comes Accuweather blogger Henry Margusity, who says we're in for a blockbuster winter, with temperatures well below normal and above normal snowfall. He gets specific, predicting the snowfall for the winter in dozens of cities, including Burlington. He says Burlington will get 108 inches of snow compared to the normal of 77 inches.

The National Climate Center kind of punts, giving us equal chances of a warm or cold or dry or wet winter.

I don't know. I'm skeptical. My completely non-scientific sense is this winter will be kind of average. Yes, we'll get some nasty cold spell, well below zero, but we will get some relatively mild periods as well. I'm just basing this on gut feelings.

OK readers, what do you think we'll get this winter?

---Matt Sutkoski

Foliage Tips

2009-10-02T06:46:00.000-07:00

Peak fall foliage has arrived in much of the mid and higher elevations of northern Vermont and is approaching peak in the next week or two elsewhere in the state.

Photos, by the way are by our Free Press photog, Glenn Russell, who, as you can tell by the snow on the trees in one of the photos, encountered a variety of weather on and near Mount Mansfield Thursday.

Allow me to be presumptious as a native Vermonter and offer some leaf peeping tips:

Don't Sweat the Peak: Peak foliage is in the eye of the beholder. Some people like a bit of green mixed in, some like some of the browns and grays of bare branches thrown into the mix. Basically, you'll find great color on any trip across Vermont in the next three weeks. No need to search out the exact spot at the exact time where foliage is exactly peak.

Rain and clouds can be your friend: We all like the glow of sun and blue skies on foliage, but sometimes rain and clouds can make for a rewarding leaf peeping trip. Bright foliage contrasting against fog or dark clouds can be stunning. You're in luck this weekend. Some rain and lots of clouds are due Saturday, but the sun will come out Sunday. You get the best of both worlds.

Think Early and Late: I like to go leaf peeping before 10 a.m. and after 2 p.m. The low light slanting against the trees, mountains and landscape makes the viewing all the more dramatic and beautiful.

Go off the beaten path: No doubt, popular tourists routes like Vermont 100 are great, but to avoid the crowds and to often get some great views, take some back roads. Be adventurous and try dirt roads you've never been on before. A game I like to play is to turn on to a road I've never used before. Then as soon as I come out in a place I've been before (it always happens) the rule is to find the very next road I've never taken and go there. I like to look at my copy of the Vermont Gazetteer to plot routes.

Get out of the Car: Instead of watching the foliage whiz by from your car window, park the damn thing and hoof it. Or bike it. You really get to examine the details of the beauty of fall if you just slow down. Try finding mountains to hike that aren't the most popular tourist attractions, just for something different. Good bets this weekend, as in, some of my favorite places, include Elmore Mountain and the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail, especially the parts north and east of Sheldon

Dress the part: Fall weather can be surprising, to say the least. During peak foliage, I've experienced everything from a major, heavy snowstorm to heat and humidity. Take some extra clothes with you so you're ready for surprising turns in the weather.

Enjoy: The one rule about leaf peeping is there are no rules. What I've given you are just suggestions. As you go out, just make things up as you go along. Sometimes unplanned adventures are the best. So have fun

---Matt Sutkoski

Brrrr....

2009-09-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

Anyone who was in denial that fall is here can abandon their delusions today. It is chilly out there. A lot of places in the northern half of Vermont won't even get above 50 degrees today and tomorrow.

And take a gander at the mountain tops like Mount Mansfield, Camels Hump and Jay Peak tomorrow morning. I betcha they'll be white with a bit of snow and rime ice. That's not really early. Usually the first mountain whitening comes right about this time of year. And no worries, it won't snow down here in the valleys.

It will be a pretty common sight for the next month, with snow in the mountains and foliage in the lowlands. The photo here, taken by Alison Redlich, shows foliage and snow in Stowe in October, 2005.

The chilly weather isn't so bad for me, at least not yet. I went for a run at dawn today, and came back home with that kind of refreshing glow you feel after exercising in the cold. I haven't felt that since at least April and it felt good. But don't worry, by early January at the latest, I will be whining about the cold and begging for global warming to really kick in.

Some people are already crying uncle. Yesterday, when the temperature was about 55 degrees, I saw a woman on a Burlington street wearing a ski parka and a scarf wrapped snugly across her face. I'd hate to see what happens to her come winter, when it is 20 below.

Fear not, there will still be some fading hints of warmth before winter hits. It will warm up some Friday, and even more Saturday, but rain will accompany that. Looks like the next decent day for leaf peeping will be Sunday, when skies should kind of clear up and temperatures will be comfortable enough.

Stay warm

----Matt Sutkoski

A Wetter Turn

2009-09-28T07:56:00.001-07:00

Up through the 21st of this month, we were on track to have the driest September on record. B then, only 0.54 inches of rain had fallen during the month.
What a difference a week makes. Including the 1.61 inches of rain that soaked Burlington yesterday, we're up to 3.38 inches. And the rains with a cold front coming later today will likely bring us up to the normal monthly rainfall of 3.83 inches.
A list of rainfall around the state in the past 24 hours shows everybody got a pretty good soaking, with a lot of places reporting over an inch of rain.
Current weather radar shows today's precip moving through the Northeast.
We needed the rain. That long dry spell that started in mid-August really dried things out. Yesterday, in the drizzle that preceded the deluge, I was digging holes in my St. Albans yard to transplant bushes and flowers. Despite a one-inch rainfall last week, the soil was dusty and dry just a couple of inches beneath the surface.
Autumn rains are good because they recharge the water table. The summer sun's heat draws moisture out of the ground, and forest tree roots suck up the water from the soil as well. Now, the sun isn't so strong and the trees are going dormant, so the rain goes into the ground much better.
Just be glad the rain wasn't too heavy. During a tropical storm over the weekend, Manilla in the Phillipines had 16.4 inches of rain in six hours, ten times what Burlington got yesterday. The YouTube video in this post shows the results. It's in a parking lot within a Manilla medical complex.

--Matt Sutkoski

Dry Spell Ends, at least here

2009-09-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

As of late Wednesday afternoon, it was raining hard in downtown Burlington, and forecasters said some areas could receive an inch of rain in these showers. That would end the long dry spell that began in mid-August, and for your record breaking lovers, ends our chances of having the driest September on record.
The weather pattern is looking a bit more unsettled in the coming days, so expect more rain. Nice tomorrow through Saturday, but it's looking showery from Sunday to at least Wednesday.
And the four letter "s" word cropped up in the National Weather Service/South Burlington forecast discussion.
That's right, kiddies, early indications are that some snow could dust the mountain tops next Wednesday night. We'll see if that happens, but if it does, it would come about on schedule.

For a look at some really dry conditions, check out the video of the dust storm in Sydney, Austrailia from CNN. It looks like Mars. Was the worst dust storm there since the 1940s,
---Matt Sutkoski

Autumn Creeps In.

2009-09-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

Astronomical autumn arrived with no fanfare at 5:18 this morning, when many of us were too busy sleeping to notice

I was up at that hour, and believe me, there was no fanfare. In fact, it felt like a July morning with temperatures after 5 a.m. in the low 60s.

There's no mistaking autumn is here, though. I was shocked on the way into work how fast the trees are turning, especially after those chilly nights over the weekend.

Photo, by Ryan Mercer, shows fall pumpkins at Sam Mazza's in Colchester.

Our behavior has changed with the season, too, as we step up the pace after a languid summer and get on to those fall chores before winter really sets in.

I've been frantically cutting back all the brush that grew over the summer, getting it done before my attention turns to raking leaves, transplanting bushes, taking in the deck furniture, storing the lawn equipment and preparing the compost piles for winter.

Denis in Jay is housepainting and deck staining, cursing the fact that it gets dark earlier and earlier on him, shortening the time he has to work.

Glen in Montgomery, an avid gardener, had to clean the debris that was his garden Sunday, after a white frost wiped the vegetables out. Glen, who is also a baker, says the good thing is he likes baking bread much more now that it is not roasting hot in his kitchen, like in summer.

Glenn in Burlington has been going to the beach below his house every chance he gets with his dog Oly, soaking up the last of the season's sun rays.

Lynn in West Rutland had her annual Emergency Frost Harvest from her garden the other day, and is now faced with the task of canning and freezing her veggies.

Laurie in high elevation Shrewsbury has been watching the skies, knowing that snow isn't too far away.

I'm sure you, dear readers, have your own major tasks before it gets cold. We're all like those pre-winter squirrels aren't we? They're chasing around with nuts in their mouth, and we're going nuts getting our homes and yards set for winter.

Isn't autumn grand?

-Matt Sutkoski

Fun with Clouds

2009-09-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

The Free Press' great Hometown section reporter, Lynn Monty, is always out and about in Chittenden County towns, notebook and camera in hand scouting out the latest fun and newsy things going on out there.

Luckily for us, she sometimes points her camera at the sky, and comes back with some magic. Like on last Friday, when she spotted this arc shaped area of altocumulus clouds over Williston.

They're some of the most beautiful clouds out there, and are sometimes referred to as "mackeral sky," I guess because they sort of resemble fish scales.

Alto cumulus clouds are often a sign of an approaching storm, and one was approaching us from the mid-Atlantic states on Friday. The storm never really got here to any great extent, because high pressure over Quebec deflected it to the east.

The next photo, is a great satellite shot of Typhoon Choi-Wan out in the Pacific Ocean yesterday. Got the snapshot from Jesse Farrell's blog over at Weathermatrix/Accuweather.

If you look closely around the typhoon's eye, you can really see the swirl patternin the Catagory 5 storm.

Finally, we have a view from Mount Washington, N.H. from the folks at the Mount Washington Observatory, forwarded by N.H. weather friend Ellen. The smooth cloud on the upper part of the photo is formed from wind going up and over the mountain, kind of like the wave you see a bit downstream from a rock protruding from a stream.

This post proves the adage. People with their heads up in the clouds sometimes find some cool things

---Matt Sutkoski

Hurricane Reading

2009-09-14T07:20:00.001-07:00

My terrific friend Ellen gave me a great trashy novel called "Catagory 7" by Bill Evans with Marianna Jameson. I finished reading it last night.

It has all the fun of a low brow read for weather and storm fans like me.

A company CEO, environmentalist and scientist has figured out how to control the weather and wants to help bring rain to needy areas. But he is clouded by his hate of U.S. President Win Benson and seeks revenge against him by unleashing huge Hurricane Simone on the East Coast. A perfect read right now since it is the peak of hurricane season.

The body count is high, the science is preposterous, the villians are exactly what you would expect, there's a little sex and plenty of descriptions of destruction.

The book got me thinking about other tropical storm or hurricane books. My favorite is "Tricky Business" by humorist Dave Barry. In this over the top farce of a crime novel, the gambling cruise ship Extravanganza of the Seas sets sail from Miami into the teeth of Tropical Storm Hector.

There's lots of hysterically funny, inept criminals, a high body count in which people die in humiliating ways, and plenty of other moronic people. Though Tropical Storm Hector is not particularly strong, it decimates the staff of the Newsplex Nine television news team, who do incredibly stupid things and die while covering the drama of Hector.

My two favorite non fiction hurricane books are "Isaac's Storm," by Erik Larson, which recounts the 1900 Galveston hurricane which killed 6,000 people. The book focuses on Isaac Cline, a meteorologist who unsuccessfully tried to warn the residents of Galveston of the impending danger.

Of course there's also "The Perfect Storm" by Sebastian Junger, which focuses on a sinking fishing boat off the New England Coast during the 1991 "Perfect Storm" which was a massive storm that came about when a nor'easter and a hurricane collided.

And of course there is a wealth of fascinating books about Hurricane Katrina.

Other media get into hurricanes as well. One of my favorite songs that involves hurricanes, (other than "Hurricane" by Bob Dylan, which is about a boxer, not a storm) is "Lost and Found" by the Kinks.It's about a couple enduring a personal storm while outside, a hurricane slams into New York City.

Finally, there's a video slide show from YouTube of Hurricane Katrina photos as the song "Mercy Now" by the amazing singer/songwriter Mary Gauthier plays. A warning: If you are a human being, you will cry during this video.

Which makes me think: I'm entertained and informed by all this hurricane and weather media, but real people suffer and die in these storms. Please remember to remember them.

---Matt Sutkoski

The Almanac says.....

2009-09-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

The Old Farmer's Almanac is out and has a mixed forecast for us. There are many almanacs out there, but this one is sort of the venerable one that a lot of us New Englanders tend to turn to.

Their forecast, for what it's worth, calls for a sort of warm December and February, but a cold January. Almost all of 2010 looks to be on the dry side, according to the Almanac. The publication also calls for a cool spring, kind of a chilly summer and a so-so autumn of 2010.

I like the little punny poems they have in there for some forecasts. Because they're groaners. For the first half of February, we get this: "Punxsatawney Phil's befuddled; rain and snow are mixed and muddled. With your valentine be cuddled by a fireplace happily huddled."

Or early March: "Lamb-y then whammy! Get some tickets to Miami!"

Finally, early September: "Drizzle, drizzle hair will frizzle (if not hers, then surely his'll.)"

For the record, my forecast for the coming year is for pretty mild weather through most of December, a kind of warm, dry winter; a chilly, wet spring, and a hot, somewhat dry summer of 2010, with the first half of the summer being the hottest, and a few bouts of really wild thunderstorms, especially after July 4.

The Old Farmer's Almanac forecast is based on a variety of factors including sun cycles. My forecast is based on a highly scientific formula based on whatever pops into my head when I feel like making a long range forecast.

Check back in a year to see if the almanac or I was closer.

---Matt Sutkoski

Spread Fred

2009-09-09T06:42:00.003-07:00

Hurricane Fred sure blossomed impressively way out there in the eastern Atlantic. It went from basically nothing a couple days ago to a fast-strengthening, soon-to-be-major hurricane.

At left is a satellite pic of it from this morning. It shows the classic swirl of a healthy hurricane.

Fred is going to be one of those harmless storms that don't hit any land, and then fall apart, the

victim of cold water and unfavorable winds. By Sunday, forecasters said it will just be a collection of disorganized clouds, still way out there in the eastern Atlantic.

As for us, can you believe this incredible stretch of weather? The outdoor chores, hiking, just watching sunsets has been amazing for nearly two weeks now.

There has been no measurable rain in Burlington since Aug. 30. The next chance of rain is a small risk of just a tiny bit of precipitation Friday night.

Who knows what the rest of the month will bring? For the record, the driest September on record was in 1927, with just 0.68 inches of rain.

Of course, many of us know what came to Vermont later that autumn of 1927. By far the worst disaster in the state's history, the great flood of '27, came on Nov. 3-4. Hopefully, history won't repeat itself.

---Matt Sutkoski