From Burlington to Bennington, Vermont is having a rather hot summer, according to National Weather Service data.
The average high temperatures for June and July this year were above the 30-year average for at least four longstanding weather stations across the state: Burlington, Montpelier, St. Johnsbury and Bennington.
To get a read on how the whole summer measures up, we’ll have to wait. The National Weather Service defines the “meteorological summer” as June, July and August.
It’s also been drier than average in Burlington, Montpelier and St. Johnsbury, although Bennington had more typical rainfall for June and July.
None of those locations quite broke the record for average monthly temperature so far this year. But weather service meteorologist Matthew Clay said multiple one-day records were hit — like in Burlington on June 23, when the daily high hit a whopping 99 degrees Fahrenheit.
Those instances are becoming more common.
“If I could go and look at every record statement that we sent out for a year, the vast majority of those are going to be record highs compared to record lows,” he said.
The Burlington weather station has records going back more than a century. They show that the city has experienced a gradual rise in the number of very hot days over the past 20 to 30 years.
The weather service has also issued six heat advisories so far this summer, a reflection of the health and public safety dangers of extreme heat. But Clay said it was difficult to compare that with previous years because the weather service lowered its threshold for issuing advisories from 100 degrees to 95 degrees in 2018.
Also, the weather service’s threshold for heat advisories is lower in Vermont than in hotter places in the country, in part because Vermonters may be less able to handle the heat when it arrives.
“If it’s your first 90-degree day right after 50-degree weather, your body’s not acclimated,” he said.
There’s also fewer homes with air conditioning in this part of the country compared to, for example, Arizona, Clay noted.
“We don’t have centralized air in a lot of places in New England, so we don’t have the ability to cool off like they do in the South, where the air conditioning is more prevalent,” he said.
Emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses spiked the week of June 22, when temperatures rose in Burlington and elsewhere, according to the Vermont Department of Health.
Heat-related illnesses have fluctuated year to year, but “rates have been trending upwards since 2003,” according to the health department website. The department also has recommendations on how to keep cool and prevent heat-related injuries on its website.
The weather is expected to stay cooler — in the 70s and low 80s — over the weekend, but parts of the state could see temperatures rise to the mid-80s next week, according to weather service predictions.
Clay said that heat does tend to come in “waves.”
“Sometimes you have these warmer spells, you have cooler spells,” he said. “You can’t just say that it’s all related to one thing or another, but we are seeing that, overall, our temperatures are warming.”
