Thursday, July 27, 2023

A stone spider prowls the beach

Morning Observation:

This morning in North Hero at 6:20AM it’s currently 72 degrees and raining under overcast skies. Winds are out of the south at 6-9 mph. Relative humidity is 92%, dewpoint 70, barometric pressure 29.82”. We picked up 0.02” of rain so far today. Yesterday’s high was 81, and yesterday’s low was 68. The overnight low got down to 70.

This morning in Huntington it’s currently 69 degrees and raining lightly under overcast skies. Winds are calm. Relative humidity is 94%, dewpoint 68, barometric pressure 29.86”. Yesterday’s high was 86, and yesterday’s low was 59. The overnight low got down to 66.

There are Flood Watches posted for our region from 7:00AM this morning until 8:00PM tonight.

Forecast Discussion:

Morning radar imagery shows low pressure over Toronto at this hour with showers lifting into the North Country along a warm front. The low is expected to weaken as it tracks through our region today and moves east of the Connecticut River valley tonight. We’ll see widespread showers with some embedded thunderstorms throughout the day today, and flood watches have been posted for our region. While the flash flood threat isn’t nearly what it has been recently, southern areas will have the best chance of some training thunderstorms, so be aware if you’re in flood prone regions. High pressure is expected to build in for Friday bringing a hot and humid day with highs in the upper 80s with some places hitting the low 90s. Dewpoints will be in the 60s as well, so it’ll be a muggy one… A cold front is expected to drop through the region sometime Friday night into Saturday. Forecast models are a bit cagey about the timing and placement of the front as it is expected to stall somewhere across New England on Saturday and act as a conduit for low pressure to ride along it bringing widespread rainfall again Friday night into Saturday. The front is expected to drop south of the region by Saturday night/Sunday morning bringing in a much more refreshing airmass with highs in the 70s expected Sunday and dewpoints in the 30s and 40s.

3-Day Forecast:

We’ll see cloudy skies today with rain and a possibly of thunderstorms. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Highs will be near 77 with south winds 7-14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100% with rainfall amounts between b0.75”-1” possible. Tonight should gradually become mostly clear with a low around 62 and west winds 5-7 mph becoming light southerly in the evening.

Friday should be mostly sunny and hot with a high near 89 and south winds 5-8 mph in Huntington and 9-15 mph over Lake Champlain. Friday night should be mostly cloudy with a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows will be around 63 with southwest wind 5-10 mph becoming northwest after midnight. Rainfall amounts between 0.10″-0.25″ are possible with higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Saturday should be mostly cloudy with showers likely, mainly before 2:00PM. Highs will be near 73 with northwest winds 6-11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60% with rainfall amounts between 0.50”-0.75” possible. Saturday night should be partly cloudy with a 30% chance of showers before 8:00PM. Lows will be around 53 in Huntington and 59 in North Hero with northwest winds 3-6 mph.

Almanac:

Last year on this date in Huntington we had a high of 81 and a low of 51.
Last year in North Hero we had a high of 78 and a low of 66.

Burlington averages for this date are a low of 63 and a high of 83.
The record low was 46 in 2001 (We had a low of 42 in Huntington).
The record high was 98 in 1949.

The Lake Champlain lake level in Burlington is 98.64′.
The water temperature is 76˚.
Last year’s lake level was at 95.04′.

Sky Notes:

Sunrise: 5:33AM
Sunset: 8:22PM
Length of day: 14:49:04
Today will be 2:08 shorter than yesterday.

The Moon is waxing gibbous, 8.7 days old with 64% illumination.
Moonrise: 3:46PM
Moonset: 12:17AM

About Today’s Photo:

Stone spiders are common along our cobbled beach here in North Hero. These diminutive members of the wolf spider family skitter about the rocks and stones in search of small insects and invertebrates. This little guy—maybe 2cm wide—was lurking near a decomposing log that carpenter ants were mining—hence the sawdust.

Sony A7II, Sony 24-240mm lens @ 240mm, ISO 800, f/13, 1/640″ exposure