Saturday, January 13, 2024

A red-breasted nuthatch and chickadee share our suet feeder

Morning Observation:

This morning in Huntington at 7:30AM it’s currently 40 degrees and raining under overcast skies. Winds are out of the southeast at 15-25 mph gusting to 38 mph (so far…) Relative humidity is 83%, dewpoint 36, barometric pressure 29.21”. We picked up 0.08” of rain/melted precipitation yesterday and 0.01” so far today. We have 5” of snow at the stake. Yesterday’s high was 38, and yesterday’s low was 22. The overnight low got down to 35.

This morning in North Hero it’s currently 39 degrees and raining under overcast skies. Winds are out of the south at 15-20 mph gusting to 30 mph. Relative humidity is 86%, dewpoint 35, barometric pressure 29.33”. We picked up 0.01” of rain/melted precipitation so far today, and are down to bare ground at the stake. Yesterday’s high was 31, and yesterday’s low was 22. The overnight low got down to 27.

There is a High Wind Warning in effect for our region until 11:00AM this morning.

Forecast Discussion:

Morning radar imagery shows the center of deep low pressure over Lake Superior at this hour with a warm front extending eastward into New England. Rain will persist through much of the day today as strong to damaging downslope winds continue along the western slopes of the Greens through midmorning. A trailing cold front is expected to cross the region later today as the aforementioned low tracks northeastward. Highs today will top out in the mid 40s today and begin to fall later this afternoon as winds switch into the southwest and mellow a bit. Precipitation is expected to switch over to periods of snow showers by this evening with little or no accumulation expected. A weak shortwave is expected to cross the region on Sunday bringing some snow showers and possible snow squalls with light accumulations possible. Dry and seasonable conditions are expected heading into early next week with the slight possibility of a coastal low developing Tuesday night into Wednesday. Stay tuned…

3-Day Forecast:

We’ll see cloudy skies today with rain showers before 5:00PM, then a chance of rain and snow showers. Highs will be near 40 with southeast winds 33-43 mph becoming southwesterly 9-14 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 70 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100% with daytime snow accumulations of less than 0.50″ possible. Tonight should be mostly cloudy with a low around 25 and southwest winds 14-20 mph gusting to 33 mph.

Sunday should be cloudy with afternoon snow showers likely. Highs will be near 29 with southwest winds 16-18 mph gusting to 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60% with snow accumulations of less than 0.50″ possible. Sunday night should be mostly cloudy with a 30% chance of snow showers. Lows will be around 16 with southwest winds 10-18 mph gusting to 29 mph. New snow accumulations of less than 0.50″ are possible.

Monday should be mostly cloudy with a high near 24 and southwest winds around 11 mph. Monday night should be mostly cloudy with a low around 11 and south winds 7-9 mph.

Almanac:

Last year on this date in Huntington we had a high of 40 and a low of 23. We picked up 0.64″ of rain and were down to bare ground at the stake.
Last year in North Hero we had a high of 24 and a low of 22. We picked up 0.36″ of rain and 0.10″ of snow and had a trace at the stake.

Burlington averages for this date are a low of 13 and a high of 29.
The record low was -20 in 1957.
The record high was 55 in 2005 (we had a high of 62 in Huntington).

The Lake Champlain lake level in Burlington is 98.23′.
The water temperature is 38˚.
Last year’s lake level was at 97.19′.

The Mt. Mansfield snow stake depth is 35″.
The average depth for this date is 39″.

Mt. Washington Summit Conditions
Current Temperature: 17
Winds are out of the SE at 87 gusting to 96 mph
24 hr Precipitation: 4.6″ snow, 0.57″ melted precipitation
Visibility: less than 1/16 mile under snow and freezing fog

Sky Notes:

Sunrise: 7:25AM
Sunset: 4:35PM
Length of day: 9:10:09
Today will be 1:36 longer than yesterday.

The Moon is a waxing crescent, 2 days old with 5% illumination.
Moonrise: 9:21AM
Moonset: 7:21PM

About Today’s Photo:

Continuing our bird feeder theme, a red-breasted nuthatch and chickadee share our suet feeder. No matter how much I encouraged them, however, I couldn’t get them to both look at the camera at the same time…

Sony A7II, Sigma 100-400mm lens @ 240mm, ISO 2500, f/6.3, 1/125″ exposure