Saturday, January 20, 2024

A halo around last evening’s moon

Morning Observation:

This morning in Huntington at 7:35AM it’s currently 4 degrees under cloudy skies. Winds are calm. Relative humidity is 81%, dewpoint -1, barometric pressure 29.96”. We have 7.5” of snow at the stake. Yesterday’s high was 19, and yesterday’s low was 2. The overnight low got down to 2.

This morning in North Hero it’s currently 7 degrees under cloudy skies. Winds are calm. Relative humidity is 76%, dewpoint 1, barometric pressure 30.11”. We have 1” of snow at the stake, and our south-facing cove has a thin skim of ice extending out a couple hundred yards. Yesterday’s high was 21, and yesterday’s low was 7. The overnight low got down to 6.

Forecast Discussion:

We’ve got a chilly couple of days ahead courtesy of modified Arctic air that has pushed into the region on building high pressure. Highs today will be in the upper single digits to low teens and drop back into the single digits either side of zero tonight. A weak disturbance will drop through the region during the day today bringing some light snow showers to Vermont with northwest facing slopes of the northern Greens and ‘Dacks perhaps picking up 1″-3″ of fluff. Sunday’s looking dry and cold with highs again only in the low teens but with some breaks of sun expected in the afternoon under cresting high pressure. The high is expected to slide to our east Monday setting up a southerly airflow and allowing temperatures to recover back to more seasonable levels. Diffuse shortwave energy will swing through later in the day Monday bringing some light snow showers into Monday night. Unsettled and warming conditions are expected from midweek into the weekend with a general southwesterly upper level airflow steering several weak systems through the region. While nothing looks particularly impactful, we’ll see off-and-on rounds of precipitation with both rain and snow as temperatures approach 40 degrees on Thursday and into the weekend.

3-Day Forecast:

We’ll see cloudy skies today with snow showers likely, mainly after 1:00PM. Highs will be near 11 with northwest winds 9-13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70% with daytime snow accumulations of less than 1″ possible. Tonight should be cloudy with snow showers likely, mainly before 8:0PM. Lows will be around 5 with northwest winds 10-15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60% with new snow accumulations of less than 1″ possible.

Sunday should be mostly sunny with a high near 14 and northwest winds 9-15 mph. Sunday night should be mostly clear with a low around 5 and calm winds becoming southerly around 6 mph after midnight.

Monday should be mostly sunny with a high near 30 and south winds 8-14 mph. Monday night should be cloudy with a low around 23 and southwest winds 7-11 mph.

Almanac:

Last year on this date in Huntington we had a high of 38 and a low of 28. We had 2″ of snow at the stake.
Last year in North Hero we had a high of 35 and a low of 26. We picked up 3″ of new snow and had 5.5″ at the stake.

Burlington averages for this date are a low of 12 and a high of 28.
The record low was -22 in 1970.
The record high was 52 in 1951.

The Lake Champlain lake level in Burlington is 97.94′.
The water temperature is 37˚.
Last year’s lake level was at 97.16′.

The Mt. Mansfield snow stake depth is 55″.
The average depth for this date is 43″.

Mt. Washington Summit Conditions
Current Temperature: 3˚
Winds are out of the north at 23 gusting to 35 mph
24 hr Precipitation: 0.1″ snow, 0.01″ melted precipitation
Visibility: around 1/16 mile with freezing fog and blowing snow.

Sky Notes:

Sunrise: 7:21AM
Sunset: 4:44PM
Length of day: 9:22:58
Today will be 1:59 longer than yesterday.

The Moon is waxing gibbous, 9.6 days old with 73% illumination.
Moonrise: 12:08PM
Moonset: 3:04AM

About Today’s Photo:

Last night’s waxing gibbous moon sported a nice halo as light filtered through upper atmosphere ice crystals. A smattering of stars and bright Jupiter to the right complete the scene.

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