Tuesday, February 20, 2024

A morning visitor on one of our camp cameras

Morning Observation:

This morning in Huntington at 7:05AM it’s currently 7 degrees under cloudy skies. Winds are calm. Relative humidity is 89%, dewpoint 5, barometric pressure 30.47”. We have 9” of snow at the stake. Yesterday’s high was 26, and yesterday’s low was 0. The overnight low got down to -2.

This morning in North Hero it’s currently 16 degrees under cloudy skies. Winds are calm. Relative humidity is 82%, dewpoint 11, barometric pressure 30.56”. We have 1” of snow at the stake. Yesterday’s high was 27, and yesterday’s low was 11. The overnight low got down to 10.

Forecast Discussion:

After a chilly start to the day, morning clouds are expected to give way to partly or mostly sunny skies today as high pressure continues its hold over the region. We’ll see highs today bump up into the upper 20s with light winds. The ridge of high pressure will shift to our east overnight tonight setting up a southerly airflow allowing for temperatures to bump up into the upper 30s under sunny skies Wednesday and low 40s on Thursday with gusty south winds. Clouds will be on the increase Thursday out ahead of our next storm system. Disorganized low pressure will bring widespread rain to the region during the day on Friday. A sharp cold front is expected to cross the region later Friday evening/night bringing a rapid drop in temperatures along with a bit of wrap up snow. Stay tuned…

3-Day Forecast:

We’ll see partly sunny skies today with a high near 29 and light and variable winds. Tonight should be mostly clear with a low around 15 and south winds 5-10 mph.

Wednesday should be sunny and unseasonably warm with a high near 39 and south winds 8-11 mph in Huntington and 21-25 mph over Lake Champlain. Wednesday night should be partly cloudy with a low around 25 and south winds 8-10 mph in Huntington and 20-23 mph over Lake Champlain.

Thursday should be mostly cloudy with a high near 42 and south winds 10-20 mph. Thursday night should be cloudy with a 50% chance of rain and snow showers. Lows will be around 33 with south winds 9-15 mph. Rainfall amounts of less than 0.10″ are possible.

Almanac:

Last year on this date in Huntington we had a high of 44 and a low of 28. We had 4″ of snow at the stake.
Last year in North Hero we had a high of 42 and a low of 24. We were down to bare ground at the stake.

Burlington averages for this date are a low of 15 and a high of 33.
The record low was -13 in 1968.
The record high was 59 in 2018 (we had a high of 50 in Huntington).

The Lake Champlain lake level in Burlington is 96.68′.
The water temperature is 35˚.
Last year’s lake level was at 96.39′.

The Mt. Mansfield snow stake depth is 64″.
The average depth for this date is 61″.

Mt. Washington Summit Conditions
Current Temperature: -5˚
Winds are out of the north at 70 gusting to 82 mph.
24 hr Precipitation: 0.2″ snow, 0.03″ melted precipitation
Visibility: around 1/16 mile with freezing fog and blowing snow

Sky Notes:

Sunrise: 6:44AM
Sunset: 5:27PM
Length of day: 10:42:41
Today will be 2:55 longer than yesterday.

The Moon is waxing gibbous, 11 days old with 84% illumination.
Moonrise: 1:23PM
Moonset: 5:07AM

About Today’s Photo:

I just happened to check out our lake camera this morning when this playful fox was cavorting in the snow by the lake. I managed to get a short video of the fox. The photo is a screenshot of a blown-up video, so the quality it’s up to my usual snuff, but I wanted to share it anyway as it’s quite a lovely beast! I pointed out fox tracks in yesterday’s post right in the same location, so here’s the likely critter responsible! Check out the tail in the snippet below: