BTV June Recap

Happy July 1st! We have now officially entered what is climatologically the warmest month of the year in Burlington, VT. This graph shows the annual average max (red), mean (orange), and min (green) temperatures for each month of the year at Burlington International Airport (BTV), based on climate normals from 1981 to 2010, and it is clear that we are now in the warmest month of the year, where mean daily temperatures are around 70 °F.

Climograph for BTV (NCDC)

But before we get ahead of ourselves and look too much into July, I wanted to take a look back at June 2020.

BTV June temperature graph (xmACIS)

The above graph shows temperature data for the month, with the dark blue bars being the range of temperatures that we saw on each day. Evidently, it was a fairly warm month, with no days approaching record lows (the transparent blue) and a few days at record high levels (the transparent red). We averaged 72.5 °F for the entire month, and based on climatological records, the average June temperature in BTV is 69.0 °F, leaving us with a departure from normal of 3.5 °F for the month.

We saw one 6 day heat wave during the month which ended on the 23rd. During this period, high temperatures were above 90 °F each day and from the 20th to the 23rd high temperatures were above 94 °F! I also think its interesting to examine the overnight low temperatures during heat waves, and during this one, there were a few days when lows did not even dip below 70 °F. That'll certainly take a toll on your air conditioning bills.

Moving on to precipitation for the month, I think we can safely call June 2020 in Burlington "dry June".

Accumulated June 2020 precipitation at BTV (xmACIS)

In the above graph, the maroon line represents the normal accumulated precipitation for the month, while the green line is what actually occurred this year. Aside from a period of storms for the end of the month, every day was quite dry, and we were well below our normal monthly precipitation for June. Notice the prolonged dry spell from June 11 to June 24, during which essentially no precipitation fell. That caused Burlington to enter the "Abnormally Dry" category according to the U.S. drought monitor. Interestingly, Burlington's total precipitation for June 2020 was 1.88 inches, and average for the month is 3.69 in. On June 29 and June 30, the city saw 0.29 and 0.85 inches of rain, respectively. Without this late-in-the-month rainfall, we would have only seen 0.74 in. for the entire month!

As far as notable weather events for the month go, there is nothing striking that I can recall, aside from the heat wave we saw around June 20. There were some convective storms at the end of the month, which is to be expected for June.

I previously posted about the record high water temperature that was set at Lake Champlain, which was certainly a notable event for the month. Here is the graph showing lake temperatures for the month peaking around June 24, at the end of the 6-day heat wave, before they attenuated at the end of the month.

June 2020 Lake Champlain temperatures (USGS)

Lastly, I wanted to share Killington's Superstar web cam, which still shows some snow on the Superstar Trail! 

July 2 Killington Superstar Cam (Killington)

Despite the warm June and a shortened ski season, a few patches of snow have been able to linger on the trail. I think this is a testament to how cool it was during April and May, along with the late season snow that we saw. That snow should melt very soon.

I want to wish you all a safe and happy holiday weekend, and I'll make another post similar to this one about June in CT.