VT September Recap

With the first day of October upon us, one of my favorite months of the year has arrived! And with that, let's take a look back at this past month's weather here in Vermont. September is always a nice time in New England, as you get your first taste of those crisp, cool autumn days, while there are still some days that can be comfortably spent at the beach. This September was not much different. For this analysis, I will look at data from Burlington International Airport (BTV) in South Burlington, VT.

Temperatures

As has been the theme for 2020, September was a warmer than normal month. September 2020's average temperature was 62.1 °F, when the mean for September's dating back to 1941 is 60.5 °F. This month's temperature departure from normal was 1.6 °F

September 2020 BTV daily temperatures (NOAA Regional Climate Centers/xmACIS)

The high temperature for the month was 83 °F, which occurred on September 10th, and we dipped to 34 °F on both the 19th and the 21st, for the coldest two days of the month. The above temperature graph nicely displays the roller coaster nature of this month's temperatures at BTV - we started warm, got close to record cold temperatures by mid month, and we ended with temperatures near record high.

Overall, temperatures were somewhat warmer than normal this September, although there was nothing too anomalous.

Precipitation

For almost the entire month until yesterday, we saw no rain.

BTV September 2020 accumulated precipitation (NOAA Regional Climate Centers/xmACIS)

I think the above graph gives a really good sense of just how dry it was for the entire month until Tuesday and yesterday, when the accumulated precipitation for the month sees a near vertical jump. On September 29th, we saw 0.53 inches of rain fall, and yesterday we had 1.51 inches. For the entire month, we had 2.29 inches of rain, which is 1.35 inches less than the September average of 3.64 in.

Summary

There was really not much to talk about for September 2020, as the weather was quite boring. It was slightly warmer than normal, and much drier than normal until we saw some significant rain over the past few days. September is always a fantastic month in Vermont, and I took advantage of the spectacular weather this year by spending lots of time biking, in the woods, and I went apple picking. Just like September, October is a special time in Vermont, and it'll be exciting to see what the weather brings in October this year!