BTV November 2020 Recap

I've been late to get to this post due to the storm over the weekend (which underperformed in spots but was spot on in other areas - especially east), so here's my look at the weather for November 2020 at Burlington International Airport (BTV).

Temperatures

As has been the case for the year as a whole, temperatures were much above normal this month. The mean monthly temperature at BTV was 43.3 °F, when normal is 38.2 °F, giving a departure from normal of 5.1 °F. That is a huge contrast from November 2020, when the mean monthly temperature was 33.0 °F. That is astounding! This month as a whole averaged 10 °F warmer than the same month last year!

BTV November 2020 temperature graph (NOAA Regional Climate Centers/xmACIS)

The high average temperature this November at BTV was largely due to the stretch of 8 days when the high temperature was greater than or equal to 60 °F (see the temperature graph above). Though we did have multiple days in the 70s, we fell shy of setting a November temperature record, as the record is 75 °F, set in both 1950 and 1948.

The low for the month was 18 °F, reached on both the 18th and 19th. Overall, November 2020 came in as the 3rd warmest month on record at BTV.

Precipitation

We saw 2.08 inches of precipitation this November, when the normal value is 3.13 in., giving a depature from normal of -1.05 inches.

BTV November 2020 precipitation graph (NOAA Regional Climate Centers/xmACIS)

As the above precipitation graph shows, the beginning of the month started very dry, with some marginal increases in rain as the month progressed. Like in CT this November, the total monthly precipitation was bolstered by the heavy rain on the last day of the month, when we saw 0.67 inches of rain. 

As the image below shows, this November ranked in the 32nd percentile for wettest years on record, so it was a fairly normal year, though on the drier side.

(Southeast Regional Climate Centers)

Snow

As for snow, we saw 2.7 inches this month, when normal is 5.1 inches. That doesn't have any real implications for what this winter's snowfall will look like, though it's always exciting to get the first snow of the year.

Looking at the Mount Mansfield snow stake, we are well below normal for snow depth at the state's highest peak right now.

Mount Mansfield Snow Depth (SkiVt-L/UVM)

That has been difficult for VT ski areas that typically look to open in November, but things should look to change - climatologically, we'll get colder and see more snow as we progress into December.