Good day to all of you in southern Vermont! After some needed rainfall, we've got a stretch of fair weather on either side of the upcoming weekend.
However, the potential exists for Hurricane Matthew to make landfall over Long Island as a Category 1 or 2 storm and pass to the southeast of Windham County with substantial impacts late this weekend.
Do I think that's going to transpire? I honestly don't at the moment of this writing (Tuesday), but that possibility does exist and must be mentioned.
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What about the few days before the weekend? How do those look? In a word - awesome.
We will enjoy fair weather from Wednesday through at least Friday and possibly Saturday as well. High pressure builds in from the northeast, drifts southeast out to sea, and gives us a warming pattern before we cool back down next week.
On Wednesday, we could see some patchy morning fog, which will give way to a sunny day with highs in the mid 60s and lows near 40 degrees.
On Thursday and Friday, we should reach into the low 70s in the valleys and remain in the 60s in the higher terrain under sunny skies, with lows in the 40s.
On Saturday, we need to start paying attention to our south, as Hurricane Matthew will be exiting the North Carolina coast around the pre-dawn hours of Saturday morning and making its final approach into the northern latitudes.
There will be a strong cold front draped southwest off of a low-pressure center in central Canada. How fast this front moves east (and conversely, how slowly Matthew moves north up the coast) will determine:
• whether the front pushes Matthew out to sea with some light rain and fairly strong northwest winds on the back side of the hurricane's departure,
• or whether it draws Matthew into its fold, pulls it more northerly, and brings heavy rains with some gusty winds into southern Vermont.
The timing of this pattern should be Saturday night into Monday morning.
There's really not much more to say at this point, other than to pay attention to future forecasts, as tropical systems are notoriously unpredictable, especially four to five days out.
By early to mid-week next week, we will enjoy more sunny weather, with cooler temps and highs in the 50s and 60s.
Have a great week, and pay attention to Matthew!