Friday, May 24, 2013

"Weather Whiplash" A New Hazard, It Seems

I've been hearing the term "weather whiplash" bandied around lately, considering how the weather seems to be shifting in all kinds of weird directions and incredibly abruptly.

It can happen in a day, like the time last month went from 90 degrees to a freeze and snow within 12 hours.
High water cascades over a falls in Fairfax, Vermont
as the state has gone from near-drought to damaging
flood in less than a week  

The Midwest has been classic, going from major flooding, to major drought back to major flooding again from 2011 and 2013.

We just experienced this whiplash here in Vermont. It has been quite dry, and it looked as if we were headed toward a drought just a few days ago.

Now, we've got a destruction flash flood, and it's supposed to rain, a lot, over the next three days, raising fears of more flooding.

It seems every year now, we in Vermont get a storm that wipes out a bunch of roads and bridges.

Now it's happened again.

We had midsummer humidity yesterday and the day before. Today, it's a March-like 45 degrees, and it might snow in the mountains this weekend. Yes, Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer.

We used to say if you don't like the weather in Vermont, wait a minute and it will change. Now, I guess you have to say if you don't like the weather anytime, anywhere, wait a minute, it will become more extreme.

What's next for Vermont? Dust storms and tidal waves?

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