A warm, humid air mass from the Gulf of Mexico is moving north across the country — and is aimed squarely at Vermont, according to Eric Myskowski, a meteorologist from the Burlington branch of the National Weather Service.
Starting Tuesday, maximum temperatures are expected to surpass 90 degrees in most of the state, according to the NWS, with rising humidity making temperatures feel even warmer.
“We expect temperatures to stay close to 70 at night,” said Myskowski, explaining that high humidity limits the air’s cooling after sundown.
Such high heat is uncommon, but not unheard of, in Vermont in mid-June. If temperatures remain at 95 degrees or higher for two consecutive hours in a given region, the NWS will issue a heat advisory — a criteria which Myskowski expects will be met in a few places.
“It will be likely that we do (issue a heat advisory) in the Champlain Valley during this time,” said Myskowski.
Unlike earlier in the year, however, valley residents looking to cool off in Lake Champlain need not fear hypothermia from icy waters. The lake’s temperature currently sits at a safe 67 degrees, according to data from the United States Geological Survey.
Residents of the Connecticut River Valley are expected to experience the highest temperatures of anywhere in the state. Towns like Springfield and Bradford along the river are both forecast to hit 96 degrees on Wednesday.
During periods of extreme heat, Myskowski recommends limiting strenuous activity, staying hydrated, and keeping the house cool by opening windows and turning on fans. According to U.S Energy Department survey data, about one third of Vermont households do not use any air conditioning equipment.
“You really want to be limiting time outside,” said Myskowski.
Not all Vermonters have access to somewhere cool and away from the sun, however. People experiencing homelessness, by nature of their living situation, often spend most of their day outdoors.
“The heat — there’s really no way around it,” Steve Kozikowski said on Thursday morning. He was sitting in the front room of Another Way, a Montpelier nonprofit that provides a daytime sanctuary, including food, water and showers, for unhoused people.
Kozikowski, 43, described himself as homeless on-and-off since he was 16. He is currently camping in East Montpelier, a 3.5-mile walk from Another Way. Without his recently acquired bicycle, he said, his hygiene would have been the first thing to suffer with the rising heat.
“It’s too hot to be walking one hour and fifteen minutes just to take a shower and turn around again,” said Kozikowski.
But the immediate worry for people who are living on the street, according to Kozikowski, is access to drinkable water. When temperatures rise, dehydration can set in quickly and make it difficult to move — which Kozikowski said makes people desperate enough to fill up water bottles from rivers and creeks.
Untreated water from the state’s rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds is not safe to drink, according to Vermont’s Department of Health. Floods further raise the possibility of water contamination.
“If you’re drinking the water with no filtration system, you’re playing Russian roulette,” said Kozikowski.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Extreme heat and rising humidity headed to Vermont early next week.