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| Significant spring flooding near Cambridge, Vermont in 2011 Though nothing nearly this bad is anticipated, parts of the state could see minor flooding Friday and Saturday. |
The flood watch runs from Friday morning to Saturday evening.
I've been harping for days and even weeks that there's been a high fire danger in the dry brush around, and that a lingering drought or at least relatively dry conditions have continued since last year in the Green Mountain State.
All true, but what snow there is in the mountains is melting fast, and will actually start melting faster as the humidity in the air rises.
We also expect near record highs near 70 degrees in the valleys tomorrow. Though the snow is gone in the valleys, highs in the 50s and 60s in the upper elevations should really attack remaining snow cover.
After that, and more importantly, it's going to rain. Quite a bit. The upcoming storm is expected to dump an inch of rain, give or take.
The combination of melting snow and the rain should be enough to get a lot of rivers up to or over flood stage.
Some for instances: The Mad River at Moretown is expected to reach minor flood stage late Friday afternoon. The Otter Creek at Center Rutland is now forecast to be roughly a foot and a half over flood stage early Saturday morning.
The Winooski River is predicted to get just a bit above flood state early Saturday.
As always, results may vary depending upon how hard it rains.
At this point, it looks like the rain will come in two waves. The first will come with a warm front Friday morning, followed by a sharp cold front Friday afternoon. This cold front might have enough oomph to mix in some rumbles of thunder with the rain.
On the bright side, this rain storm will put a dent in the precipitation deficit we have in Vermont and could help recharge groundwater somewhat. Overall, this storm looks like it will be more good than bad.
It's too soon to tell whether a second storm due Sunday will have any flood threat with it.
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