Severe Storms Really Ramped Up This Week In South; Vermont Stays Chilly, Calm

In an image from the Homewood, Alabama fire department,
severe flooding strikes an apartment complex Tuesday.

April was a lucky month weather wise in the United States in at least one regard: There was a remarkable lack of tornadoes.  Unfortunately that changed in the first week of May.  

In April, on average, the United States sees 194 tornadoes. This year, only 73 April tornadoes touched down.   

The problem is May got off to a rough start with more twisters in the first four days of the month than all of April. There have been 75 tornadoes so far in May, according to preliminary data from NOAA.

The tornadoes, along with several hundred reports of straight line wind damage and extensive flash flooding, have left much of the southeastern quarter of the United States reeling this week. 

Three deaths have been blamed on this week's tornadoes. 

In yesterday's storms, straight line winds and flash flooding predominated.  There were six tornadoes reported in the nation Tuesday, but a whopping 472 reports of wind damage from thunderstorms

Flooding in some places really got out of hand. The National Weather Service declared a particularly dangerous situation in and around Birmingham, Alabama due to flash flooding.  

Rescuers had to use boats to get people out of a flooded apartment complex and many other people had to be retrieved from flooded cars on streets and highways.  

Severe weather and the threat of tornadoes looks like it will wane for the South, and the rest of the nation for that matter, for a few days.

May is typically a busy tornado month for the U.S., with an average number per year of around 270 of them. 

VERMONT STAYS CHILLY

We up in the North Country have stayed well north of the warm, humid air that helped set off all those severe storms and tornadoes this week. 

The flowers around my shed, and the greening up woods
behind it in St. Albans, Vermont get a drink of water
from the skies this morning. Chilly, often damp
weather is expected to continue for next several days.

For us, a dip in the jet stream has kept us generally cloudy and chilly, and that state of affairs will continue for probably another week or so. 

Of course there will be breaks of sun here and there over the next week, but we won't have days and days of sun like we tended to have in April. 

Despite the clouds, rainfall doesn't look like it will be all that heavy. Today started off rainy and it will pretty much stay that way all day.  We could get a half inch of rain. Decent, but nothing wild. 

Though we know it will stay cool,  determining the timing and intensity of any showers that come through after today is a bit challenging. There's lots of little disturbances within this big trough in the jet stream over the Northeast, so expect some changes in the forecast going forward.

At this point tomorrow looks dry except for some light showers early, especially in the mountains. It will be blustery and mostly cloudy and nippy, though.  We're at risk for some showers Friday and Saturday. Fingers crossed Sunday - Mother's Day -  looks pretty much rain-free at this point. At least it won't snow on Mother's Day weekend like it did last year. 

However, bring your mother a sweater or some fleece along with the flowers you're getting her:  It stays chilly through at least next Tuesday.