What The Hail On Monday In Vermont; Drenchers On Wednesday? Meanwhile Offshore Larry Impresses

As thunderstorms waned Monday evening, these dying 
showers made for a pretty picture in St. Albans, Vermont.

Round One of Vermont's stormy first half of this week went just as expected yesterday as several rounds of strong, but pretty much not severe storms rolled across mostly the northern two thirds of the state on Monday. 

Round Two comes tomorrow, more on that in a minute.

A pool of cold air aloft contributed to pea-sized hail reaching the ground during many of the storms on Monday, including here in St. Albans.  

The hail wasn't nearly big enough to cause any damage. There was one report of penny sized hail across the pond in Port Henry, New York.

Winds gusted to 30 to 40 mph in the stronger thunderstorms. Again, not enough to cause much havoc. Maybe a branch or two blew down here or there. "Damage" from thunderstorm winds at my place consisted of a four foot long dead, rotting branch blown off a tree and a few twigs.

Rains were helpful, too, as it was getting dry across the north. Burlington had three quarters of an inch of rain and my St. Albans rain gauge collected just over half an inch. 

Between weather systems, today will rate a 10 on the beauty scale.  What's not to like? Sunshine, mixed with a few pretty fair weather clouds, temperatures getting into the mid-70s with low humidity and light winds.

Then tomorrow comes.  This isn't a scare forecast, as we're certainly not getting anything remotely close to Storm Of the Century.  It will be more like Storm Of The Week. 

Still,  you'll have to pay attention to the skies, as there might be some locally strong thunderstorms again, and some locally heavy rain that could cause a little flooding. 

NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has us in a marginal risk zone of severe thunderstorms again on Wednesday, as we might have isolated reports of wind damage. NOAA's Weather Prediction Center also has us under a marginal risk of flash flooding, meaning there might be a couple local reports of high water. 

A strengthening cold front will be approaching us on Wednesday.  In the Champlain Valley, winds ahead of the front will gust to 35 mph, so hang onto your hat.

It'll feel somewhat warmer and more humid tomorrow, too, but nothing extreme.  Cloudiness would tend to suppress the strength of thunderstorms as they approach Vermont, but it looks like there will be enough atmospheric energy to support a few strong storms. 

The National Weather Service in South Burlington says the front will tend to organize a bit better as it approaches and crosses Vermont at a rather leisurely pace Wednesday evening.

With humidity pooling in the atmosphere, some of the storms could produce locally heavy rain across Vermont as the front staggers through.

At least the front is moving, not stalling, so the heavy rains won't last forever at any given spot.   That movement should prevent anything super scary to happen. Still, you'll want to keep an eye out for local street flooding, gravel road and driveway washouts, that sort of thing.

We still have to be alert on this point, though. If the storms move slower, several storms could roll over the same spot, raising the flood risk more. 

Forecasters are a little more concerned about a narrow zone from southwestern New England  to northern New Jersey.  Especially New Jersey and southern New York.  Those areas got blasted by heavy rain from former Hurricane Ida, and as we well know, deadly flooding.

Things haven't fully recovered down there, everything is sodden so a bout of heavy rain could cause renewed flooding and damage. 

Hurricane Larry yesterday way out over the open Atlantic.

The end of the week back here in Vermont will be quieter, with just somewhat cool temperatures and scattered light showers Thursday and perhaps Friday.  

HURRICANE LARRY

Be glad Hurricane Larry is no threat to the United States. "Lumbering Larry," as I've seen in the headlines, is a huge hurricane that could take a swipe at Bermuda,  and by Saturday, of all places, Newfoundland. 

It's going an enormous eye and a huge wind field.  Tropical force winds extend out to 185 miles fro the center, which is a lot for a hurricane. 

The only real threat this storm will bring to the United States is swells and dangerous rip currents along the entire Atlantic seaboard. 

For weather geeks like me, Larry has certainly been a pretty and impressive looking thing if you look at the satellite snapshots of the storm.