Severe Storms Lash Southern Vermont, North Generally Spared

A strong storm sweeping through Highgate Springs, Vermont
late Tuesday afternoon. The storm just snapped some
small tree branches and twigs.

The severe thunderstorm watch that encompassed pretty much all of Vermont yielded few if any reports of anything bad in northern Vermont, but a stripe through south-central parts of the state was a whole other story. 

A severe thunderstorm, or a cluster of them, came in from New York State and felled trees in Rutland County from Benson to Killington.  The storm then intensified in Windsor County, bringing about multiple reports of trees and power lines down, utility poles snapped and even some structural damage.

Photographer and weather watcher Jennifer Hannux posted photos on social media of a lot of siding torn off buildings in downtown White River Junction. At least a dozen trees were reported down in White River Junction, with power poles snapped in half.  

Similar scenes were reported in Woodstock, Pomfret, Chester and Springfield.   It looks to me the damage was caused by intense straight line winds.  I seriously doubt a tornado was involved. 

Additional damage was reported in Manchester. All southbound lanes of Interstate 91 near Westminster were closed for a time by fallen trees. Overall, more than 9,000 Vermont homes and businesses lost power, so it was a pretty good storm in southern Vermont. 

Overall, the forecasts ahead of the storms were pretty good, as it was anticipated that most of the serious stuff would stay in central and southern Vermont. There were some late afternoon and early evening strong storms in a second wave along the Canadian border, which was also well forecasted.

Most of northern Vermont just had pretty clouds as severe
weather stayed to the south. A scene here along Interstate
89 in Colchester. 

In the northern half of Vermont, it was pretty much a good cloud watching day, and that's about it. Video at bottom of this post shows my cloud watching wanderings on Tuesday, ending with an encounter with a fairly strong storm near the Canadian border in the late afternoon.

Rainfall was pretty spotty, which is too bad because it's getting dry out there. Areas bullseyed by severe storms probably got a good soaking, but most of us just got a bit of rain.  Very little additional rain is in the forecast for the next week or so. 

Benign weather is in the forecast, but we are now getting into that long anticipated warmer regime that has been in the forecast for awhile. The real dangerous hot weather will remain well to our west. But the cool weather is mostly gone for now.

An exception is tomorrow, where an upper level low, some clouds and maybe a few showers will hold temperatures in the mid-70s with lows tomorrow night in the mid 50s. But Friday will be back up near 80 degrees, and it will be well into the 80s over the weekend. 

I don't see signs of any new outbreaks of severe weather for the next several days, either. 

Video: Wandering around and chasing the summer clouds in Vermont on Tuesday. Click on this link if you don't see the image to click on below: