Update: Still Lots Of Vermont Wind/Rain Coming. Even Worse Elsewhere?

A sugar maple leaf fell from a tree yesterday in St. Albans,
Vermont and impaled itself on a piece of rusty metal. Ouch!
Lots more leaves will come down today and tonight due
to expected strong winds and heavy rain.

 You could really tell yesterday that foliage season was about to end in Vermont, except in the warmest valleys.  

Winds, as expected, gusted to between 20 and 30 mph.  No big deal, but that was enough to send blizzards of leaves falling from the trees. You could see a huge difference in some of the landscape between early morning and late afternoon.

You ain't seen nothin' yet, as Bachman-Turner Overdrive might tell us.

Winds were just beginning to increase as I wrote this during morning drive time. (Don't worry, I'm not driving. I'm at a desk in front of a laptop).

By afternoon, winds will increase further, especially in northern Vermont. Gusts will go over 30 mph in southern Vermont and could go as high as 50 mph in northwestern Vermont. A wind advisory is in effect until 11 p.m. tonight for Vermont generally north of Route 2, except in the far northeast corner of the state.

These winds could cause isolated power outages and blow unsecured objects around.  And will take down tons of leaves.

We're still expecting a hefty push of rain overnight and early tomorrow morning. A terrific fetch of moisture will come off the Atlantic Ocean tonight, giving most of us some heavy rainfall.  Given that the wet Atlantic air is coming from the east and southeast, the heaviest rain will probably be on east facing slopes of the Green Mountains and Adirondacks. 

Most places should see an inch or two of rain out of this, with a few locally higher amounts.

As I mentioned yesterday, these amounts aren't usually enough to cause flooding, but all those leaves that have fallen can clog drains, culverts and small brooks. That could lead to local flash floods. I also wonder if rainfall will over-perform a little bit on those eastern slopes, given the amount of Atlantic moisture pouring in.

Still, I don't think flooding in Vermont will be widespread, but it's something to keep an eye on. Especially with the leaf clogged storm drains in cities and towns. Streets that don't normally flood could.  You don't want to drive into those, as you don't know how deep the water really is. 

There's already two other areas in New England that have been targeted as potential bigger trouble spots with this setup.  One is southeastern New England, the first to get smacked by the moisture plume. First come, first serve, so there would be plenty of water available to come down as rain. There could be three to five inches of rain there in some spots.

The other, perhaps more dangerous trouble spot is the south and east slopes of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the mountains of western Maine. That moisture fetch could produce three to as much six inches of rain there.  With those steep slopes, that's more than enough to cause some flash flooding. 

It'll generally clear up and turn into a nice Friday in most of Vermont, but some clouds and rain could linger in the Northeast Kingdome. 

After this system goes by, there's more coming, but they will all be much smaller than the system coming in tonight. Each cold front between Sunday and midweek will drop our temperatures further. 

And here's some news: By Wednesday, it could well be cold enough to bring snow showers all the way down to Vermont's valley floors.