As Expected, Vermont Gearing Up For Storm After Tornadoes Trash Parts Of South

Ever the optimist, I'm hoping today's expected strong winds
blow a lot of these leaves off of my St. Albans, Vermont lawn.

 UPDATE, 4 PM

The expected high winds in Vermont were pretty spotty this afternoon, with some areas getting the gusts to near 50 mph, and other areas that had expected a lot of wind to miss out on it.

Not that those places were complaining

A thin inversion a couple thousand feet up prevented high winds from reaching some valley locations. For instance, gusts around Burlington were in the 20 to 30 mph range, which isn't a big deal.

An inversion is a layer of the atmosphere in which temperatures increase with height, rather than decrease, which is the usual state of affairs

The winds several thousand feet up were really screaming, as demonstrated by the 89 mph gusts atop Mount Mansfield and Whiteface Mountain, New York. 

Some mid elevation areas, and other spots mostly on the western side of the Champlain Valley did see some good gusts. Chazy and Plattsburgh Bay had gusts to 51 mph and White's Beach at Grand Isle reported 50 mph. Several other towns had gusts over 45 mph. 

A section of Route 16 in Greensboro was closed for a time by a fallen tree and wires. As of 4 p.m. about 1,400 homes and businesses scattered around Vermont were without power.

Light rain has been moving across Vermont, but a heavier batch of showers was just about to enter the area as the storm's cold front crosses the Adirondacks. Winds will pick up from the west tonight after this batch of rain.

Meanwhile, some tragic news regarding the tornadoes in the South. We now have a report of two deaths, a mother and eight year old son killed when a tornado in Alabama sent a tree crashing into their house. 

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

Winds were beginning to ramp up outside my St. Albans, Vermont house before dawn this morning as a rather stormy day starts.  

The wind advisory that had been in effect in far northern and far southern Vermont has been expanded to include the whole state. 

Winds could gust to 50 mph or even a bit more in some areas. As the National Weather Service in South Burlington points out, given the wet ground that will be getting wetter and the relative lack of high winds this autumn so far, we might have a few more trees come down than we'd otherwise see in this situation.

This won't be enough to cause widespread power outages, but a few scattered ones will surely pop up occasionally between now and late Thursday afternoon.

Today, the strongest winds will come through in the late morning, and perhaps early afternoon further east. These winds will be just ahead of a soaking band of rain which will come through with a strong cold front. 

The wind will ease up during this rain, but if any taller clouds can form with this line of showers and rain, these taller clouds could briefly grab some strong winds from aloft and bring them down to the surface.

The rain might be briefly heavy, but won't last all that long in any one spot. That means flooding is not really anything to worry about. 

After the band of rain passes this evening, gusty winds will return tonight, this time from the west. By then the ground will be even wetter, and the wind will be coming from a new direction.  So that could bring down a few more branches and trees, keeping the isolated to scattered power outages going overnight. 

Tomorrow, winds will continue to roar from the west, gusting to 40 mph or even a little more. A second cold front could touch off some snow showers, and even a heavy snow squall here and there.  

Any squalls that do form won't create much snow accumulation, but cause the risk of whiteouts on the road and a sudden turn to icy pavement and dangerous driving conditions. So keep an eye out for that. 

We're in an active weather pattern, so expect another windy, rainy spell on Saturday as a new storm comes through. There won't be as much wind and rain as today's system, but you'll still notice it. 

Yet another storm of rain and/or snow is due on or about Tuesday. 

SOUTHERN TORNADOES

As expected, the storm that's affecting us here in Vermont today spun off several tornadoes in the South yesterday and overnight. 

On the bright side, the tornado outbreak wasn't as bad as it could have been, because it doesn't appear as if any super strong twisters scored any direct hits on population centers. But it was still a rough night in parts of the South.

As of early this morning, NOAA's Storm Prediction Center had 27 preliminary reports of tornadoes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. 

Live Storms Media's YouTube channel reported four serious injuries from a tornado in Caldwell, Parish, Louisiana. 

Numerous homes were damaged, some destroyed.  More people were reported injured in Montgomery County, Alabama, where homes and a high school were badly damaged.

As of early this morning parts of Mobile, Alabama were under a tornado warning. A few more tornadoes are possible in southern Alabama and southwestern Georgia this morning. 

Some areas also had large hail, with reports of tennis ball-sized stones in Mississippi.

The next two storm systems coming across the nation between now and Tuesday are not expected to produce any widespread severe weather or tornadoes.