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| This photo released by Green Mountain Power shows illustrates nicely how bizarre this destructive storm was in Vermont. You can see a fallen tree on power lines in the foreground, with a nice rainbow behind it. Photo was taken in Middlebury. |
The huge array of hazards the storm caused, the rapidly advancing Arctic air, the high winds that affected so much of the nation are just incredible. I don't think I've ever seen a storm cause high winds in such a vast part of the U.S.
If you think you've lived through a historic, very, very weird storm in Vermont, you are absolutely correct.
For most of the nation, and in Vermont, the storm is winding down, and it's time to start assessing. Even as the aftereffects continue.
So far 11 deaths have been blamed on the storm, but that toll will rise. Perhaps a million people are still without power, including close to 38,000 here in Vermont as of 7:30 this Christmas Eve morning.
Hardest hit Buffalo endured 14 consecutive hours of zero to virtually zero visibility in snow and blowing snow, with winds gusting between 53 and 67 mph the entire time. CNN was reporting that 175 million people were under wind chill alerts as of this morning.
In Vermont, this was also a wildly multi-faceted, hazardous storm to say the least. The wind damage, the flooding and the flash freeze and snow were a challenge for sure
The National Weather Service office in South Burlington, Vermont had a gust of 71 mph Thursday morning, ,the second highest wind gust in the city's history. (Top wind gust was 72 mph in 1950).
An interesting aspect of the storm was that the strongest downslope winds were not necessarily along the immediate slopes of the Green Mountains but more to the west, in populated parts of Chittenden and Addison counties.
The result was widespread damage, with scores of trees down. The St. Albans Town fire department lost much of its roof. So did barns in the Champlain Islands.
I think the momentum of the wind aloft was so strong that the downslope winds came at more of an angle, not straight down the slopes but directed away from the slopes a bit.
The storm was a snow eater, as the heavy rains and warm temperatures destroyed the existing snow cover quickly, and that led to fast melting. Burlington's high temperature Thursday was 56 degrees, just two degree shy of the record high for the date.
The east slopes of the Green Mountains and summits also got a extraordinary amount of rain for a winter storm. The summit of Mount Mansfield, for instance, reported 2.47 inches of precipitation.
I noticed some roads, mostly in southern Vermont, were closed for a time due to flooding. This joined the multitude of roads that were blocked by fallen trees. It was a difficult day to drive anywhere in Vermont.
Any lingering flooding should subside today.
This unusual storm also gave Vermonters a rare December treat of thunderstorms and rainbows. The storm was so dynamic that thunderstorms erupted. Normally, you can't get enough instability in the winter to generate thunder. This again was a demonstration of how powerful the parent storm was.
The downslope winds squashed clouds at times, leading to breaks of sun and those rainbows. Sinking air kills clouds, and that's what occasionally happened on Thursday, especially near the worst of the downslope winds.
The rest of New England suffered, too, from the high winds Roofs blew off buildings in New Hampshire. The coast of Maine suffered one of its worst storm tides in history, with extensive damage to shoreline buildings.
Back here in Vermont, the storm gave us one more shot and a surprise in the evening. We knew a flash freeze would hit by late afternoon or evening, and everyone was encouraged to stay off what would quickly become dangerously icy roads. That indeed happened. Just to continue the day's trend of not being able to get from here to there in the Green Mountain State on Thursday.
Adding to that mix, a new, sort of mini-storm formed along the Arctic front, causing a burst of heavy snow that worked south to north across the state. Three to five inches of snow fell in a short time, with as much as three inches of snow in one hour.
The blinding snow basically made driving impossible, and interrupted power company crews' workers' attempts to restore power.
At least we got our white Christmas back after the warmth earlier in the day erased the snow cover.
Today, Vermont will be in recovery mode. Crews will work to restore power. Salt trucks and plows are out this morning. I will caution that salt doesn't work great to melt ice at these low temperatures, so there still will be a lot of slick spots.
Back roads and sidewalks are especially hazardous. You'll want to dress for the weather, as temperatures and wind chills are low today. And, to an extent, tomorrow.
The intense lake effect blizzards along the shores of lakes Erie and Ontario will continue today with feet of snow expected in places like Buffalo and Watertown, New York.
Those lake effect blizzards might throw a couple snow flurries toward Vermont, but it won't amount to much.
The storm we just had is another example of some incredibly weird and intense winter storms that have swept much of the nation in the past few years. Believe it or not, climate change might have had to do with some of this. Counter-intuitive, I know, given how cold it was. I'll have more on this link between winter storms and climate change in a future post.
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