Enjoy The Soaking Vermont Rains; They'll Shut Off Again Starting Next Week

Thunderstorm clouds loom over a farm house somewhere
in eastern Franklin County, Vermont Thursday. 

 Some classic Vermont thunderstorms blossomed on Thursday, with the familiar tall anvil-shaped structures of pretty vigorous thunderstorms. 

The rain and storms were much more scattered and hit and miss than the day before. One severe storm moving toward the southeast crossed the Canadian border into Highgate Springs, knocking down several trees along Route 207 and dumping quarter sized hail.

Luckily, the storm weakened quite a bit as it continued on into eastern Franklin County, where I took a few photos and videos. (A couple storm videos from this week are at the bottom of this post. Nice cloud structures in both clips).

It looks like we have quite a bit more rain to get through, but probably not as many thunderstorms. 

There might be patches of blue sky this morning as you get up, but they won't last long. Another vigorous disturbance is coming through beneath that stalled upper level storm that continues to lurk overhead or nearby. 

This new one will cause a lot of showers to blossom this afternoon.  There probably will be a few thunderstorms mixed in here or there, but there won't be anything too rambunctious. Except for maybe some locally heavy downpours. 

Traffic on Route 105 in Sheldon, Vermont as skies
clear following a late afternoon thunderstorm.

This new systems will crawl eastward, hit the New England coast and become a de facto nor'easter. Which means Saturday will essentially be a washout. It'll rain pretty much all day. And it will be cold for the season. 

Most of us won't get past the low 60s for highs Saturday at a time of year when afternoon temperatures should be in the 75 to 80 degree range. 

This event will be another soaker. Most of us should see between an inch and an inch and a third of new rain between now and Saturday evening. 

NOAA's Weather Prediction Center actually has us in a low-level, marginal risk for excessive rain and flooding. But if any flooding does happen (which I kinda doubt) it will be pretty minor and also pretty localized. 

Sunday will start to improve, but forecasters expect some showers around. 

Next week looks drier and warmer, with that weird setup of hotter air in Canada trying to come down at us from the north. 

Videos:

First one is Wednesday's storm, with views mostly taken from South Burlington, Vermont.  Not a severe storm, but nice structures! Click on this link to view or if you see the image below, click on that:

Another storm in northwest Vermont.  It had been severe when it crossed the border from Canada, but had weakened by the time I caught up to it in eastern Franklin County. Nice storm views, though. Again, click on this link to view or click on image below if you see it. (Image doesn't show up on some devices).