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| You're probably sick of flood and storm photos, so how about some flowers hanging out in my St. Albans, Vermont garden last evening? |
Between the wildfire smoke choking up the skies and nearby showers and storms, it was a dark start to the day. Very odd for midsummer. It looked like November, even if the air felt like South Florida in August.
FLASH FLOOD RISK AGAIN
Those scattered morning showers and storms are a harbinger of more potential trouble to come today. A flood watch is up once again for all of Vermont. It goes from noon today to late tonight.
Once again, this will be a hit or miss flash flood threat, kind of like Sunday was. I don't know if it will be quite extensive as it was a couple days ago, but I few places could see new damage. If I had to guess, I'd say the Northeast Kingdom slightly edges out other places in Vermont for the greater risk.
That would be bad news, because the NEK, which had been largely spared from the flooding on July 1o and 11, got nailed by flooding Sunday.
But I'll emphasize that a problem could happen anywhere late today or tonight.
The computer models didn't handle this morning's rain well at all. I saw one model that ran just a few hours ago that showed scarcely any precipitation in Vermont at around 7 am.
Meanwhile, actual radar at that time was showing patches of heavy rain along Interstate 89 from about Colchester to Waterbury, with other areas of fairly heavy rain in the northern Green Mountains and in the northwestern tip of Vermont.
All those patches of rain zipped off toward the northeast at a pretty good rate. Which means I doubt they were around long enough in any one place long enough to cause any issues with flash flooding. However, those showers are once again "pre-soaking" some parts of the state in anticipation of heavy showers and storms later today.
It does look like there will be a lull in activity later this morning and early this afternoon before more storms fire up.
Again, it's a hit or miss proposition state wide. Almost all of us will see at least some rain this afternoon and evening. . Most of us won't get enough rain to see any property damage. It's just those unlucky few who will find out later they have new damage, or recently repaired washouts are washed out again.
Just be ready and able to receive flash flood warnings, so you can get out of the way of any water that comes down from the hills.
A very few storms might be borderline severe, with strong gusty winds and hail. Again, these isolated strong storms could happen anywhere, but I think are slightly more possible in northern Vermont. The overall threat for severe storms is low, much lower than those epic storms last Thursday.
SMOKY DAY AGAIN
Of course, another issue this morning is that stupid wildfire smoke, still lingering in the air.
The air quality index across Vermont as of 7:30 was mostly in the 130 to 150 range. That's pretty unhealthy. It's smoky and hazy enough this morning where I can't see Lake Champlain from my house. Usually I can see it fine, since it's only about five miles away. So it's murky and polluted out there.
The air quality alert that's been in effect since yesterday will stay up at least through midnight tonight. Somewhat better air, but not perfectly pristine conditions, are due starting tomorrow.
OUTLOOK: NICE, THEN ONE MORE RISKY DAY
After we make it through today, we are actually going to have a couple fairly nice days. Wednesday and Thursday will feature at least some sunshine. It will be kind of humid, but not as bad as today. And there will be no rain, or almost no rain anywhere in Vermont both days.
Then we get to Friday. A fairly strong storm system for this time of year will be lurking off to our west. We'll have to watch that one, especially if its forward progress slows down. There is a chance we could see more heavy rain and flooding by the end of the week.
It's too soon to provide details on Friday's system, so stay tuned.
After Friday, there are hints of another reprieve from the stormy weather.
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