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| Houses surrounded by water in Richmond, Vermont Tuesday. |
It wasn't much, and it didn't rain everywhere in Vermont. But considering no rain was in the forecast, it's another sign we just can't catch a break. We need no more rain for quiet awhile. But rain it will, unfortunately. More on that in a bit.
But first, a general update. Most of the water is now out of downtown Montpelier. They'll probably let business owners and residents back in today to assess damage and start the cleanup.
You might be tempted to head to Montpelier yourself for a looky look at the damage.
Please don't. You'll only get in the way. Plus, if they want volunteers who want to help in Montpelier, they will surely ask for it, and direct people to the best way to help. You'll get your chance to contribute to the recovery.
One of the most dispiriting sounds in every major modern disaster that makes the news headlines from hurricanes to tornadoes to floods is the sad annnk annnk annnk of alarm systems activated in buildings busted open by storms.
That sound echoed through downtown Montpelier all day Tuesday, at least judging from the many videos I saw. I didn't want to listen anymore.
Anyway, we'll recover from that. It's literally a long road before we're back to "normal," though.
As of early this morning, Vermont Emergency Management reported 53 Vermont roads still closed and five others partially shut. That tells you how long the state's to-do list is.
I'm especially worried about Vermont's farmers. As Matt Crawford pointed out, it's been one calamity after another this year for the state's agriculture sector. Maple sugaring season was lackluster. Much of the apple crop, and other fruit crops were wiped out by an intense May frost. Strawberry season was meager. Farmers were having trouble getting hay in due to wet weather even before this flood hit.
And now, this. Most farm fields are in flood plains, which of course are, flooded. It's going to be hard for already beleaguered farmers to bounce back from this. Any way you can to help your Vermont farmer friends will be greatly appreciated.
On another topic, I'm still struck by how slowly water receded. It looks like it's because the storm came in multiple waves. Rivers seemed to want to recede after one set of downpours passed by, only to rise more vigorously as the next batch of rain arrived.
NOT GOOD WEATHER FORECAST
I'll start with the grim bottom line: It's going to stay wet.
Today will feature only isolated showers and storms. One or two of them might be strong, but the vast majority of us will get away with no rainy weather at all.
The weak cold front causing today's weather will ever so briefly bring us somewhat lower humidity tonight and very early tomorrow. Then the stick air surges right back in.
That brings us back to where we've been for weeks. NOAA's Weather Prediction Center has us under at least a marginal risk - and sometimes somewhat greater risk - of new flash flooding daily Thursday through Sunday.
I'll need to emphasize that on each of these days, the rain won't be as heavy, long lasting or as widespread as we went through on Monday.
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| Winooski River surging through Winooski on Tuesday. |
But everything is so fragile now, it won't take much to set off new trouble. Overall, generally speaking, about an inch of rain is in the forecast for Vermont between Thursday morning and Friday evening. It'll be closer to an inch and a half or a little more in hard-hit southern Vermont.
On top of that, local storms will drop bucket loads of rain in a short period of time. That would undo repairs in places unlucky enough to see those downpours.
I have no idea who will see those locally heavier downpours. But they're most likely over the Green Mountains, which is the epicenter of this flood disaster to begin with.
At this point, Friday and Sunday look like the most risky days for new trouble, but that could change, depending on the atmospheric dance going on between varying weather systems.
Another issue is heat and humidity. Aside from that very brief break tonight, humidity is scheduled to stay at very high levels at least through early next week. Even worse, already very warm temperatures are going to get hotter. Daily highs for many parts of Vermont will be in the mid and upper 80s through early next week.
It could even touch 90 on some days, especially around Monday.
People will be anxious to quickly clean up and try and put things together. I mean, we're Vermont Strong, right? But we'll have to pace ourselves. And take frequent breaks. And drink lots of water and other non-alcoholic and caffeine-free drinks.
The heat and humidity is dangerous. I'd hate to see someone succumb to heat stroke while helping their neighbors recover.
Unfortunately, I don't have a good sense of when this weather pattern will break.
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