Saturday Early Evening Update: Torrents Western Vermont, Eastern Vermont Not So Much

Cars splash through big puddles amid heavy rains
Saturday in St. Albans, Vermont. 

Heavy rainfall continues in eastern New York and western Vermont as of 6 p.m. today, following pretty much a day long soaker. 

So far, there hasn't been much flooding as rainfall rates aren't quite enough to produce much in the way of flash flooding. But I do see minor flooding along streets in places like Burlington and St. Albans as storm drains are clogged with leaves.

There appears to be several hydroplaning highway crashes on Interstate 89 and elsewhere. 

Rainfall totals in the Champlain Valley are getting impressive. As of 5 p.m. Plattsburgh, New York had  collected 3.11 inches of rain today. Burlington was up to 1.86 inches.  There had been four consecutive hours of heavy rain in Burlington as of 5 p.m. 

Eastern Vermont was a different story as the cold front was nearly stalled in the Champlain Valley. Through 5 p.m., for instance, Montpelier had received a paltry 0.15 inches of rain. 

It was also still quite warm in eastern Vermont, with some places touching 70 degrees again amid humid conditions. It was cooling off in western Vermont with temperatures falling through the 60s and 50s today. 

The nearly stalled front will soon get a kick in the pants and start moving, which will swing a band of fairly  heavy rain through eastern Vermont. But that rain will be on the move, and won't last as long as it did further west. That means they're probably looking at only 0.75 to 1.5 inches of rain out of this. No biggie.

Some rivers in western Vermont will approach, but probably not reach flood stage by Sunday morning. There might be some field flooding along the Otter Creek and lower Winooski River in Chittenden County. 

Of course, I'll update tomorrow morning.