What A Super Soaker, Especially New York; Flooding Minimal Though

Traffic slogs through heavy rain and deep puddles 
during Saturday's storm in St. Albans, Vermont. 

 That was one impressive soaker in western Vermont and eastern New York Saturday.

Many areas in this region had more than a month's worth of rain in a single day.  Thank goodness northern New York and most of western Vermont  had a two-week dry spell before the storm hit. That prevented any serious flooding.  

The stats are impressive, though. As of 4 a.m. Plattsburgh, New York had a storm total of 4.09 inches of rain. Of that, 3.94 inches of that rain came down on Plattsburgh on Saturday. That made it Plattsburgh's wettest day on record, though those records only go back to 1945.

In Vermont, Burlington saw 2.95 inches of rain with this storm. Of that 2.8 inches fell on Saturday. That made it the third wettest October day on record, and those records go back to the 1880s, so that's quite a long time. 

By the way, the second wettest October day on record in Burlington was pretty recent: On October 31, 2019, with 3.3 inches of rain.   In that instance, there was a lot of destructive flooding in central and northern Vermont, along with wind damage.

Some other impressive rain totals from Saturday's storm include 4.95 inches in Orwell, 4.83 inches in Port Henry, New York and 3.9 inches in Vergennes. There were plenty of three inch plus totals across the western half of Vermont.

National Weather Service in South Burlington issued
this map showing Saturday's rain by far the heaviest
in eastern New York and parts of western Vermont. 

Eastern Vermont got off with just one to two inches.  The storm system causing the heavy rain had stalled in eastern New York for much of Saturday, focusing heavy rain there for most of the day. 

The cold front then pushed east in the evening, spreading rain across the rest of Vermont. But it didn't linger long enough to produce the incredible totals west of the Green Mountains. 

NEXT UP

Things have settled down this morning. It's chilly and blustery with lots of clouds, and a few breaks of sunshine. Scattered showers will continue all day, but they'll be light and brief. 

The exception will be out by the shores of lakes Erie and Ontario. The first lake effect precipitation of the season is happening today. .That can only happen if the air flowing over the lakes is colder than the lake water.  

It is too warm for those epic lake effect snows, so it's coming down as heavy rain south of Watertown, New York.  In that area, a flood warning is in effect today. 

There's also lightning and thunder in spots near the lakes. On top of that, there were dozens of waterspouts on Lake Erie on Saturday. Waterspouts are pretty common on the Great Lakes during the autumn, but Saturday was really a super producer. 

Back here in Vermont, the whole week will be like that. Not bad, not great. Clouds, sun, always the risk of a quick shower, cool but not frigid weather. (Lows mostly in the upper 30s and 40s, highs in the 50s to near 60). In other words, typical October. 

There could be a nor-easter type storm toward next Sunday, but the computer models are still wildly disagreeing on the strength, path or even the very existence of that potential storm. The word "nor'easter is scary for those of you not ready for snow. Don't worry, even if the storm happens, it'll be too warm for snow, except on the mountain tops in a worst case scenario.

Instead of throwing out more guesses on that potential storm, we'll update as needed later this week.