Vermont (Mostly) Caught A Big Break Today, Not So In "Debby Zone" And Elsewhere

Hard to see in the photo, but a fairly drenching rain
began in St. Albans, Vermont late this afternoon.
The threat of severe storms and flash flooding,
however, has diminished to almost zero in central
and northern Vermont. 

 A weak disturbance running out ahead of our big, long awaited cold front saved the day in central and northern Vermont.  

Sure, it was overcast with areas of light rain pretty much all day, but that's much better than the flash flooding and severe storms we feared.

The disturbance and its light rain stabilized the atmosphere, so wild storms couldn't get going. 

Except in far southern Vermont, where a severe thunderstorm was heading into Bennington County as I write this around 6 p.m. That nasty storm looks like it will eventually make it into Windham County before exiting into southwest New Hampshire. 

It still looks like the rain might pick up some in central and northern Vermont this evening as the actual cold front comes in. 

Believe it or not, a few isolated spots in northwest Vermont could use the rain.  For instance, the past week's storms have avoided my place in St. Albans, where we had only 0.35 inches of rain in the ten days ending yesterday. 

We got precious little so far today, so I hope a band of heavier rain northwest of here holds together. Rain did seem to be picking up a bit as of 6 p.m. 

In any event, cool, generally dry weather is due tomorrow through Thursday. 

Vermont might not be entirely out of the rain and flood woods quite yet, though. We are still watching the possibility on Friday and Saturday of tropical moisture from Debby interacting with an another storm system coming in from the west. 

Worst case scenario is yet another nasty flood, but we're not ready to go there yet. It could still be a big huge nothingburger for us. There's already a level 2 out of four flood risk alert for Friday for all of the East Coast, including all of Vermont. So it bears watching.

ROUGH STUFF ELSEWHERE

Areas outside Vermont - places from New York and southern New England to Florida - either dealt with or bracing for rough weather.  

Screen grab of a tornado ripping through downtown
Buffalo, New York of all places today. 

A EF-1 tornado packing 90 mph winds swept through downtown Buffalo, New York of all places this afternoon, damaging buildings and trees and blocking streets. 

Meanwhile, former Hurricane Debby, now a tropical storm, has already caused four fatalities in Florida. The storm's forward motion, as expected, has slowed down to a crawl, setting the stage for catastrophic flooding in northern Florida, parts of Georgia and South Carolina.

Among the places where concern is highest is Charleston, South Carolina.  Ocean storm surges caused by Debby will help block river water arriving from inland from going out to sea, instead backing it up in Charleston. 

Over the next week or less, up to 30 inches of rain could fall in South Carolina. Up to 10 inches might fall during that time from Virginia to southern New England. Flood watches are already in effect as far north as Connecticut.