Saturday Storms In Vermont Left Impressive Trail Of Damage, Flooding and Big Hail Stones

 OK, I guess I did jink it. 

Menacing, swirling clouds just ahead of a powerful
thunderstorm that hit St. Albans, Vermont 
Saturday afternoon.  Storm caused flood, wind and
hail damage across Vermont

On May 7,  I remarked in this blog thingy that Vermont so far this year has escaped weather extremes and destructive storms that have been a near constant in recent years in the Green Mountain State.

Not to mention many other places in the U.S. 

Then Saturday hit. 

We knew there might be some locally severe storms and maybe an instance of flash flooding or two. But Saturday's storms really, - unfortunately - over-performed.

As I'm sure you've heard by now, flash flood damage was pretty widespread in Vermont.  High winds also toppled trees and power lines, and hail up to the size of golf balls pelted some towns.

Wave after wave of storms came through, some in the form of supercells, others in lines and clusters of powerful rains and winds and lightning. 

I actually spotted at least two areas of rotation on radar. One was south of Burlington as a supercell passed through southern Chittenden County.  The other came a little while later over St. Albans and Georgia.

Neither incident came close to producing a tornado.  But my place in St. Albans, Vermont was under that rotation and it was a little unsettling to see green clouds and other menacing clouds moving in different directions.

There were plenty of storm reports in Vermont to go around. 

The supercell in southern Chittenden County and on into Washington County produced some impressive hail. Golf ball sized hail pelted East Charlotte and a section of Stowe between the village and Stowe Mountain Resort. 

Hail the size of quarters and even ping pong balls hit places like Richmond and Hinesburg. There was a lot of hail, too.  Video I saw on Facebook showed torrential hail, I think in East Charlotte sliding off a roof and forming a pile more than a foot deep on somebody's deck. 

That supercell, combined with other torrential thunderstorms before and after it, set off quite a bit of flooding around Charlotte and Shelburne. That flooding got worse in the Mad River Valley, where several roads were damaged or under water around Waitsfield and Warren.

Part of Route 100 in Warren was closed. A section of Main Street in Waitsfield washed out. Several other roads in and near the Mad River Valley were also damaged. 

Elsewhere in Vermont, flooding was reported around Montpelier. Not from the Winooski River, but just from downpours overwhelming storm drains and drainage ditches. Parts of Route 2 in Plainfield were under water. Route 14 in East Montpelier had to be closed for a time due to high water. 

The town of Hartford including White River Junction were hit hard as several streets were under water. Trees and power lines toppled throughout the town. 

I was also impressed by how electric these storms were.  Two storms passed through St. Albans, and both of them had loads of cloud to ground lightning and crashing thunder.  Haven't seen anything like that in a few years. 

As bad as the damage was, I don't think it was enough to have another disaster declaration in Vermont.  Besides, under the Trump administration, it's harder and harder to get federal aid. 

So, unfortunately, Vermont towns and municipalities, along with the State of Vermont that suffered road and infrastructure damage Saturday will probably just have to eat it somehow. 

Yeah, we didn't need Saturday's storm

OUTLOOK

The good news is we face no more severe thunderstorms for quite awhile. The bad news is it's going to keep raining for the remainder of this already very wet May. 

How wet has May been so far? An example is Montpelier. The entire month of May normally bring about 3.5 inches of rain. So far this month in Montpelier, they've had 5.35 inches, including 1.86 inches Saturday. 

Light but fairly persistent showers are expected today, with more scattered ones tomorrow. 

As we've been advertising, this week is going to be much cooler than it's recently been. Instead of 70 and 80s, highs will mostly be in the 50s all week, which is 10 to 15 degrees below normal for this time of year. 

The second half of the week looks particularly showery and cool.  Computer models are now arguing over whether we will have frequent light showers toward the end of the week or another soaker. Stay tuned.