Yep, It's Raining In Vermont/New England, A Lot More To Come

Springtime is beautiful even on rainy, gloomy 
mornings, as seen here in St. Albans, Vermont today. 

 I awoke to a chilly, foggy, drizzly dawn here in St. Albans, Vermont, the start of a what will likely be for some of us the largest rain storm of the year so far.  

Luckily, "largest" is relative, as we have not had many gullywashers yet this year.  Any flooding that results from the rain between now and Saturday evening should be minor. 

It's a chilly storm, because we're facing what is essentially a slow-moving nor'easter passing through New England.  A few of us won't even get out of the 40s for highs today. 

The rest of us will settle for low 50s, which is a good ten to 15 degrees chillier than average for this time of year.

Green Mountain summits will just barely be too warm for snow.

Had this storm happened earlier in the season, we'd be looking at a blockbuster snowstorm.  The path of this storm through central and eastern New England would have been perfect for a hellava dump of sow if this came through in March or even early April.

FLOOD WATCH

There is a flood watch for southern and parts of central Vermont with this rainfall. The watch is very roughly south of a line from below Middlebury to a little south of St. Johnsbury. 

This storm's heaviest rain is forecast for this area. Plus these southern areas had more rain than the north so far this month. 

That said, nobody is expecting anything remotely like the flood calamities we saw in the summers of 2023 and 2024.

First of all, we won't have sharp, torrential downpours. Instead, we'll just have more or less a soaking rain from this morning and continuing well into Saturday.  Sure, the rain might come down sort of heavily at times, but nothing scary. 

The slow, long pace of the rain will allow the water to soak into the ground a little bit, and not run off in great gushes down steep hillsides.

Instead, the steady flow of rain for two days will make rivers across Vermont rise.   In parts of southern and central Vermont, creeks and rivers and streams could get close to or a little bit above bank full.

For instance, the Otter Creek in Center Rutland, Vermont is expected to peak at just a tiny bit under minor flood stage. 

People in southern Vermont who experience big puddles in their yard or water in their basements during heavy rain will probably have to deal with that again, too. 

And yes, we're going to have another rainy Saturday, but the showers should be getting lighter and more scattered as the afternoon and evening wear on. Especially in western Vermont. 

Northern Vermont will end up pretty sodden, too, but the rain won't be quite as heavy up there. We figure in general we'l1 see 1.5 to 3 inches of rain south, and 0.75 to 1.5 inches north.  

LOOKING AHEAD

Overall, this drenching rain might be good in the long run.  It'll soak the ground and help us get through any long dry spells that might develop later this month. 

Though I can't promise any long dry spells. However, we're still looking at a big change in the weather pattern that will actually bring us a few rainless days starting Sunday. 

Sunday looks very sunny, and on the cool, refreshing side. Highs will only be in the 55 to 62 degree range. But the sunshine on the new leaves and flowers on Mother's Day will be spectacular to behold after this gloomy stretch. 

It's also still looking warm and summery and even a tad muggy as we head further into next week. From midweek on, there might even be a few scattered afternoon and evening showers and thunderstorms to give us that summer feel.