Was A Stormy Vermont Night, And It Won't Be A Nice Day (But We Needed The Rain)

Just a few leaves clinging to the trees in St. Albans,
Vermont yesterday. This was before bigger wind
gusts and heavier rain. By tomorrow, most of 
these remaining leaves will be on the ground. 

Well,  you can tell we're heading into winter because we had a classic cold season stormy night in Vermont. 

Since it's not quite winter, it didn't snow, at least not yet (hint, hint) but wind and rain made for a noticeable, even sleepless night for some of us. 

Today and tonight will remain on the wet and windy side, too. This time of year in the Green Mountain State is not exactly known for its glorious weather. 

November, a month known in Vermont for wind, overcast and dampness starts tomorrow. We're just getting a slightly early start. 

Vermont power outages flared up between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m., mostly over the western slopes of the Green Mountains. Those outages peaked at a little over 7,700 at around midnight. 

These western slope windstorms tend to contain brief, intense gusts between periods of relatively calm air. They also sometimes tend to be rather localized. One section of town get blasted, while other nearby neighborhoods are OK. 

I noticed some occasional strong easterly gusts at around 9:30 or 10 last night here in St Albans.  People on Facebook reported tree damage and power outages. A cluster of three large pines in Pittsford reportedly broke off about 25 feet above the ground. One person said they had a 90 mph gust in South Lincoln, but I'm a little suspicious of that report. 

Somebody in Killington said their home weather station registered a 72 mph gust. Not far away in Chittenden another home wind gauge clicked at 68 mph. Power outages and tree damage was also reported in northern Vermont, especially around Hyde Park and Craftsbury. 

These are all unofficial reports from Facebook, but it does indicate last night was windier than predicted in spots. Doppler radar did detect gusts over 60 mph in some pockets near the western slopes of the Greens last night at around 9 p.m. just before the peak wind reports came in. 

As of this morning, winds have died down but they'll get gusty again later. More on that in a bit. 

I also don't have complete rainfall totals yet. Southern Vermont seems to have gotten some nice, beneficial rains. Through 7 a.m. Springfield reported 1.37 inches and Bennington 2.12.

Many northern areas of Vermont, like Burlington,  has only received around a half inch of rain through 7 a.m. But the burst of heavier rain this morning hadn't finished up yet in the north. By Saturday morning, storm totals should be around three quarters of an inch, give or take, in northeast Vermont and around an inch in the Champlain Valley. 

We should see another little dent in the drought because of this storm, but it certainly won't erase the entire problem. 

The storm was even worse elsewhere in the Northeast. Torrential rains caused big time flash flooding in and around New York City. Two men were found dead in separate flooded basements.   

REST OF THE STORM 

Dusting off the old National Weather Service snow
prediction map for another season. It shows light
accumulations by tomorrow in the Adirondacks, and
along the spine of the Green Mountains. 

Bursts of rain were still moving through Vermont as dawn broke today.  There were even some lightning strikes near Burlington shortly after 7 a.m. today. 

The rain should taper off later this morning, and much of the afternoon should feature just cloudy skies, with some light showers mostly in the north.  

Precipitation should blossom again this afternoon and continue much of the night, especially in the mountains and in the northwestern third of Vermont. 

Not much additional rain will hit the south, but some light rain and sprinkles should pop up even in the drier southeastern valleys.   

Ghost and goblins roaming the streets this evening should get pretty damp. Witches on brooms might get blown off course by the wind. Dracula will have no trouble with sunshine. 

This won't be entirely rain, either. 

As colder air moves rain will change to snow at the summits this afternoon. Overnight and early Saturday, snowflakes will get to as low as maybe 1,200 to 1,500 feet in elevations. Places at and above 2,000 feet could get a slushy coating of snow, with several inches at the summits by Saturday morning. 

The wind will get cranking later this afternoon, and overnight, and into Saturday as well. This time, the gusts will come from west and northwest. Since winds tend to accelerate as they go downhill, this time it will be the eastern, not western slopes of the Greens that get the most wind.

Peak wind gusts won't be as high as last night, but they will be more widespread. Top wind gusts for most of us will be in the 30 to 40 mph range, with higher gusts in the mountains and eastern slopes, and maybe the broad waters of Lake Champlain. 

It'll be blustery and cold Saturday, but most of the rain and high elevation snow showers should be in the mountains, and along the western slopes of the Greens. You'll see some sunshine in the valleys of southeast Vermont, but the north will be mostly cloudy 

Once again a classic November day. 

This is turning out to be a pretty big storm. Not a record breaker and nothing unprecedented. But definitely a notable one. 

There will be occasional rain and or snow chances once every few days now into the middle of November, but for now, I don't see any storms as big as the one we're gettin now.