Another Unexpected Round Of Wild, Destructive Storms Slams Vermont, Tornado Warning In Franklin County

An apparent rotating wall cloud with last evening's 
severe thunderstorm in Franklin County, Vermont.
View is from Fairfield Hill Road in St Albans.
That blue tint in the clouds indicate the storm
had plenty of hail in it. Lots of dime-sized hail
fell with the downpour at my house when the
main storm arrive. 

 This has been the summer of wild storms in Vermont and we were hit again last evening. 

Ferocious storms hit northern Vermont, especially in Franklin County last evening. The storm even prompted a tornado warning as one particular storm showed definite rotation. It's unclear whether any tornadoes touched down.  I certainly saw rotation in the clouds as the storm approaches my St. Albans house. 

The hardest hit areas seemed to be around Swanton and St. Albans.  The Maquam Shore area of Swanton and areas near St. Albans Bay had many, many downed trees and wires. There were also reports of tree damage in North Hero

In St. Albans, trees are down everywhere. Trees fell on or against houses on Main Street and  Lasalle Street. A tree reportedly fell on a tractor trailer unit in Swanton.  A tree and wires fell onto a car on Maquam Shore Road. The Swanton Fire Department was so swamped from dealing with so many trees down and other storm-related emergencies that they had to call in mutual aid from Philipsburg, Quebec.

A house in Fairfax was struck by lightning. An large apartment building roof caught fire in Essex Junction during the storms but we're still unsure if that as lightning or something else.  Dozens of people were evacuated, and five apartments were damaged.

More than 3,500 homes and businesses were without power in northwest Vermont last evening. Scattered incidents of storm damage continued into central Vermont. Hail stones, some as big as quarters, rattled some areas in Franklin County, 

Torrential rains with the storms prompted a flash flood warning in an area around Cambridge, Jeffersonville and Underhill. 

 We had been expecting showers and thunderstorms with an approaching cold front last evening. In the middle of the day, NOAA's Storm Prediction Center added a marginal risk of severe storms over northern Vermont. That mean there was a chance of an isolated incident or two of severe weather. 

But the instability with this weather system surprised us all. The storms really fired up to pretty extreme levels. Even after the worst of the storms passed through the  northern Champlain Valley at around 7:30 p.m., strong thunderstorms maintained themselves over northern New York and Vermont until around midnight. 

I was watching the initial, very severe storm as it approached St. Albans last evening and was a little surprised to see it intensifying as it did so

 

I was not far from the southern end of the storm and was even more surprised to see an area of clouds lowering and starting to spin. 

Near zero visibility amid torrential rain and screaming
straight line winds during the intense storm in
St, Albans Vermont last evening

Its forward motion was slow, but the spin maintained itself as what seemed to be the wall cloud passed overhead. It was not raining at this point. 

Suddenly, we had a wind gust from the south that I'd estimate at about 55 mph. The gust lasted just a few seconds. It was immediately followed by a sharp, very brief westerly wind gust of maybe 50 mph. 

I definitely was not hit by a tornado, but those weird gusts seemed to indicate something in the atmosphere was trying 

Then the wind calmed down briefly before the storm's gust front arrived. I was on the southern edge of the most intense downburst of wind and rain. . I could hear a loud roar as the (non-tornadic) straight line winds passed by just to my north. Here at my house, it was pretty windy, too, but the top wind gust was probably "only" about 55 to 60 mph

You can view a brief video of the apparent wall cloud in St. Albans, showing what it actually looked like at normal speed, and speeded up to show the rotation. Click on this link to view it. 

As of this writing, I'm not sure whether the National Weather Service will send investigators out to determine whether any storm damage was related to tornadoes. It appears virtually all the damage in northwest Vermont was caused by straight line winds.  I don't know whether there was a brief tornado spin up in there or  not. 

Stay tuned for updates. 

WHAT'S NEXT?

This has been a very stormy summer for the Midwest and eastern United States. Believe it or not, Vermont has missed out on several big storms that passed a little to our south. We've only been on the edge of it. 

In the next couple of days, more big, destructive storms will hit the Midwest and East. Today, intense storms are likely in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and northern Kentucky. 

Some of those same areas may be hit again tomorrow. Potentially serious flash flooding could hit parts West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky today. That flood risk will continue tomorrow and Thursday in those regions.

Once again, Vermont will be sitting just outside the main storm areas. We do have a risk of more thunderstorms. Even maybe a strong one or two. But fingers crossed, nothing like last evening. Here are the daily outlooks:

TODAY

A nice one, especially for those who unfortunately have to clean up the mess left by last night's storm. Sunshine will boost temperatures up to near 80 degrees or so. The humidity won't be rock bottom low, but definitely better than on recent days. 

WEDNESDAY

Another nice one  - almost a repeat of today.  The only difference is a few showers and thunderstorms could pop up near the Canadian border in the evening as the next weather system approaches.

THURSDAY

This is our next shot at more thunderstorms as a fairly strong cold front approaches. For now, it doesn't look like this front will create widespread severe weather. But, depending on the timing of the front, some storms could bring gusty winds again.

We'll have more on this as we get closer to the event. 

FRIDAY

Lingering showers, especially over the northern Green Mountains in a cool northwest flow of air. Highs will only be in  the 70s. Maybe upper 60s in hill towns and parts of the Northeast Kingdom. 

WEEKEND

So far, looking delightful: Sunshine with rock-bottom humidity with refreshing air. Highs will only be in the 70s again. Lows will be down in the 45 to 52 degree range,  though a little warmer near Lake Champlain. That will be the most comfortable sleeping weather we've had in ages.