Expected Rainfall In Vermont Was A Bust Except For In Far Northern Areas, Wild, Tornadic Storms Ontario, Western New York

Vermont was hoping to get some heavy rain last night
like this August downpour in Colchester, Vermont.
Instead, most areas south of Route 2 received little
rain, and not much more rain is in the forecast. 

For most of Vermont, our expected rain last night was a bust. 

The rain that we wanted in Vermont split into two pieces.  One area of heavy rain, and severe storms passed well to our southwest. Another area of dousing rain moved west to east across southern Quebec. That  area of rain brushed northern Vermont. 

And unfortunately, it doesn't look like much more rain is in the forecast. More on the northern rain and the forecast in a bit.  But first: 

WILD WESTERN NEW YORK/ONTARIO

The weather excitement yesterday and last evening were some vicious thunderstorms that raced southeastward late yesterday afternoon and evening from Ontario  and on into western New York and northern Pennsylvania. 

In and around Toronto, intense thunderstorms brought winds severe wind gusts.  tornado warning, golf and even tennis ball sized hail and extensive flooding. Roofs were blown off some buildings, many, many trees fell and tens of thousand of power outages were reported. 

Major highways around Toronto were closed due to flooding.

During Wednesday evening, western New York came under numerous tornado warnings. We don't yet have confirmations of any touchdowns, but the National Weather Service will be investigating the damage today to figure out if and where twisters might have hit.

We always expected those storms to miss Vermont, but we had hoped at least a thick line of heavier rain would move west to east across the Green Mountain State. That didn't happen. Except in the far northern reaches of the state. 

NORTHERN RAIN

The heavy rain in Quebec came far enough south to give some areas north of Route 2 a nice dousing. Though the rain came mostly in short, sharp downpours and not a steady, moderate rain that would have been better for developing drought conditions. 

We don't have full reports on the rainfall in northern Vermont yet. Northwestern Vermont appears to be the big winner. My unofficial rain gauge in St. Albans picked up an impressive 1.53 inches of rain. In the Northeast Kingdom, St. Johnsbury reported a solid 0.84 inches of rain. It appears the rain might have been even a little heavier north of St. Johnsbury. 

Maidstone, Vermont, way up there in the Kingdom, reported 0.90 inches

Which is good news because the Northeast Kingdom is the driest part of the state.  The latest U.S. Drought Monitor report, released this morning, is unchanged in Vermont from last week. There's still moderate drought and dry conditions in the northeastern part of the state.

The rain was enough to prompt flood warnings for a time in far northern New York, where 2.5 to 3.5 inches of rain was reported. but the rain doesn't look like it caused any real problems here in Vermont. 

Rainfall in Vermont quickly tapered off as you headed south. Woodbury and Morrisville in north-central Vermont had around a half inch of rain.  Burlington had just 0.31 inches. Montplier received only 0.07. Along and south of Route 4, most places had only sprinkles. 

THE FORECAST

Showers are in the forecast, but they won't amount to much, at least for the vast majority of us.  Here are the dailies:

Today

It'll be a rather warm and humid day for early September. Not anything extreme, but you'll feel the lingering effects of summer. It'll get sunnier as we get through the day, too as highs reach well into the 70s. 

There might be a shower or two around this morning, but don't hold your breath on that. 

Friday

Kind of meh, not bad of a day. Party sunny, maybe some light showers over the hills and mountains. Highs in the 70s. Kind of typical early September.

Saturday

A little cooler. Still partly sunny. A slightly better chance of showers than on Friday, but chances are you'll stay dry. Especially if you're in a southern Vermont valley. Or the Champlain Valley. Highs should be within a few degrees either side of 70.

Sunday and Labor Day

Great outdoor weather, as it looks now. Partly to mostly sunny skies, low humidity and highs in the 70s. Monday will be the warmer of the two days. 

Next Week

Not much rain, unfortunately. We're in a fast westerly flow. That means we'll see a lot of weather disturbances zip through, each of them carrying a risk of showers. But the disturbances and cold fronts will be moving so fast that they won't be able to grab a lot of deep moisture that would dump a lot of rain on us. 

Whatever showers we do get won't last long.