Mount Washington Helps Create Spectacular "Mothership" Cloud

Colby Morris took this photo of a spectacular lenticular
cloud over Mount Washington, New Hampshire Tuesday.

There's a photo floating around social media these days of what looks like a mothership about to grab New Hampshire's Mount Washington and take it to, I don't know, it's home planet light years away. 

For once, the photo is not AI. It's the real deal, showing a spectacular lenticular cloud over New England's highest peak.  You can see the photo in this post. 

Feel free to click on it to make it bigger and easier to see. 

The photo was taken by Colby Morris, a Mesonet and Information Systems Technician, who spotted the cloud at around 8 a.m. Tuesday while he was on his way to Crawford Notch. The observatory posted the photo on their Facebook page. 

Many people who saw the photo on Facebook had the same reaction I did. Here are some of the comments:

"Show us on the doll where the aliens touched you."

"That's clearly a cloud obstructing an alien landing on the summit. We saw the exact same thing in 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.'

"Beam me up, Scotty."

"Is this the portal back to reality? You know the dimension where humans actually act like human beings? Pretty please??!"

Unfortunately, the cloud is not that portal back to reality. We're stuck in our Earthly madness. 

Mount Washington Observatory photographed the 
same cloud a bit earlier than Morris did, at sunrise
yesterday The bottom of that lenticular cloud is
on the left with the sun illuminating a ring at 
the bottom of the cloud. 

What hovered over Mount Washington is a lenticular cloud, which are actually kind of common near mountains. This one was just  much larger, uniquely shaped and more spectacular than most.  

 As the Mount Washington Observatory explains:

"They usually form when a relatively strong flow of stable air flows into a barrier, most commonly a mountain range, and is forced upward. As the air ascents, it expands and cools. If the air has sufficient moisture, this cooling may be enough to cause condensation to occur, and therefore generate clouds. 

Because the air is stable, however, it will resist this vertical motion and seek to descent to its former level. As it descends, it will contract and warm, causing the newly formed cloud to evaporate. What is unique about these clouds is that they are very dynamic, and while each individual air parcel is undergoing the cycle of cooling and condensing and warming and evaporating, visually, the cloud appears to be standing still."

The edges of the clouds look smooth because the strong winds associated with them sculpt the cloud. That smooth appearance is why the clouds have that "lenticular" name. 

This type of cloud appears here in Vermont and elsewhere in northern New England a few times a year. They can form any time there is some sort of mountain range in the vicinity and the atmospheric conditions are right. 

The atmosphere around Mount Washington Tuesday was conducive to a particularly wild standing wave cloud.  

Lenticular clouds are not dangerous to those of us on the ground. We're not going to be sucked up into an alien spaceship. But they are dangerous to aircraft. They're a sign of severe, risky turbulence. When pilots seen these clouds, they try to avoid the area.  

Vermont Surrounded By, But So Far Untouched By Tornadoes This Year (But We've Had Spinny Things)

It's been a busy year for tornadoes in the Northeast so far, but Vermont has been spared any of them. 

Strong winds and torrential rain from a thunderstorm
in Hinesburg, Vermont on June 23 that carried a tornado
warning. No known twisters touched down that day. 

We've had some close misses, but no twisters have been confirmed in the Green Mountain State this year. 

The latest close misses came on Tuesday. 

TUESDAY TWISTERS

The National Weather Service office in Gray, Maine confirmed that a tornado touched down in Lyme, New Hampshire Tuesday. Lyme is just across the Connecticut River from Thetford, Vermont. 

The NWS office will release more details on that tornado later today, but did say it was a high end EF-1 with top winds of 110 mph with a path length of 1.8 miles long. 

Video from WPTZ showed the tornado's rapidly rotating wall cloud engulfing a mountain in Lyme. 

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service office in Albany, New York, has so far confirmed three tornadoes Tuesday in New York, not that far from the Vermont border.

A brief EF-1 touched down in Oxbow Lake, New York, with winds of 100 mph. Another, even more brief EF-0 tornado with winds of 85 mph touched the ground a little northwest of Warrensburg, New York.

A slightly larger EF-1 tornado with top winds of 100 mph and a path length of about a mile hit Wells, New  York. 

These tornadoes hit a little to the west of Lake George. The same parent thunderstorm that spawned these three twisters also launched another much larger tornado further to the west onto Rome, New York.

The Rome tornado was an EF-2 with winds of 135 mph and a 5.25 mile long path, says the National Weather Service office in Binghamton, New York.  That office will investigated two additional areas of severe storm damage in the region. At least one of those storms, this one in Canastota, New York, killed one person, and the damage is consisted with what you'd expect in a tornado.

We expect confirmation one way or another later today. 

That tornadic storm in New York eventually ended up in southwestern Vermont.  The NWS office in Albany investigated a concentrated areas of snapped off and uprooted trees along Route 30 in Rupert, Vermont. That damage was caused by a microburst carrying 95 mph winds, and not a tornado, meteorologists concluded. 

OTHER VERMONT SPINNY THINGS

Vermont has had other close calls with tornadoes this year.

Last week, at the start of our severe flash flooding on July 10, thunderstorms with tornado warnings blossomed in New York, west of Addison County, Vermont.

Those storms entered Addison County, carrying severe thunderstorm but not tornado warnings. A funnel cloud was spotted in Bridport, and damage was reported in the town. The National Weather Service office in South Burlington investigated.

The funnel must not have touched down, as no damage was found where it was located. The tree damage near Pratt's Store in Bridport was three or four miles from the funnel position, so it had to be straight line winds that caused the problem. 

I was downstream from that storm in New Haven, Vermont, and I spotted some suspicious, apparently rotating clouds, but those clouds clearly showed no signs of touching down as a tornado. The same storm moved on to neighboring Monkton, where videographers spotted a wall cloud, which is often a precursor to a tornado. But again, nothing touched down. 

Monkton seems to be Vermont's version of tornado alley this year, though no actual tornadoes touched down there. However, on June 23, two separate storms, each rotating and having tornado warnings associated with them, passed near Monkton.  A funnel cloud was photographed near Monkton, but nothing touched down. 

A tornado did touch down in Dublin, New Hampshire, a little east of Keene that day. 

Finally, on June 9, I spotted a cold air funnel over St. Albans, Vermont. This type of funnel is really not tornadic, and almost never touch down. They are a function of garden variety storms interacting with cold air aloft.   They are almost always no biggies, but fun to watch.

It is of course, possible a tornado or even a couple might have hit somewhere in Vermont this summer. Tornadoes in this neck of the woods are often incredibly brief and cause little damage. Perhaps there was one in the deep woods somewhere far from anybody's house, so it went unnoticed. 

 Or maybe somebody did notice some fallen trees, but thought it was caused by a typical summer windstorm. The National Weather Service doesn't do random investigations looking for damage. If storm damage is reported to them, they'll often investigate to determine whether it was a microburst, straight line winds or a tornado. They'll also assess how strong the winds were and how big an areas those winds covered.

Those investigations both satisfy our curiosity and help meteorologists make better forecasts in the future. They can observe the conditions that led to the damage, and that can help improve forecasts going forward. 

No severe weather, or any kind of majorly inclement weather is in the forecast through at least Monday, so we're good to go with no spinny thing threats for the foreseeable future. 

UPDATE 1 PM WED: Flash Flood Risk Once Again Growing Vermont/New Hampshire This Afternoon

The area within the sort of pink cloud on this
map from NOAA is at risk for flash flooding
this afternoon and evening. 

 I'm hoping this will be the second false alarm in two days, but I think not.  

The flash flood threat in parts of Vermont and New Hampshire are growing this afternoon.

As of 1 p.m.  feeder band of wet air and heavy showers is working its way up through New Hampshire, the Connecticut River valley on both sides of the river and into Vermont's Northeast Kingdom.

Meanwhile, a broken band of growing showers and storms is slowly working its way into the Champlain Valley of New York and will soon cross into Vermont.  Other showers are starting to form in central Vermont.

This thick moisture flow, and the convergence of these two bands of south to north moving downpours will ramp up the flash flood chances this afternoon.

Some sunshine that broke through in Vermont helped increase instability. Moisture is available in a thick layer of the atmosphere, so that opens the door to heavy rains. 

 NOAA's Weather Prediction Center, in a special statement about the risk, had this to say early this afternoon: "This impressive overlap of forcing and moisture will produce widespread convection this afternoon and evening with rainfall rates likely eclipsing two inches per hour."

It's even possible the strongest storms could dump an inch of rain within 15 minutes. 

Soils have gotten much wetter in Vermont and New Hampshire. In some spots in both states, as little as one inch of rain within an hour or 1.5 inches within three hours might be enough to start triggering some flooding. 

The more we go over those figures, the worse it would get. 

Since the moisture and storms are on a south to north conveyer belt, the heaviest rain could keep hitting the same spots for a few hours.   

Anywhere in Vermont is at risk for flash flooding today, with the highest threat  from the Green Mountains eastward on into New Hampshire and western Maine, along with parts of Massachusetts. 

I would give New Hampshire the nod for the highest risk of flash flooding today, but all the areas I mentioned are susceptible

It did appear yesterday a flash flood threat would materialize along and west of the Green Mountains. That didn't really materialize. However, the threat today from the Greens eastward seems greater to me than anything we had yesterday. 

The weak front driving the line of showers over far eastern New York early this afternoon should crawl eastward by this evening, so the flood threat should diminish toward sunset.   

Watching Vermont Storms/Heavy Rain/Flood Risk This Afternoon

For a glorious brief period late Monday morning, the
dense smoke from Sunday in St. Albans, Vermont 
cleared, revealing a tropical blue sky. But soon,
clouds filled in as showers kept skirting the area.

UPDATE:

1:30 p.m. TUESDAY

It looks like a conveyer belt of sorts of storms and heavy rain are starting to move south to north up the western half of Vermont. 

This raises the potential of the dreaded "training storms" in which heavy showers move over the same spots over and over again, like those boxcars I describe in the narrative below, which I wrote this afternoon.

It's just beginning, Hubbarton has so far reported an inch of rain, and I'm sure there were a few spots in southwestern Vermont that have already had a little more.

As of 1:30 p.m. this afternoon, there were no flood advisories, alerts or warnings in Vermont. But just over the border from Rutland County, a flood advisory has been issued for adjacent New York State, in the area around Whitehall, Fort Ann, Fort Edward, Comstock, that area.

Stay on your toes for the risk of local flash flooding today anywhere in Vermont. For now, the highest risk is from the spine of the Green Mountains westward.  You're not guaranteed to see flooding, but it could happen in some spots. 

Don't drive over water-covered roads, and stay out of flood prone area if your area does go under a flood advisory or flash flood warning. 

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

We're now into our expected very, very wet week here in Vermont and so far, it's....only kind of wet. 

The stalled, but volatile weather pattern is still one in which flash floods are a risk, with a somewhat lower, but still possible risk of isolated severe thunderstorms. 

Through Monday, the worst of everything seems to be going around us here in Vermont. We have had much trouble with either flooding or severe weather.  Not sure it will last or not, but maybe.  

STORMS THROUGH MONDAY

One thing you have to watch when we're in a very humid, slow moving weather regime is training storms. Those are torrential showers and thunderstorms that line up like boxcars on a railroad track. Each storm in the series goes over the same spot, unleashing flooding rains in a narrow band. 

These "training storms" in a worst case scenario can cause some pretty catastrophic floods over local areas. 

So far, at least, I haven't seen that kind of "training storms" since the wet weather arrived on Saturday. 

Such weather did affect places like Maine and New Hampshire. Nearly six inches of rain poured down on Andover, in western Maine in a short period of time Monday, washing out roads and causing property damage. 

Flash flood warnings went up in various places in New Hampshire both Sunday and Monday. Severe flood damage was reported in Alexandria, New Hampshire, about 15 miles east of Lebanon.  Other road washouts were noted in parts of the White Mountains. 

New Hampshire expects more trouble, as a flood watch is in effect for most of that state today.  No watches were up in Vermont as of 9 a.m. today. 

One flash flood warning went up in extreme southeastern Vermont last evening as heavy rain moved through. Jacksonville, Vermont reported two inches of rain in a short period of time. Still, I haven't seen any reports of any real flood damage in Windham County. 

Most of the storms in Vermont moved right along on Monday, not lingering over an area long enough to cause problems. A few storms were strong. A pretty intense thunderstorm gust took down a couple trees in Essex Junction, for instance.

WHAT ABOUT TODAY?

We're in for another active weather day, and I'm sure meteorologists will be paying close attention to radar to detect potential flood trouble or strong storms. 

The remnants of a cold front will be pushing into New York State today, focusing thunderstorms in the eastern part of that state and New England, including here in Vermont. 

A few showers were already underway here and there in Vermont early this morning.  They'll blossom and become much more numerous by this afternoon. Pretty much all of us will get some rain. A few of us will get very little, a few of us will get absolutely drenched, and the rest of us will be somewhere in between. 

There's no telling in advance, though, who gets what. 

A few isolated storms might have some strong, gusty winds, so be on the lookout for that. Most of us won't see anything that dramatic, but a few "lucky" people will.  Most of the strongest storms will probably be west of Lake Champlain in New York. 

The slightly bigger concern is that boxcar effect of training storms going over the same area over and over today.

You don't really know whether that will happen or where until it is underway.  So just keep an ear out for any flash flood warnings that might come out.  Most of us won't have that kind of problem.  If any flash flooding does happen, it's most likely in steep or hilly areas this afternoon and evening.

If storms don't arrange themselves into trains, we're in good shape. They'll be moving along quickly enough so they don't dump a super duper crapload of rain in any one place. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Wednesday's looking like a literal rinse and repeat sort of day, so expect more risks of local flooding here and there. And almost everybody will get wet again. 

Thursday looks showery, too, but there probably won't be as many showers as the last few days. Friday looks even better, with more sunshine. Showers and thunderstorms will probably be pretty few and far between to close out the week. 

It looks like we might have another uptick in showers and storms over the weekend. Oh, and by the way, if you don't like the current high humidity, too bad. It'll last at least a few more days. At least it's not super hot out there. 

 

Vermont Rainfall Just As Heavy As Expected; Some Flooding Reported

After being bone dry or close to it throughout the summer
and early autumn, the "Woof River" a small stream near
 my St. Albans house, shows signs of life this morning
after heavy overnight rains. 

 As expected, it really poured overnight, with most everybody receiving at least an inch and a half of rain with several places easily going past two inches and counting.  . 

Specific rainfall reports were, as always, spotty very early this morning, and we'll get more details later. 

Just before dawn, moderate to heavy rain was still streaming north to south across Vermont. But that north/south chain of rain was ever so slowly shifting eastward. 

 It looks like rain was tapering off to light stuff in far western Vermont. You could see some blue sky far to the west over New York State.

 It'll take most of the morning for the super soggy weather to clear out of eastern parts of the state.

As such, a flood warning was issued at 8:24 a.m. this morning along the Green Mountains from east of Middlebury up to the Canadian border. Rain was still coming down at a good clip in this area as of 8:30 a.m. The flood warning continues to early this afternoon. 

Already, water was across the road on Route 118 in Eden near Belividere Pond and Mud Creek. I'm almost sure we'll receive a few more reports of flooding here and there as we go through the morning. 

As of 6 a.m. this morning, while it was still pouring in many areas, it was already clear that the heaviest rain was falling along the Green Mountains.  At that point, the highest rain totals included 2.77 inches near Smugglers Notch, 2.51 inches in Jeffersonville and 2.41 inches in Underhill.

Some spots that have already received close to two inches of rain could receive up to an inch more.  The flood watch has been lifted in far western Vermont but as of early this morning remains in effect along and north of Route 2 from the Green Mountains east. 

 Larger rivers are rising fast now. But they were so low before this storm that flooding along them is doubtful at best.  One river to watch early this morning is the Lamoille. Water levels were rising fast just before dawn near Jeffersonville, for instance, but still well below flood stage.

 Also as expected, the rain is even heavier in parts of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and in southwestern Maine. Flood warnings are up in those areas as rainfall totals might reach upwards of five inches there. 

The next shot at any really noticeable rain will come on Monday.  That storm won't be nearly as wet as the current one.  Most of us will see a half inch of rain or less out of that one  It still looks like snow showers could reach all the way down to valley floors around midweek.

Update: Still Lots Of Vermont Wind/Rain Coming. Even Worse Elsewhere?

A sugar maple leaf fell from a tree yesterday in St. Albans,
Vermont and impaled itself on a piece of rusty metal. Ouch!
Lots more leaves will come down today and tonight due
to expected strong winds and heavy rain.

 You could really tell yesterday that foliage season was about to end in Vermont, except in the warmest valleys.  

Winds, as expected, gusted to between 20 and 30 mph.  No big deal, but that was enough to send blizzards of leaves falling from the trees. You could see a huge difference in some of the landscape between early morning and late afternoon.

You ain't seen nothin' yet, as Bachman-Turner Overdrive might tell us.

Winds were just beginning to increase as I wrote this during morning drive time. (Don't worry, I'm not driving. I'm at a desk in front of a laptop).

By afternoon, winds will increase further, especially in northern Vermont. Gusts will go over 30 mph in southern Vermont and could go as high as 50 mph in northwestern Vermont. A wind advisory is in effect until 11 p.m. tonight for Vermont generally north of Route 2, except in the far northeast corner of the state.

These winds could cause isolated power outages and blow unsecured objects around.  And will take down tons of leaves.

We're still expecting a hefty push of rain overnight and early tomorrow morning. A terrific fetch of moisture will come off the Atlantic Ocean tonight, giving most of us some heavy rainfall.  Given that the wet Atlantic air is coming from the east and southeast, the heaviest rain will probably be on east facing slopes of the Green Mountains and Adirondacks. 

Most places should see an inch or two of rain out of this, with a few locally higher amounts.

As I mentioned yesterday, these amounts aren't usually enough to cause flooding, but all those leaves that have fallen can clog drains, culverts and small brooks. That could lead to local flash floods. I also wonder if rainfall will over-perform a little bit on those eastern slopes, given the amount of Atlantic moisture pouring in.

Still, I don't think flooding in Vermont will be widespread, but it's something to keep an eye on. Especially with the leaf clogged storm drains in cities and towns. Streets that don't normally flood could.  You don't want to drive into those, as you don't know how deep the water really is. 

There's already two other areas in New England that have been targeted as potential bigger trouble spots with this setup.  One is southeastern New England, the first to get smacked by the moisture plume. First come, first serve, so there would be plenty of water available to come down as rain. There could be three to five inches of rain there in some spots.

The other, perhaps more dangerous trouble spot is the south and east slopes of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the mountains of western Maine. That moisture fetch could produce three to as much six inches of rain there.  With those steep slopes, that's more than enough to cause some flash flooding. 

It'll generally clear up and turn into a nice Friday in most of Vermont, but some clouds and rain could linger in the Northeast Kingdome. 

After this system goes by, there's more coming, but they will all be much smaller than the system coming in tonight. Each cold front between Sunday and midweek will drop our temperatures further. 

And here's some news: By Wednesday, it could well be cold enough to bring snow showers all the way down to Vermont's valley floors. 

Potpourri: NH Tornado, Decent Rains, Quick Heat Squirt

Tornado path in Charlestown, New Hampshire. Click
on the pic to make it bigger and easier to see.

Let's do some odds and ends today to catch our breath after several days of interesting weather

And more possibly interesting things to come. So here we go:  

NEW HAMPSHIRE TORNADO

To absolutely nobody's surprise, the National Weather Service office in Gray, Maine, confirmed a tornado on Monday in Charlestown and Claremont, New Hampshire 

That was the tornado I talked about yesterday that was caught on a truck dash cam. 

The National Weather Service said the tornado was an EF-1 with top winds of 90 mph.

It traveled 4.8 miles and had a maximum width of about 330 yards. It lasted only six minutes, touching down at 6:22 p.m. Monday. In that short time, it snapped or uprooted about 1,000 trees.  It looks like the tornado missed buildings, which is nice. A few houses suffered a little damage from falling trees in the area, but it's unclear if that damage was from the tornado or straight line winds.

The tornado did close Route 12 in Charlestown for several hours so crews could clear fallen trees and replace about 20 utility poles wrecked by the twister, says WMUR. 

The damage track traced by the National Weather Service/Gray confirmed the tornado stayed a little east of the Connecticut River through its entire life, meaning officially, no tornado in Vermont. 

DECENT RAINS FOR NOW

That long dry spell in Vermont from May 5 through 13 in Vermont had many of us wondering if this would be another kind of droughty summer, like the past two were. At least in northern Vermont. 

It turns out this month's dry spell didn't parch us out to the level we were at in 2020 and 2021. Soil moisture before the dry spell was good, so we had reserves. And the rains seem to have returned. 

Most place in Vermont got at least an inch of rain Saturday afternoon through Monday evening. Yesterday, some of the showers in northern and central Vermont deposited slightly more rain than I thought we'd get. I was surprised by the intensity of a downpour late last evening for instance. 

For the month so far, Burlington is only 0.17 inches below normal as of midnight. For the year as a whole, Burlington is about a half inch above normal for precipitation. Nothing extreme, but normal is good. 

More is on the way. Nothing excessive, but enough to keep the crops and gardens at least somewhat watered.

A disturbance should bring more light rain on Thursday. We'll have to watch out for Sunday.  The timing of a cold front is uncertain. It could be a bust, or we could receive strong thunderstorms with heavy downpours, or something in between. We'll have to wait and see. 

Long range forecasts through the end of the month indicate somewhat above normal precipitation around here, but note that long range forecasts are iffy.  Still, the next two weeks seems to want to feature a parade of modest rainfalls passing through. Of course we don't know what the rest of summer will bring

HEAT SQUIRT

Speaking of summer, it looks like we're in for another spell of hot summer weather, though this one will be brief. We're on a temperature roller coaster, as you've surely noticed we're off to a cool start today. 

After Thursday's chilly showers, we should pop up to 80 degrees on Friday, and stay warm and muggy Friday night. At this point, Saturday is looking it could be another day of near 90 degree temperatures. The record high in Burlington on Saturday is 92 degrees, so I don't think that record will be broken, but you never know. 

It'll cool down again after that cold front I mentioned for Sunday.

Tornado In New Hampshire Just Over Vermont Border, And Storm Wrap Up For Monday.

A man caught this tornado on his dash cam Monday
as he drove through Charlestown, New Hampshire
just across the border from Springfield, Vermont.

 The first fairly widespread spell of severe thunderstorms of the season is over, with pockets of damage here and there. 

The most dramatic event with this system was a tornado in Charlestown, New Hampshire, just over the Connecticut River from Springfield, Vermont at around 6:30 p.m. Monday.

YouTuber Silver & Brass caught the tornado on his truck dashcam. As you can see in the video, there's clearly a funnel with strong, swirling winds that eventually hits the truck.  The truck takes little if any damage. 

After the tornado passes, the driver continues down the road and encounters dozens of trees felled by the tornado. 

On Twitter, meteorologist Eric Weglarz said it was the best, clearest video of what is known as a QLCS tornado he's seen in New England.

QLCS stands for Quasi-Linear Convective System, which is a line of storms that has bends and kinks in it. Sometimes, the air will start to spin near one of these kinks, and a tornado results.  That is apparently what happened in Charlestown. 

The tornado appeared to be along Route 11 in Charlestown near the intersection of Route 12A. That puts the twister on the edge of town closest to the Vermont border. Though the storm hasn't been analyzed yet, the path of it doesn't appear to have touched Vermont in any way, so no Vermont tornado.

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine are expected in Charlestown today to determine the exact path and strength of this tornado. 

In Vermont, there wasn't anything as dramatic as a tornado, but still, there was storm damage. 

After seeming to start fading in the late afternoon, thunderstorms rejuvenated as the raced northeastward through central and northern Vermont in the evening. 

Warren was hit with what was probably a microburst that tossed down numerous trees and wires. Earlier in the day a storm blew down some trees and wires along Route 22A near Addison, and started a brush fire. 

I'm not sure how the brush fire got going.  Perhaps the storm's rains missed that particular spot, allowing fallen lines to set the small blaze? Not sure. 

Trees were also reported down around Guilford and Athens, in far southern Vermont. 

Power outages across Vermont peaked at about 3,900, according to VTOutages.com

Heavy rain was another factor with these storms.  Flood warnings and flash flood warnings went up in Rutland and Addison counties for a time Monday evening. Though I'm sure there were some eroded driveways and gravel roads in that region, I haven't seen any reports of serious damage.

The rain with these storms overall did more good than harm, as they ended a 10-day dry spell. 

As Roger Hill (@wxeringheights) points out on Twitter, pretty much everybody in Vermont except a few spots in the lower Connecticut River Valley received at least an inch of rain over the past three days. 

Some three day totals were pretty impressive: Brandon, Jeffersonville and Johnson, for instance, each received around four inches of rain between Saturday and last night.

WHAT'S NEXT

If you like variety, this is your week. 

Sunday was cloudy and humid, Monday was active to say the least, and today, we're back to April.  It'll be mostly cloudy, breezy and cool today, with numerous showers around, especially in the  north this afternoon.  The showers won't be particularly heavy, but it will make things feel like a throwback to earlier in the spring. 

Skies will clear and it will be quite cool tonight, with lows close to 40 degrees. The coldest hollows will probably have some frost, but most of us will stay in the safe zone. Barely.

After a cool, but sunny Wednesday, the forecast gets uncertain, but definitely still variable. It seems like some showers will be around Thursday, then it will get warm Friday, possibly hot on Saturday.  A new cold front will bring showers and storms over the weekend, but we don't know precisely when the front will come through. 

Which means we don't know how strong any storms will be, how hot it will get Saturday, and how much it will cool down Sunday and Monday. As usual, stay tuned. 

Videos.

As always, if you don't see an image of the video on your screen, click on the hyperlinks to view. 

First up, here's the tornado and its aftermath from that dash cam by Silver & Brass. The phone conversations between the driver and his wife are also humorous, but note that they are NSFW. 

For a much milder mood, here's a very brief video I took of some very pleasant rains and rumbles of thunder in St. Albans, Vermont last evening. 

 

Flash Flood In Southern Vermont; Nearby NY/NH Also Hit

Significant flash flooding last night in southwestern New
Hampshire. Photo from New Hampshire State Police.

 As per usual, southern Vermont got nailed last night, while we in northern Vermont were largely just bystanders.

Flash flood warnings rang out last evening as torrential rains ran in a band from Saratoga and Washington County near the southwest Vermont border, then through the southern third of the Green Mountain State and into New Hampshire.  

This was part of a severe weather outbreak that spun off destructive tornadoes in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  

Up in northern Vermont, relatively little rain fell, as the seemingly permanent drought rolls on.  I've become convinced it will never truly rain up north of Route 2 ever again.  A friend recently gifted me with a lovely cactus plant.  She knows what's up. 

It's not that we stayed completely dry.  Just after I measured about a quarter inch of rain from overnight at my place in St. Albans, Vermont, a brief downpour passed through, adding a bit more. So there's that. I'll take anything I can get at this pont. 

But enough of my whining, as things got serious last night in southwestern Vermont and adjacent New York State in particular.

Flooding in Bellows Falls, Vermont last night. Photo from

Bellows Falls Fire Department via WCAX

It's been very soggy down that way over the past month and some of the storms yesterday dumped over three inches of rain in just a short time in the late afternoon and early evening. Flash flooding hit much of southern Vermont. 

Numerous roads were closed due to flooding around Manchester, Vermont, according to storm reports collected by the National Weather Service office in Albany, New York.  

Arlington, Vermont, where part of Route 313 was closed by flooding, received 3.57 inches of rain poured down.  Westminster reported a whopping five inches of rain. 

Several roads and culverts in Putney were washed out. Part of Interstate 91, both north and southbound, were closed by flooding near Putney for a time early this morning, but the highway is now open. 

In southeastern Vermont, the Saxtons River went from three feet deep to just under 14 feet deep in a couple of hours, almost reaching major flood stage. (Flood stage is 10 feet). 

WCAX-TV is reporting that serious flooding struck Bellows Falls, with waist deep water in some streets.  The Bellows Falls Fire Department pumped water from at least a half dozen home basements. 

Just over the border in New York, several streets and roads in and around Saratoga went under water. What is described as a significant mudslide occurred in Moreau, New York. Some towns in Washington and Saratoga counties in New York received nearly four inches of rain. 

A brief downpour in St. Albans, Vermont this morning. This

was needed rain for northern Vermont, in contrast to southern areas

of the state, which saw flash flooding last evening. 

The torrents in New York and Vermont continued on into New Hampshire, where serious flash flooding was reported around Newport and Goshen, New Hampshire.

Several roads washed out in Alstead, New Hampshire as well. Alstead is just east of Rockingham, Vermont.  

Further south, what appear to be significant tornadoes roared through Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 

 A car dealership in Bensalem, Pennsylvania was ripped apart by one tornado, and a nearby mobile home park was trashed.  At least five people were injured. 

The big blast of "Pre-Autumn" weather is blowing in now, and today will probably be the coldest in Vermont since July 3 at least, when we had another very chilly summer day. 

The showers and quick downpours that are around early this morning will move away by afternoon.  the scattered downpours will be a bit alarming for those trying to clean up after the overnight floods at the southern end of the state, but I don't think they'll be enough to cause renewed flooding.  

We'll be just left this afternoon  gusty, autumnal and mostly to partly cloudy skies. 

It will stay very cool for the season through Monday. The only chance of significant rain in the forecast is Sunday, when there maybe will be a half inch of rain.  Sunday's rain at this point does not look super heavy, but we'll have to watch any embedded thunderstorms with downpours in southern Vermont.  It won't take huge amounts of rain to set off new flooding.  

NOAA's Weather Prediction Center has a marginal risk of flooding in Vermont Sunday, with a zone of a second level "slight risk" in a sliver of southern Vermont. 

We're still thinking temperatures will be back up to fairly close to normal early August levels by the middle of next week. 

How Dry I Am: Right After The Snow, A Fire Risk

A brush fire near Interstate 89 in Colchester, Vermont last 
month. Photo via WCAX. There's a risk of more brush
fires starting today and continuing through much of
the upcoming week due to continued dry conditions.

There was still some snow on the ground outside my St. Albans, Vermont home this morning on a very chilly April morning. 

 It was cold as 2 above zero in Saranac Lake, New York and 7 degrees in Island Pond, Vermont. 

Believe it or not, though, there's a fire danger out there today for the region. 

A lot of places in Vermont and northern New York got very little or no snow Thursday.  In most valleys there's no snow on the ground.  

Although things got a wet down with that last storm, the relative humidity was low yesterday amid north breezes.  

This drying out the brush and dead grass and stuff very quickly.  That fast drying process will continue today amid lots of sunshine and bone dry humidity levels today.  

Even in places like where I live, any remaining snow will quickly melt and leftover water will evaporate quickly today. 

The National Weather Service in South Burlington put out a special weather statement early today warning against open burning and being careful with sparks and flames.

In Vermont, there's no statewide burn ban currently, but you'd have to be nuts to set your brush pile alight today or anytime in the upcoming week if not longer. Many individual Vermont towns currently have burn bans

There's a burn ban in New York through May 14.

In all except far northern New Hampshire today, there's a full fledged red flag warning for what is described as a critical fire risk today. The warning states: Dry weather and some wind combined with dry surface fuels may lead to extensive fire occurrence or rapid fire growth during the daylight hours."

For the nation as a whole, it does seem to be turning out to be a fiery spring.  There have been numerous rangeland and wildfires in the Great Plains and parts of the Midwest. Fire danger is high out in that neck of the woods today amid dry weather and near record high temperatures.  

A few early season fires have broken out in California. And last month in New Jersey, a forest fire spread into neighborhoods and commercial districts, burning down a few businesses, slightly damaging several homes and forcing evacuations. 

Back here in Vermont and surrounding areas, we'll have to be watching the fire risk a  at least through Thursday.

A storm well off the Maine coast will probably back up westward a bit, spreading some rain into Maine and perhaps northern New Hampshire.

For the rest of us though, that offshore storm, and high pressure to the west will pull in dry air from southern Canada.  We face a week of sunshine, parched air and some breezes. Nice early spring weather, absolutely! 

Just not great if there's people around who are careless with fire, ashes, cigarettes and the like. 

 

Avalanches Turn Deadly In Utah, New Hampshire

Mount Washington, New Hampshire. A Vermont man died
there earlier this month when he was caught in an avalanche 

It is the heart of avalanche season in most snowy, mountainous areas of the United States, and things have taken a deadly turn lately.  

On Saturday, four people, all in their 20s, died when an avalanche caught two different groups of back country skiers, according to television station KSL. The total number of people buried was eight, but four were able to dig themselves out and try to find the others,  

Two other people died in Utah avalanches in January. Saturday's tragedy was the deadliest Utah avalanche since 1992. 

In New Hampshire, an avalanche on February 2 killed a Vermont back country skier who was buried under 13 feet of snow in the Ammonoosuc Ravine on Mount Washington. A snowstorm that day was contributing to unstable snow on Mount Washington, New England's highest peak. 

According to AccuWeather, we've gone through the deadliest week in the United States for avalanches in over a century.  Fifteen avalanche deaths have been reported in the U.S. in the past seven days or so. 

Avalanches and snow slides are not as common in New England as they are in the larger mountains out west, but they are a risk here in Vermont and elsewhere in the Northeast. Anytime you have steep slopes and weather conditions that destabilize the snow pack, you can get some real trouble. 

The February 2 avalanche was the third fatal one in the Northeast in the past decade.

In March, 2018, six Vermont National Guard members were caught in an avalanche in Smugglers Notch, sending five of them to the hospital. A back country skier reported another avalanche in Smugglers Notch a few days earlier.

These things can also cause property damage. On Christmas, a snow slide smashed into a ski lodge in the Catskills, badly damaging the building. Luckily, nobody was inside at the time.  

Even snow on roofs and piles of snow can be dangerous. 

Just last March, ice fell off a roof up in Hardwick, Vermont and killed a woman. This was really sad.  Just moments before the incident, the woman's husband of 50 years told her, "I don't know how I'd live without you."

This roof hazard was driven home to me the other day. Ice and deep snow slid off my roof in St. Albans in a roar, landing hard where my husband and two dogs had been standing just 30 seconds earlier.  I'm sure the weight of the ice and snow would have killed my dogs and would have seriously injured my husband.

Not much new snow is in the forecast, so of course the risk of trouble from the snow is pretty low. 

Granted, avalanches, snow slides and snowbanks are not the most dangerous things in the world. Lots of things kill more people, unfortunately.  But snow can at times be risky, so it's just one other thing to watch out for in this world.