Severe U.S. Storms Since June Have Yielded Destruction, And Dramatic Videos.

Severe flooding last week in West Virginia. As you can 
tell from the videos in this post, it has been a stormy
summer in the United States. 

This summer seems like it's been a particularly stormy one. 

It seems every time I turn around, there's more news articles about tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, microbursts and flash floods. 

More floods and storms are on the horizon in the South, Midwest and parts of the Northeast in the coming days. 

But here's a visual look back, midway through this turbulent summer. 

As always, we have bunch of videos to share, to show you that whatever bad weather you've had this summer, somebody else had it worse. 

We'll start back on June 8, in Kansas.  Straight line winds were reported gusting as high as 113 mph last Salinas, Kansas. 

I don't think the video captures the peak of the storm, but it still looks strikingly like a hurricane. In Kansas. 

Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

There's usually still plenty of tornadoes across the United States in Juneau.   Skydrama Weather Co tracked a few tornadoes across northern Missouri on June 10.  Always interesting to see the shapeshifting tornadoes how they go from one form to the next.  This is one of those shiftshapers. The end of the video shows a beautiful, strange blue and purple supercell coming into Kirksville, Missouri. The blue indicates lots of hail in the storm.

As always, click on this link to view, of if you see the image below, click on that. 

Skydrama Weather Co has more tornado footage, this from a June 11 tornado outbreak in Illinois. They caught several tornadoes I'm struck by how fast their forward speed was, especially the large tornado that opens the clip. Click in this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that 

From Brian Emfinger, we have a video from a drone taken on June 11 showing a narrow, drill bit style tornado, going through fields and solar farms in Ipava, Illinois. Luckily, the tornado is weak, as it only damages a few solar panels. 

Eventually the tornado goes into the town itself, but again, weak enough to cause little damage. Still, it's a fascinating video.  Much more destructive tornadoes struck Illinois and Indiana that day. 

Click on this link to view the drone clip of the tornado or if you see the image below, click on that. 

The Fourth of July brought lots of strong and severe thunderstorms that swept through the eastern United States over the holiday. 

One of the storms hit Lititz, Pennsylvania as the city geared up for their Fourth of July. It looks like it was one of those deals where people get there early, stake their places with blankets and belongings, and wander around to enjoy the day's festivities. 

Then a severe thunderstorm blew in. Good luck figured out who set things where. As you'll see in the video, it was a mess, to put it mildly. 

 Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

On July 6, the eastern United States were still going full steam. Torrential storms caused damaging flash flooding in New Jersey. 

Part of the roof of a BJ's Warehouse in Ocean Township, collapsed under the weight of the torrential downpours. Miraculously, nobody was seriously injured, including the older man in the video who was swept to the side by water, display tables and debris. 

 Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

In early July, Super Typhoon Bavi hit the island of Rota in the Northern Mariana Island with 180 mph sustained winds. As you would imagine, the destruction was basically total.

Click on this link to view how bad a Category 5 typhoon can be. Or, if you see the image below, click on that

Brian Emfinger bring us a video, mostly drone footage, of the aftermath of an extreme flash flood near Lesterville, Missouri. A foot of rain fell in just a few hours, creating an extreme flash flood that swept through a campground. In looks like at least a couple dozen people were rescued from roofs including some where were stranded atop a collapsed building 

Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Large fires broke out in Ontario, Canada recently, as we know from the wildfire smoke that has drifted in recent weeks across southeast Canada and the northern and eastern United States.  This video shows Canadian National Railway Company (CN Rail) on the tracks near Armstrong, Ontario as flames surrounded them. I'm struck by how calm the narrator with his Canadian accent inside the train.

Click here to see the video, or if you see the image below click on that. 

Severe storms unleashes extreme flash flooding Tuesday in West Virginia. The disaster reminded me of what happened across Vermont in July, 2023. It was that bad. Even the West Virginia landscape looks similar to Vermont.  

The Associated Press has an overview video. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Tropical Storm Bertha formed a few days go and sort of bounced westward along the northern Gulf of Mexico. Strong upper level winds prevented the storm from amounting to much. Winds never got above 50 mph, and most of the rough weather stayed offshore 

Unlike a previous tropical storm named Arthur in mid-June, Bertha appears to have caused relatively little damage. Arthur caused torrential rains and severe floods, causing four deaths and at least $1 billion in damage. 

Still, Bertha caused its share of trouble. On Dauphin Island, Alabama, high storm tides shifted sand, trapping cars.  People who tried to drive over sandbars that formed over local roads also soon became trap, as a Live Storms Media video shows. 

Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

The same flood event in West Virginia: A flash flood crashes through the ground floor of a Hilton hotel in Weston, West Virginia. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 

Hot Vermont Day Led To Wild Night; Heat Is Back In Force Today

Lightning detector map from 10:15 last evening. 
White spots are new lightning strikes, red are older
The first line of storms is visible in eastern Vermont
and New Hampshire, with the second line in New York
Note that bright white area in northeast New York
That's the storm that gave the strobe light 
lightning show to northwest Vermont after 10 last night. 

First it was the heat, then the storms. 

It did get into them 90s for most of the area yesterday, but the heat underperformed slightly. We'll take anything we can get. For instance, Burlington got to 93, compared to a forecast high of 96

Then came the storms, which over-performed. 

Storms 

Things got wild in the late afternoon and evening. Severe storms approached from New York in the late afternoon, but faded right before they got to Vermont. Phew!

Not so fast. Storms exploded over the Champlain Valley and almost immediately become severe. That line of severe storms passed across all of northern and central Vermont, leaving a trail of damaged trees and power lines behind.  

The damage continued all the way east into New Hampshire. Here in the Green Mountain State, it  looks like Underhill/Cambridge was one of the hardest hit areas, with oodles of trees knocked down. Westford and Essex were also hard hit. 

Radar imagery showed what appeared to be 70 mph winds in the area.

But we were not done yet, nosiree! Another line of severe storms developed in New York and this one did not fade away.  There wasn't nearly as much damage this time, but what a light show! A storm that plowed into northwest Vermont between Burlington and St. Albans was basically a strobe light show, the lightning was so frequent. An early Fourth of July present from Ma Nature, apparently. 

The heat

We're only up to July 2, and we've already had five days this year that were at least 90 with more on the way as measured in Burlington 

Roughly half (60 of the past 127 years) have had fewer 90 degree days in an entire summer than what we've experienced so far this year.  It looks like we have at least two more 90 degree days coming up. 

Today will be the worst, with Friday a close second.

TODAY

The National Weather Service is back to forecasting a 100 degrees, which would only be the fifth time it  has gotten that hot in Burlington. Worse, with the humidity, the heat index could go as high as - gasp - 114 degrees. If that happens, it would be the worst heat index on record in Burlington, though those records only go back to 1947.

Needless to say, the extreme heat warning is still in effect across the Champlain and lower Connecticut River valleys and the lowlands of southwest Vermont. Elsewhere, the heat advisory for a "feels like" temperature of 100 to 105 is expected. 

Although thunderstorm chances are still there, those chances are a little lower than they were yesterday. But, with this extreme heat and humidity, they could pop up at any time and become strong. Today, the best chances of storms - severe or not - are closer to the Canadian border. But they could happen anywhere. 

FRIDAY

After another very stuffy night that won't give us much relief from the heat, temperatures will soar again. Hotter banana belt valleys, i.e. Champlain and Lower Connecticut, would probably make it into the mid 90s. Elsewhere, low 90s should do it most other places with the heat warnings and advisories still in place.

There's another chance of scattered storms in the afternoon and evening. Most of us won't get wet, but some of us will.

FRIDAY NIGHT/SATURDAY

A slightly better chance of storms and showers Friday night and Saturday morning as the poorest excuse for a cold front I've ever seen comes into the picture. Highs should "only" be within a few degrees either side of 90 on Saturday. 

SUNDAY AND BEYOND

Allegedly cooler, but you'll barely notice. Daily highs Sunday through Wednesday look to be well up in the 80s to near 90.  Lows will be in the 60s, so pretty stuffy nights will continue. 

If you've been keeping an eye out on your elderly neighbors, relatives and friends, you'll need to keep doing that next week. The effects of heat are cumulative. If people manage to get through today, tomorrow and Saturday, they still face elevated temperatures during the first half of the week.  Their systems will have been weakened by the intense heat, so relatively hot weather will still matter.

 

Rutland County Hit By Big Storm Friday. All Of Vermont Faces Hot, Steamy Weather In Upcoming Days

The severe thunderstorm in Rutland County yesterday
with a wild shelf cloud. Note the blue tint in the clouds.
That suggests there's quite a bit of hail up there. Photo
was taken by Mary Jean Wasik Obtained via Facebook

 Well, we got through our latest severe weather threat pretty much unscathed. Most of us anyway. Quite a few people in Rutland County would beg to differ. 

As severe weather probabilities were updated midday Friday, the word, "tornado" somehow came back into the vernacular. They said there was a very low, but not zero chance of a tornado in eastern Vermont or New Hampshire in the very worst storms. 

Turns out there was only one thunderstorm of note, and it was a doozy. It developed near Ticonderoga, New York around 2:30 and headed southeast. through northern an eastern Rutland County. 

Dime sized hail fell in Hubbarton and Hortonia, Vermont. It then moved on to knock down numerous trees in Proctor and in the north and east sides of Rutland. 

I don't see any evidence the damage was caused by a tornado. Looks like straight line winds caused all the Rutland Couty trouble. 

The storm appeared to weaken somewhat crossing the Green Mountains because I don't have damage reports there. But the storm blossomed again as it crossed the Connecticut River into Cornish, New Hampshire, where hail was big enough to dent cars. 

The storm continue on through southern New Hampshire as a rotating supercell, spewing damaging wins and hail along its path.

Parts of Vermont that were not hit be severe storms still had generous rainfall. It was hit and miss, or course, bur Burlington had a storm total of 0.68 inches. My unofficial rain gauge in St. Albans collected right around an inch of rain from Thursday night through late Friday afternoon. 

The rain is mostly over, for now, and summer is really going to make a stand. The details: 

TODAY

There were areas of low clouds and fog around early this morning around Vermont,  but that should mostly clear out to reveal a nice, typical Vermont summer day. Highs will get into the 

You'll see some building, towering clouds here and there over the mountains, and some of those will develop into showers and garden variety thunderstorms. They'll pretty much stick to the mountains and do no harm. From the valleys especially it will be a great cloud watching day as showers and storm develop, then fade as new ones form. 

A few showers  could try to wander off into the valleys during the afternoon and evening, but they'll probably weaken as they do so. 

While you're watching the clouds, or doing anything else outside, it should get up to near 80 degrees for most of us. Humidity will be moderate. 

SUNDAY: 

A copy of today, except it will be a couple degrees warmer and there will probably be few storms and showers over the mountains. 

MONDAY: 

The heat and humidity really start to build. It should still be fairly reasonably with highs in the low to mid 80s. Maybe a spot 87 or 88 in the warmest valleys. 

TUESDAY AND BEYOND

The heat is on. Hot, humid, with highs in the upper 80s to mid 90s in the warmest valleys Tuesday through Friday. 

It's hard to say exactly how hot it will get, as clouds and storms might interfere with the hottest temperatures. For now, the National Weather Service is going with a high of 91 degrees in Burlington Tuesday, followed by 95 Wednesday and Thursday. 

Granted, Burlington is warmer than many other parts of Vermont. But regardless of what happens, with location and afternoon showers and storms,  it will be uncomfortable. 

 As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we will be on the northeast corner of a big heat dome that will be setting up over the eastern US. "Ridge runner" patches of thunderstorms could go over the top of the heat dome in southern Canada and then head southeastward over us at any time during this upcoming hot week. The first chance of this is Tuesday night. 

With all the heat and humidity in place, there's a chance that storms could become severe or lead to local flash flooding. It's way too early to determine for sure whether this will happen, and if so, where. But on top of taking care of yourself in the heat, you might have to keep an ear out for severe storm warnings, too.

 

Likely Woodstock, Vermont Tornado To Be Investigated Today, More Inclement, But Not Violent Weather Due

Trees ripped apart on a Woodstock, Vermont hillside
after a likely tornado hit on Thursday. 
Photo from WCAX via Facebook

 Thanks to the fact that everyone has a camera and local TV stations are pretty aggressive when it comes to covering rare, violent weather in Vermont, we're now pretty confident that whatever hit Woodstock, Vermont yesterday was probably a tornado. 

Drone video from Henry's Weather Service shows trees snapped off halfway up, and many other trees felled in varying directions, which are telltale signs of a tornado. 

Video obtained from Tiffany LaRocque taken from inside Mountain Creamery in Woodstock shows intense winds and rain on the edge of the tornado. Trees were falling and the parking lot was full of vehicles as people traveling along Route 4 took refuge there as driving conditions became impossible. 

About 100 people were affected by the probably tornado on the western side of town, WPTZ reports. Thankfully, we have no reports of injuries, which is pleasantly surprising, given how much traffic there usually is on Route 4 where the probably tornado crossed. 

The tornado missed the historic central village of Woodstock, which is a world-renowned tourist hub. Initial reports indicate only minor tree damage in the village center. 

Reports are that National Weather Service meteorologists from South Burlington will head to Woodstock, probably today, to confirm whether this was a tornado.  If that analysis happens, we'll learn how strong the tornado was and how long and wide the path was.

Judging from the drone video, the path of the tornado looked a little longer than most Vermont tornadoes. Twisters in the Green Mountain State tend to touch down and lift almost immediately. 

I'm not sure on the strength of the tornado, but judging from photos and that drone video, I'd say it was an EF-1, which would mean winds of 86 to 110 mph. 

Once the National Weather Service offers a report on the Woodstock storm, I'll write up a new post with the updates.

Heading east from Woodstock, there was additional severe damage. In Quechee, Vermont, a row of large willow trees on a golf course fell. They all went down in the same direction, suggesting straight line wind damage. 

There was also extensive damage in Hartford, Vermont, where a lot of trees fell. 

Nearly 4,000 Vermont homes and businesses were still without power this morning, mostly in southeastern Vermont. Londonderry had 1,100 of those outages, suggesting something nasty rolled through that town yesterday. 

This morning, other trouble spots popped up in northern Vermont, near the Canadian border. The Barton River at Coventry and the Missisquoi river near North Troy were at minor flood stage. Heavy rains yesterday fell atop soils soaked by very heavy rains that hit up there on Sunday. 

We had reports of a lot of street flooding Thursday in Newport and Middlebury. Probably other towns experienced that, too. 

Rainfall was quite heavy in many spots. Burlington had 1.11 inches of rain. My unofficial rain gauge in St. Albans collected 1.54 inches. A full report on how much rain fell in specific towns will become available later this morning. 

WHAT'S AHEAD?

Thankfully, we're done with the violent weather at least for awhile, but conditions will be unsettled and wet at times. Northern Vermont in particular is in for some showery weather this weekend. 

The out of season, strong low pressure system that gave Vermont the rough weather yesterday is meandering through Quebec. It's rotating little disturbances through here and will continue to do so through the weekend. 

That means frequent bursts of rain,  especially north. Total rainfall through Sunday night will be near an inch over the northern Green Mountains. In most valley towns north of Route 2,  a half to three quarters of an inch will come down between now and Monday morning.   

The rainfall will taper to a quarter inch in central Vermont and less than a tenth of an inch in far southeast Vermont. A  few garden variety thunderstorms and downpours will probably mix in, so a few towns will get more rain than the rest of Vermont as a result. 

A few daily details: 

Today

Mostly cloudy and breezy with west to southwest winds gusting to 25 or 20 mph. Most of the afternoon showers and garden variety thunderstorms this afternoon and evening will be north of Route 2, but some will drift into central Vermont by very late afternoon or the first half of tonight. A few storms might have briefly heavy downpours, but not enough to cause any flooding or anything like that. 

Highs should reach the low and mid 70s in most valleys

Saturday

Probably the worst day of the bunch. Northern areas will see very little sun and frequent showers. Southern valleys will see some sun, but also a risk of a shower. It will be quite cool for the season with highs in the 60s north, with low to mid 70s southern valley floors. 

Hikers should be aware that summits will be wet and cold tomorrow with wind chills in the 40s. If you insist on hiking, it won't be a summertime activity. Dress accordingly. 

Sunday

More showers and garden variety thunderstorms, especially in the afternoon and evening. Highs in the low 70s, give or take. 

 

"Gorilla Hail" Has Been Pounding The U.S. This Year, And It's Likely More Common Than Previously Thought

Giant hail in Wisconsin this past April.

It's been another rough year for hail storms in the United States. There's been lots of them and a few of them have been real standouts. 

Probably the most newsworthy and perhaps most extreme was the one that hit Springfield, Missouri and nearby areas on April 28. 

Baseball to softball sized hail laid wasted to probably thousands of cars. Sadly, an emu died from the hail at Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield. Zoo workers tried their damndest to get all the zoo animals under cover. 

An emu's natural instinct is to lie down and take cover, and this emu, a 21 year old female named Adam, couldn't be coaxed indoors and died when a huge hailstone landed on his head. 

Back on March 10, a supercell that produced a destructive tornado in Kankakee, Illinois also produced immense hail that might have broken the record for the largest hailstone in Illinois history. It measured 6.616 inches in diameter and weighed 1.22 pounds. In other words, it was a little larger than a grapefruit. 

Officials are verifying those measurements before declaring it a record holder. In any event huge hailstones damaged homes in Kankakee that were never touched by the tornado.

The tornado, with maximum winds of 150 people killed three people. 

Even here in Vermont, we managed to see some rare or us golf ball sized hail on April 16 when a supercell thunderstorm crossed west to east across central Vermont. The supercell is the one that ultimately produced a brief tornado in Williamstown. 

GORILLA HAIL

Reed Timmer, one of the more popular and prolific storm chasers out there, coined the term "gorilla hail" to describe especially ferocious hailstorms with especially huge hailstones. 

Gorilla hail is generally defined as hailstones with a diameter of at least two inches, which is about the size of a lime.

Big hailstones are expensive. Replacing a hail-damaged roof can cost $15,000 or more, though homeowners;' insurance usually covers that. (On that note, a spoiler:  Look for an upcoming piece on how State Farm is allegedly doing everything they can to not pay for hail damaged roofs).

Fixing a hail-damaged vehicle can cost several thousand dollars, but if the damage is severe enough, insurers will just total the car.  

Hail costs an estimated $15 billion in damage to homes, buildings, vehicles and crops each year in the U.S. 

Hail-prone cities and their surrounding suburbs continue to expand, providing more targets for potential gorilla hail. That's helping to cause hail costs to spiral upward. 

NOT SO RARE?

It seemed fortunate that "gorilla hail," with stones the size of baseballs, softballs, grapefruit or even worse, was considered relatively rare. But maybe not. 

New research in recent years suggest "gorilla hail" has always been more common than we thought. And super giant hail might be becoming more frequent. 

It was thought that hail stones six inches in diameter or greater were exceedingly rare. But new research suggests maybe those gargantuan icy meteors aren't quite as rare as we thought.  

Per Washington Post:

"'I think six inches plus is happening on a yearly basis,' said Victor Gensini, a professor at Northern Illinois University, in a recent interview. "I think it's a matter of who's finding it, who's looking for it. When you're actually out there looking for it, four-plus-inch hail is maybe not that rare."

Most of these giant hailstones are happening in fairly remote areas, where people aren't around to observe them before they melt. Or, since such large hail is so dangerous, and maybe accompanied by ferocious, damaging winds or even tornadoes, people who would otherwise find them are wisely hunkering down in basements and storm shelters.

Besides, most big hail stones shatter upon impact. To find these hail stones, you need a road that happens to lead where the biggest hail stones landed, Gensini said. Most hail falls over open fields. Good luck finding the biggest stones before they start to melt. 

Thunderstorms that produce gargantuan hail can't actually have too much water in therm. Storms with incredible amounts of rain tend not to produce the biggest hail. Bigger hail also seems to fall when a small storm merges with a large supercell that is already producing hail.

The bad news from all this research is that future storms might produce bigger hail, thanks, once again, to climate change. 

The Washington Post tells us:

"Gensini published a paper in 2024 that suggests less hail will occur overall, ut there will be more instances of giant hail. Why? Warming temperatures in the lower atmosphere will melt some of the small hailstones. Yet big stones fall fast enough through the warmer lower atmosphere that they have little time to melt. And with more thunderstorm fuel overall thanks to a warming world, there could be more of them."

We will probably get more and more new reports of giant hail simply from better technology. At least 90 percent of hailstones shatter or break on impact, and the rest start to melt immediately.  

Researchers are starting to use photogrammetry, a technique that uses trigonometry to estimate the sizeof objects caught on camera. (And you thought there was no use for trigonometry when you were back in high school!)

A hail specialist at Penn State used the technique to estimate the size of a gorilla hailstone that fell on an Argentinian with in 2018.  He found the hailstone to be 7.4 to 9.3 inches in diameter. A woman found a 7.1 inch diameter hailstone just after the storm ended, collaborating the photogrammetry. The woman's hailstone was a bit smaller as it had already started to melt.

Gorilla hail is terrifying and incredibly destructive. You don't want to get caught in any of these storm. Here's hoping you don't experience one of those storms! 

  

 

 

 

 

Vermont Monday Morning; Winter In April Continues

A burst of snow shortly after 7 a.m. this morning in
the Burlington area. This is a Vermont Transportation
Agency camera on Williston Road. Note the snow
sticking to the pavement on the bridge but
not on solid ground. I'm sure frozen bridges
surprised many motorists this morning. 

I awoke to another fresh dusting of snow in St. Albans, Vermont yesterday after it snowed most of the day Sunday. There was a dark overcast and it was still snowing a little.  

The National Weather Service issued a special weather statement for early this morning, warning of subfreezing temperatures and snow showers creating slick spots on the roads. A traffic camera shortly after 7 a.m. showed a moderate snow shower in Burlington with ice and snow sticking to the pavement of a bridge on Williston Road.

This morning looks and feels like the typical start of the day in late November, as we gird for a long winter. We obviously don't have a long winter coming, thank gawd, but unfortunately, winter weather is going to seriously subvert spring over the next 24 hours. 

After a cold day today, it'll be frigid tonight, as we've been forecasting for day.s 

It's not just us. Freeze warnings extend from Iowa through the southern Great Lakes and in pretty much all the Mid-Atlantic states. There's going to be a lot of garden damage with this cold wave.

Despite the expected deep chill tonight, there are no freeze warnings in Vermont. The growing season hasn't technically started yet, so the National Weather Service does not do such warnings this time of year. 

Let's get into the details 

TODAY

The snow showers should move out later this morning and some sun should break out, especially in the broader valleys. But frigid air is rocketing in to counteract the  strong April sun, it's going to be a typical mid-March day. That means highs generally in the upper 30s. A little warmer than that in southern valleys. A  little colder than that in northern higher elevations. 

Some places in the Northeast Kingdom and Adirondacks won't even get above freezing today. Pretty impressive for the third week in April. Impressive, but not in a good way. The ever-present gusty northwest winds will add to the chill 

Today's March wind and chilly temperatures set the stage for winter like morning lows tomorrow morning. 

TONIGHT

It still looks like skies will clear and winds will go nearly calm. Those are perfect conditions for super cold morning lows. 

As we've been harping on, garden plants and such have sprouted prematurely due to the recent warm weather, so that's why we're in trouble with the potential for frozen, ruined early season flowers and buds by morning.

There's the slightest bit of encouraging news. Maybe. Some  but not all of the  forecasts I saw this morning are a couple degrees warmer than yesterday's forecast. Those predicted lows are still well within the damage zone for garden plants. But every degree warmer than forecast lessens the damage. 

Also, a minority of forecasts indicate a few clouds might intrude overnight. We want to hope the minority wins, as clouds would help keep temperatures up. 

The current National Weather Service forecast has a low tonight in Burlington at 25 degrees, Rutland at 24, Brattleboro near 23, Montpelier at 21 and St. Johnshury at 19 degrees.

The plant damage will be worse in southern Vermont because they had much warmer weather for a longer period of time last week than in northern parts of the state. So things are really far along down there, and primed to get nipped by the freeze.

The traditional cold hollows are looking ridiculous tonight. Some towns in the Northeast Kingdom could end up in the low teens. Saranac Lake, New York is expected a Tuesday morning low of 11 degrees. 

I guess I'm focusing too much on tonight's cold weather on this because I'm an avid gardener. To most of the Vermont world, this cold spell will be forgotten very soon. Especially since the weather will turn to something very close to normal by the middle and end of the week

REST OF THE WEEK

And after the volatile weather of the past several days, the weather starting tomorrow will be well, boring. Which will honestly be a nice change of pace. . 

Tuesday will still be rather cold for this time of year, with highs in the 40s. They should be in the 50s to around 60 

The weather pattern setting up includes a stalled upper level low in the Canadian Maritimes and high pressure near Hudson Bay.  This is normally a recipe for much colder, unsettled, almost wintry conditions for this time of year. 

But the Canadian storm and the cold high pressure in Canada will be so far away from us that temperatures will be near or just a couple degrees cooler than average for late April.  The weather set up will mean storms coming from the west will get broken apart before they get here or get shunted to our south. 

That means if we get any rainfall over the next week it will be quite light, but timing out those light showers at this point is hard to do. 

Long range forecasts are notoriously dicey .But for now, the next chance of substantial rain doesn't come along until around April 29. And yes, if that April 29 storm materializes, it will be rain, not snow.

Quiet weather is expected for the end of the work week
along with slightly cooler than normal temperatures and periods of
cloud cover as a closed upper level low gyres over the Canadian
Maritimes. As an upper level ridge over the Great Lakes breaks down
and the maritime low shifts east, chances for precipitation increase
heading into next weekend, but with low predictability given the
evolving pattern and model spread. Highs for the end of the week
will be in the 50s, reaching into the 60s on the weekend, with lows
30s rising into the 40s.

UPDATE: Confirmed:Tornado Last Night In Williamstown, Vermont, Top Wind 90 MPH

A maple sugaring shack collapsed in a confirmed EF-1
tornado that hit Williamstown, Vermont last night

 The National Weather Service in South Burlington confirmed late this afternoon that a tornado did indeed hit Williamstown, Vermont. 

It was a very brief one. It was 100 yards wide and only traveled just under a half mile (the path was officially 0.43 miles long. The tornado hit at 9:15 p.m. and was on the ground for less than three minutes.

The tornado was rated an EF-1 with winds up to 90 mph. Here's the National Weather Service narrative on this one: 

"Initial damage was observed as sheared tree tops about 100 yards west of damage observed on Chelsea Road, to an old sugarhouse and small building estimated as EF0-EF1. Damage continued east to a neighborhood on Lila's Way, where EF-1 damage to a hone was observed, along with damage to numerous trees, Damage then became scattered wind damage in the form of straight-line winds estimated at 60 to 70 mph. Golf ball size hail with siding and window damage observed along Baptist Street,"

An EF-0 tornado has winds of 65 to 85 mph. An EF-1 has winds of 86 to 110 mph 

I have not seen any reports of injuries which is great!

No tornado warnings were issued before the brief touchdown.  My guess is that since the twister was east of the Green Mountains, radar in the Burlington area was unable to pick up ground level rotation. Or the tornado was so brief it hit between radar scans.

The lack of a tornado warning does not appear to be related to Trump administration cut backs to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologists at the National Weather Service in South had been tracking the tornado's parent thunderstorm all evening. Rotation was detected over the Adirondacks but it appears no tornado touched down there .

The thunderstorm weakened slightly in the Champlain Valley but re-intensified over and east of the Green Mountains. The NWS noticed how much the reinvigorated storm had intensified. At 9:27 p.m., they issued a severe thunderstorm warning

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning at 9:27 p.m. for northeastern Orange county and south central Caledonia County. The warning told people in the area to expect 60 mph wind gusts and ping pong ball sized hail.

WPTZ reported that residents were understandably shocked by the storm.  Christian Pratt said he believes the roof of his home was damaged by wind and hail He said the large hail falling on the rood sounded like somebody took a ladder and dumped a load of rocks on the roof. The kitchen window on his house shattered

Vermont averages just one tornado per year. I believe this twister was the first one since July, 2023. This was Vermont's first April tornado on record. The rare occasions when we do see tornadoes usually come during the summer.

Vermont's first March tornado on record occurred just five years ago in Middlebury. 

  

Summer Air Surged North, Couple Big Vermont Storms, Today, Calmer, Mild, But Nasty Cold Snap Coming

I'm so close to seeing daffodils in my yard after  
yesterday's warm, humid weather and rain. But a looming
hard freeze could damage plants on Monday 

 Our stalled weather front surprised us a bit yesterday when it surged north all the way to the Canadian order.  It was supposed to stay chilly and clammy north. But we got a reprieve. 

I knew it was happening by late morning here in St. Albans when I went outside and noticed it was strangely humid for this time of year. 

The warmth spread all the way across northern Vermont to the Canadian border. Newport and Highgate both reached 71 degrees.

 It was 77 degrees in Burlington, the warmest day so far this year. Rutland reached 80 and Bennington got up to 83 degrees. Not record highs, but impressively warm for this time of year. 

Even more impressive for mid-April was the humidity. The dew point - a good measure of how humid it feels out there - got up to around 60 degrees. That would be considered seasonably humid in July, but it's pretty incredible for April. 

That ensure many of us would see thunderstorms, and sure enough lightning was also detected up to and a bit beyond the Canadian border.  We thought any strong storms would stay in far southern Vermont. But with the front moving further north, the worst of the storms hit central parts of the state

One apparent mini-supercell did cross central Vermont.  It appeared to have some rotation over the Adirondacks, but not nearly enough to produce a tornado. The storm weakened a little as it entered Vermont a little north of Middlebury. 

But it strengthen again in eastern Vermont. Tree damage was reported in Barre and Orange Hail the size of quarters was reported in East Orange.

The storms also produced torrential rain. A little over two inches of rain fell in South Lincoln. 1.83 inches fell in Warren. Jerusalem a hamlet south of Huntington had 1.78 inches.  There might have been a bit of local flash flooding out of those rains, but I haven't seen any such reports. I noticed there was a sharp rise on the Mad River in Moretown last night, but it stopped a little short of flood stage. 

SETTLING DOWN, BUT THEN.......

Our stalled front that's been pestering all week and creating weird temperature variations is finally on its way out. Skies should slowly clear today, revealing a mild afternoon.  And the range in temperatures across Vermont won't be weird, either. Highs will range fro 60 degrees near the Canadian order to near 70 on southern valley floors. 

Tomorrow should be nice, too. Sunshine might tend to fade behind some clouds in the afternoon, especially west. This time, southeastern Vermont might be a touch cooler than the rest of the state for change. 

Winds will come from the southeast, not southwest like they did in southern Vermont for the past few days. Southeast winds come from the cool Atlantic Ocean. So places like Brattleboro might barely make it to 60 degrees while the Champlain Valley flirts with 70

UGH! WINTER COMES BACK

The cold front coming in Saturday night and Sunday really mean business. And not the kind of business we like in the spring. Rain will cone in Saturday night as temperatures start to fall late.

Rain should continue most of Sunday as temperatures fall through the 40s. Rainfall will probably amount to a half inch to three quarters of an inch, give or take.  Then, some of the now light rain showers should change to snow showers Sunday night. Many of us could get a dusting of snow. 

So much for spring. 

It stays bad Monday. We'll start the day at or below freezing, then only get up into the 30s to low 40s during the day. Some places might have record low high temperatures on Monday. The lowest high temperatures on record for that date are in the mid-30s. I think chillier towns like Montpelier or St. Johnsbury could tie or break those records.

Then, it gets well down into the 20s Monday night and early Tuesday. Normally, such temperatures  in the third week in April are unpleasant but not really harmful. .But spring blooms have advanced well beyond normal, especially in southern Vermont where it has been warm all week. A few trees are already starting to green up down that way. 

I'm not sure yet, but Monday night's chill could harm new leaves, springs flowers and even possibly apple and strawberry crops. It depends on  how far buds open by Monday.

I'm full of great news, aren't I?

After that intense for the season cold snap, it will warm up somewhat, but most days through the end of the month and probably into early May will probably be slightly cooler than average. It might be showery at times during that period, but I doubt there will be any big storms. 

Friday Morning Wind Blast in VT/NY To Go On Repeat Overnight Tonight

This house in St. Albans, Vermont was damaged early 
Friday when strong winds tore down part of a large
tree, which landed on the house.
Photo via Scott Levick/Facebook

As those sputtering showers and thunderstorms were speeding through northern New York and Vermont early yesterday morning, the wind was absolutely blasting parts of northern New York and the northern Champlain Valley. 

It was so bad that a large section of a tree fell and smushed a big chunk of a house in St. Albans, and another tree blocked a major commuter route for a short time in the same community. 

 Winds gusted to 57 mph at Knight Point State Park in Grand Isle County, 54 mph at the Milton Sandbar 50 mph in Plattsburgh and 49 mph in Burlington. 

In hindsight, it might have been a good idea for these parts of Vermont to be under a wind advisory, which is designed to alert people to potential gusts of 50 mph. 

The wind died down somewhat by Friday afternoon and by this morning, things were calm. 

Tonight and early tomorrow, we're going to do it all again. For pretty much the same reason as yesterday. A storm will go by to our northwest, bumping into high pressure over northern Quebec. That will funnel strong south winds up the Champlain Valley. 

Winds will again gusts to or a little over 50 mph. A wind advisory is up for the central and northern Champlain Valley in Vermont and across northern New York from 8 p.m this evening to 8 a.m. Sunday. The strongest winds are expected between 11 p.m. an 6 a.m., says the National Weather Service. So it'll be a noisy overnight. 

Like yesterday, expect a few scattered power outages in northwest Vermont during this windy period as well.

SOME OTHER DIFFERENCES'

Even though the weather situation early Sunday morning will be strikingly similar to Friday morning there will be a few minor differences. Really odd, though, that the exact same weather setup will happen within two days of each other. 

This time, the cold air won't dam up as well in eastern Vermont, so I see little risk of any freezing rain. It might come close to freezing in a couple of the cold hollows when the rain comes in, but this won't exactly be the Great Ice Storm of '26. 

If you head further east into northern New Hampshire  and northern Maine, you probably will run into mild precipitation late tonight and early Sunday, so a winter weather advisory is up once again over in those parts. 

Unlike early Friday, I don't think we'll hear any rumbles of thunder, but hey, we could be surprised. There is a risk of severe thunderstorms in western New York later today. Those will fall apart well before we get here, but there's a minuscule chance, I suppose we can hang on to one or two lightning strikes by the time the rain gets here.

The rain over Vermont will be a little heavier than what we got yesterday, which isn't saying much. We should only get a quarter to a third of an inch of rain, which would mostly fall in the morning and early afternoon.

Oh, and both today and tomorrow should see highs in the low 50s. Which is about 10 degrees chillier than most of us saw yesterday. Low 50s is maybe a couple degrees above normal for this time of year.

QUICK COLD SHOT

We're still looking at a quick return to "winter" Sunday night through Wednesday morning. Again, don't panic. This is just a typical early April interruption to spring. 

It means highs in the mid 30s to mid 40s  and lows well below freezing. It's not like some of those past Aprils in  history in which we get a big snowstorm followed by true winter cold. We'll survive this just fine. Despite a few possible snow flurries in the air. 

It'll warm up by the end of the week and actually get quite nice again. 

I'm going to jinx it here, but with everything I see in the forecasts, this could turn out to be a much mellower April than we often get around Vermont. We often rocket between winter and summer and in in between the temperature hijinks, and we usually get some pretty interesting storms this time of year. 

I obviously won't be surprised by any weather surprises we get this month. But other than those wind storms, this is beginning to turn out to be an easy Vermont April.  

Storms In Hawaii Cause Widespread Flooding, Other Havoc. Worst In Years

Torrential rains in Hawaii made this house
slide down into a raging river as a 
long lasting, severe storm rakes the
islands. Photo via Facebook, 
Dillon Mitchell 

A week long storm is easing - but not quite done - as Hawaii once again reels from widespread flooding, wind damage and landslides. This storm was the worst in a series. 

As Forbes reports:

"Governor Josh Green declared a state of emergency as the week-long onslaught of rainfall, landslides and infrastructure damage continued into the weekend."

Forbes continued: 

"'Maui got it even worse and locals describe that the whole island feels like it is underwater,; wrote his Dodds in Surfer. He continued: 'The steep slopes around Haleakala turned into walls of mud, rock and debris moving at terrifying speed. Some are calling it the worst rainstorm in the island's modern history.'"

Rainfall amounts were incredible. A site in Maui recorded a five-day total of 44.37 inches of rain. Other sites on Maui had 25 to 35 inches of rain over those five days. 

On the big island of Hawaii, Mauna Loa had 25.45 inches of rain in five days with other sites on the Big Island coming in with over 20 inches. A few locations on Kauai and Oahu reported nearly 20 inches of rain over that five-day period. 

Those rainfall amounts were even greater than forecasts, which were themselves ominous. 

On Maui, roads became rivers, with vehicles floating in them like leaves in a stream. In one neighborhood, a large storage container joined the vehicles that had floated downstream. Tourists could not cross the rushing water on the streets to make it back to their condos. It was too dangerous. 

 Power outages have kept coming in recent days even as crews have worked in the storms to restore power. More than 120,000 Hawaiian homes and businesses were without power Friday. That number was at around 114,000 on Saturday. 

More than 100,000 Hawaiians were without power Saturday. 

The Hawaii Department of Transportation reported parts of numerous roads closed due to the heavy rain and flooding

In Waikiki, news video showed high winds and sheets of heavy rain, making the streets look like they were enduring an approaching hurricane. Streets and sidewalks were louder water. In a luxury shopping district, an enormous tree collapsed in the storm, blocking most lanes of a wide, busy avenue. 

Nearly an hours's drive from Waikiki on Oahu's North Shore, things were even worse. Major roads, fields,s, and even a major beach access were under muddy water because of the relentless rain 

Video from Maui showed a house collapsing into a swollen river. Sections of roads have collapsed, some taking cars and SUVs with them.  

On the Big Island, Kilauea volcano complicated things further. Just before the storm, an eruption created a rain of tephra (chunks of lightweight lava, debris and ash) on areas surround the volcano. That's the second time this winter such an event happened, and this one was more extensive than a tephra fall back in January.  In some places six inches of tephra accumulated.

Cleaning up that mess was complicated by the heavy rains. And I imagine the tephra clogged ditches and brooks somewhat, which would exacerbate flooding. 

If this post sounds kind of familiar, it's because we reported on another destructive storm back on  February 11.  It's been an incredibly rainy, windy winter in Hawaii

As I earlier noted, the storm over the past few days far outdid and out-damaged all the other previous storms this winter.   

Some of the storm's origins came from as far as the southwestern United States. The building heat wave and strong dry high pressure is causing a blockage in the atmosphere, allowing a train of storms to blast through the Hawaiian Islands. 

The principal storm was know as a Kona Low, which frequently occur in Hawaii during the winter. Usually winds in Hawaii blow from the east. A Kona Low forms when winds shift to the west or southwest, bringing much more humid air from the tropics. 

Because of the usual trade winds, the wettest parts of Hawaii are on the north and east side of the islands. South and west sides are actually pretty dry. The Kona storms, with their high humidity and southwest winds, can drown the the drier parts of the island. 

The storm is easing as to today. Instead of wet southwest winds, or the usual east to northeast trade winds, the breezes are slackening to near calm. That'll keep showers going all week across the islands. There's the risk of yet another Kona storm towar

 

Friday Evening Update: Volatile U.S. Weather, Quick Forecast Changes Here In Vermont, Icy Overnight?

A tornado tearing up buildings today in
southern Michigan. More volatile weather
is creating the risk of additional tornadoes
over a large area of the Midwest into 
this evening. Photo via Facebook/
Michigan Native Photography 

We're doing a quick Friday evening update today because the combination of near record warm humid air coming up from the south, lots of frigid air still lurking in Canada, and storminess in between is keeping U.S. weather volatile. 

It's also making the weather change fast here in Vermont, and meteorologists really need to stay on their toes over this. 

First, the national picture.

TORNADOES 

The storms have already turned tragic. A mother and daughter died last evening in Major County, Oklahoma, northwest of Oklahoma City, when a tornado hit their van. 

The mom was on the phone with the rest of her family at the time to warn them to take shelter from the approaching tornado

The daughter was a a seventh grader at a local school.

There were 11 reports of tornadoes in the central and southern Plains last evening. 

This evening looks even more volatile. Tornadoes are possible from southern Wisconsin to northeast Texas, with northeast Kansas, eastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas the principle targets.

Also, a tornado or tornadoes unexpectedly developed in southern Michigan this afternoon. Early reports are this twisters seriously damaged some buildings, including a Menard's. 

Additionally, ssome more severe weather is possible from western New York to central Texas tomorrow.  

Hopefully we do not see any more deaths from this robust early season severe weather outbreak

VERMONT

Ice accumulation map for early tomorrow. Areas of the
Northeast Kingdom and southeast Adirondacks can
expect areas of icy roads. The freezing rain looks
like it will be a little more extensive 
over in New Hampshire

We've got no severe thunderstorms or tornados in our forecast. However, yet another round of light freezing rain is in the cards for the Northeast Kingdom late tonight. 

 Forecasters have increased the amount of rain that will be coming through, so a winter weather advisory is in effect for most places east of the Green Mountains and north of White River Junction. 

Most of the freezing rain would come through between midnight and dawn. 

Those of you who end up with icy weather will only have to deal with slick roads. There won't be any issues with trees or power lines getting too weighed down.

Northwest Vermont will get a little more rain than expected too, but it won't freeze there. Southern Vermont will only get some light rain, 

The rain will tend to taper off during the middle of the day. Strong south winds are still in the cards for the Champlain Valley. 

High temperatures in the 40s to low 50s should hit by later in the afternoon, especially if we see some breaks in the clouds. Another round of showers should come through in the evening.

I'll have much more in tomorrow morning's post. 

Blizzard Update: More Snow, Power Outages Linger, Damage Assessments Begin

Satellite views of the Blizzard of '78 and the Blizzard of 
26 look eerily similar. The Blizzard of '78 was
more destructive because it brought storm surges
through four high tide cycles. This week's
blizzard caused coastal flooding through one
high tide. However, snowfall was greater this
time compared to 1978 

It was snowing again this morning in the areas hardest hit earlier this week in the Blizzard of 26. It's not much snow, but it's adding insult to injury as people continue to dig out. 

More than three feet of snow fell in some areas.

The death toll from the storm is still being assessed. Many winter storm deaths come in the days after the snow has stopped falling. 

That's when people have heart attacks shoveling snow, die from carbon monoxide as snow blocks vents and exhaust systems.  There's also car crashes on icy roads and accidents during storm clean ujp. 

So far, six deaths have been reported just on hard-hit Long Island, New York. Five people died on the island from heart attacks as they were shoving the deep snow

A sixth person was  found deceased beneath mounts of snow in Deer Park, Long Island. A worker hired to shovel snow at the complex for residents age 55 of over found the body. The cause of death has not been determined, but police said it's not suspicious. 

In Rhode Island,  a college student was found dead in a running car Monday evening. Snow blocked the tailpipe, which means carbon monoxide backed up into the car. Another person died when he was struck by a truck on the Mass Pike as he  were trying to remove snow from a vehicle.

AccuWeather is estimating $36 billion in damage and economic losses from the storm.That includes damage to homes and businesses, disruptions to commerce and supply chains, problems with shipping operations at majorhubs, financial losses from power outages, travel delays and damage to infrastructure. 

A neighborhood full of people try to dig their street
out of record deep snow in Providence, 
Rhode Island on Tuesday. 

AccuWeather did not tease out how much of the total was in damage and how much was economic losses due to power and transportation disruptions. 

As of noon today, more than 150,000 homes and businesses still had no power in Massachusetts, mostly on or near Cape Cod.  

Power was still out across most of Cape Cod on Tuesday. Six towns on the Cape had virtually no powFew gas stations were open, and those that did had long lines. Things had improved by this morning. Only Wellfleet was completely without power. Service was partly restored to the other towns. 

Utility officials said they hope to have electricity restored to almost everybody on Cape Cod by Friday night. 

Vermont  has sent help in the form of snow clearing equipment. Thirty-two VTrans employees left Vermont this morning to help clear snow in Massachusetts. Video showed a convoy of state dump trucks and bucket loaders an Interstate highway Tuesday morning bound for Massachusetts. 

 We can spare the equipment because only southern Vermont received snow from the blizzard and even that amounted to only a few inches. No large snowstorm are in the Vermont forecast. 

As the snow its cleared, damage to buildings is becoming apparent. 

A high school gym room in Kingston, Massachusetts collapsed under the weight of the snow.  A gas station canopy on Cape Cod was shredded by high winds and heavy snow.  Fallen trees are still blocking some roads in southeastern Massachusetts. 

In New Jersey, a church steeple was left leaning after the blizzard and will have to be torn down. 

Other cities are beginning to emerge as having set all time records for a single snowstorm. New Bedford, Massachusetts received 37 inches of snow, its biggest-ever snowstorm. We have a new front runner for city with the most snow. Fall River, Massachusetts reported a storm total of 41 inches. 

It's late in the winters, so you'd think a thaw would come along and just melt all this snow fairly quickly But nope! 

Temperatures in the blizzard zone will get above freezing this afternoon, tomorrow and Saturday, but not be overly wide margins. A late season Arctic blast will keep temperatures below freezing Sunday and early next week. 

Even worse, a little more snow is in the forecast. An inch or two of new snow fell from New York City to Cape Cod this morning. A little more snow might fall Thursday night and again Sunday. Luckily, these snowfall do not look very big. At least at this point. 

I'm sure a several million people that got hit by this blizzard are seriously pining for spring. 

Blizzard Of '26 And Blizzard Of '78 : Teasing Out Which Was Worse and Which Was Snowier

A parking lot in Fall River, Massachusetts
last evening. Photo by Abby Camacho

 For nearly a half century now, New Englanders have been regaling their offspring with tales of the epic Blizzard of 1978.

Now, young victims of hearing those 1978 stories over and over again will now probably spend the next half century torturing the next generation or two with stories of the epic Blizzard of 2026. 

By most measures, the Blizzard of 1978 was a worse storm than the Blizzard of 2026.

DAMAGE/DEATHS/WIND COMPARED

In 1978, 100 people died in the storm and 4,500 were injured. Of course, we don't have a final toll from yesterday's storm, but it won't get that high. 

So far, two deaths have been reported with this storm. There will be more, because I expect heart attacks from snow shoveling, carbon monoxide poisoning because of vents buried in snow, falls from people clearing roofs and other accidents. 

Both the 1978 and 2026 storms were destructive, but 1978 was clearly worse. It caused $520 million in damage, using 1978 dollars. Correcting for inflation, the toll from that storm would har been about $2.7 billion in 2026 dollars. 

The 1978 damage included destruction from storm surges that destroyed coastal homes in New England. From Maine to Virginia, there was damage from storm surges in this week's storm, but it clearly was not nearly as severe as 1978.  

The 1978 storm caused coastal destruction through four high tide cycles. Yesterday's storm stirred up trouble only during one high tide.

The 2026 storm was destructive in other ways, judging from the hundreds of thousands of power outages, countless fallen trees and some structural damage. New York City is now littered with dozens of fallen trees, some of which crushed cars and awnings. 

As of this morning, 362,800 homes and businesses were still without power in the Northeast. That includes 253,000 or so Massachusetts outages. 

A house in Halifax, Massachusetts just before the
Blizzard of '26.........

We don't yet have an estimate of damage from this storm, but I wouldn't be surprised if it reaches $1 billion or more. 

The top wind gust recorded during the Blizzard of 1978 was 111 mph in Scituate, Massachusetts. 

The Blizzard of 2026 didn't quite reach those levels. But Newport, Rhode Island gusted to 89 mph; Montauk, Long Island had a gust to 84 mph. 

Other strong gusts include 83 mph in Nantucket and 82 in Dennis, Massachusetts. We saw many reports of gusts exceeding 70 mph on Monday. 

SNOWFALL.

Snow was really where the Blizzard of 2026 shined. 

The biggest snow total from the Blizzard of 1978 was 40 inches in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. So far, I haven't seen a total that high from yesterday, but deep snow was clearly more widespread in 2026 than in 1978

.....and the same house after the Blizzard of '26. Photos by
Erika Rossini. 

Final snow totals aren't in yet but the information tells us that people are buried. Five states - Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and New York - had reports of more than 30 inches of snow. 

The big snow winner was Rhode Island. Namely Providence. The final snow total there was 37.9 shattering the city's record snowstorm of 28.6 inches set in, yes, 1978.

The Rhode Island statewide record for biggest snowstorm was 38 inches in Woonsocket in 1978.  So Providence just missed that. It's possible that we might see a late breaking total in Rhode of more than 38 inches, but we haven't seen that yet.  

The most snow I've seen in Massachusetts so far is 37 inches in Bliss Corner, which is is Bristol County. 

In New York City, the final storm total in Central Park stuck at 19.7 inches, their ninth biggest snowstorm on record. Other sections of New York City had much more. The most snow reported in the Big Apple was 29 inches in Grasmere and 27.8 inches at Todt Hill. Both locations are on Staten Island. 

Newark, New Jersey has 27.2 inches of snow, just 0.6 inches short of their biggest snowstorm in January, 1996.

WHAT'S NEXT

People in the blizzard zone can probably be forgiven if they want all that snow to melt. It was a late season storm, which makes thaws more likely than a January storm would have. 

Indeed, after some subfreezing temperatures today, readings on Wednesday through Sunday will be a little above freezing, which will help to settle the snow. 

However, a one to three inches of snow is possible tonight and tomorrow. And a cold wave will likely hold temperatures below freezing next Monday

VERMONT EFFECTS

As mentioned yesterday, the Green Mountain State sat out this blizzard.  Up to five inches of snow fell near the Massachusetts border, and light snow extended up into Rutland and Windsor counties, with little accumulation. Flurries fell elsewhere in Vermont.

In the Blizzard of 1978, up to two feet of snow fell in Rutland and a few other southern Vermont locations. The 1978 storm was lighter up north, with only four inches in Burlington.  

It looks like we in Vermont might have a little issue with snow tomorrow. Most of the trouble, once again, will be with the timing of the snow rather than the amounts.

A short burst of steady snow is likely for tomorrow morning's commute, especially in central and southern Vermont. We'd only get an inch or two of snow, but drive time could get dicey.

Then, in the afternoon, it might get a little above freezing in the valleys for a time, but snow showers and maybe snow squalls could enter the picture toward later afternoon and evening. Once again, we have lousy timing. 

The snow showers and squalls might abruptly make the roads icy. That's especially true because they'll quickly drop temperatures below freezing, so water on the roads would freeze along with the fresh bit of snow from the squalls. 

We won't actually get much snow out of this. Projected accumulations tomorrow are about a half inch to two inches, with maybe a tad more in the mountains. 

Our never ending winter does not show many signs of ending just yet.

Epic Blizzard Of '26 Winding Down After Setting Records, And Wowing People With Snow, Wind

New York City, like many other places in the Northeast
endured blizzard conditions today. A few areas set
all time snowfall records, while a few more
were closing in on their records. 

 The Great Blizzard of '26 is departing this evening, but it certainly will take awhile for many to get over it. It was a record-setter in some places. And a lot of places are buried under more than two feet of snow.
 

As of 3:45 p.m. today, a little over 6,000 flights had been canceled today, says FlightAware.com.  The mess doesn't necessarily end tomorrow. Even though the snow will be over, the hang over from today had already forced 2,000 cancelations Tuesday. Some more will probably be added. 

As of around 4 p.m. today, more than 570,000 homes and businesses were without power in the Northeast. That includes more than 287,000 in Massachusetts and just under 100,000 in New Jersey. 

Power crews in Massachusetts weren't able to get to outages this morning and early afternoon because of zero visibility, blocked roads and winds of up to 65 mph

New England

It was still snowing in eastern New England late this afternoon, but some pretty incredible totals have already been reported. And they're setting records. 

As of 1 p.m., Providence, Rhode Island has 32.8 inches of snow, shattering the city's record for biggest snowstorm in its history. The old record was 28.6 inches in the famous Blizzard of '78, February 6-7, 1978

Rhode Island's statewide record for biggest snowstorm also has an excellent shot at being broken. 

The National Weather Service office in Boston said it would update all the snow totals in southern New England at around 7 p.m. this evening. 

Warwick, Rhode Island, about eight miles south Providence, had 36 inches of new snow. The record for biggest snowstorm in Rhode Island was also in the Blizzard of 1978, when 38 inches of snow fell on Woonsocket. 

North Kingston, Rhode Island was close behind at 35 inches. In Massachusetts, 33 inches of snow fell on Dartmouth, 31 inches fell so far in Somerset and 30 inches hit West Hanson.

The National Weather Service office in Boston said it would update all the snow totals in southern New England at around 7 p.m. this evening. 

Coastal flooding was a problem today, too. As with all the strongest nor'easters in New England, weather influencers flocked to Scituate, Massachusetts to watch enormous waves crash into a seawall then surge onto the rooftops of a row of houses. 

New York/New Jersey

The New York City area wasn't hit as hard as Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts, but hard enough.  

As 1 p.m.  New York City's Central Park had collected 19.7 inches of snow, but more snow fell after that. If no more accumulates, it will be the city's ninth largest snowstorm on record. 

New York seems to have gotten a glut of big snowstorms in the past 30 years. Including today, eight of the Big Apple's 10 biggest snowstorms have occurred since 1996. That's an impressive statistic since Central Park records go back all the way to 1869.

Most places in the New York metro area, southern Connecticut and New Jersey received at least 15 inches of snow with several reports of more than two feet. 

Newark, New Jersey was coming close to its all time record for biggest snowstorm. They had 27.1 inches by 1 p.m. today. The record in Newark for biggest snowstorm was 27.8 inches in the blizzard of 1996.

As mentioned this morning, the strongest winds were on the eastern end of Long Island. Montauk Point registered a gust to 84 mph. 

Blizzard warnings in and near New York have been lifted, but winds will keep blowing snow around. As the storm wound down, temperatures in New York City got slightly above freezing, but it will get much colder tonight. That means the slush on city streets will freeze.

However, in a sign oa a return to normalcy, New York City Public schools will reopen tomorrow. 

New York City was still seeking emergency shovelers to get at bus stops, crosswalks, fire hydrants and other public places. Pay starts at $30 an hour and increases to $45 an hour after the first 40 hours worked. 

VERMONT EFFECTS

As expected, this monster storm was too far south to be a big deal in the Green Mountain State.

Bennington received only 3.6 inches of snow out of this. I have an unconfirmed report of 7 inches on a high elevation in far southwest Vermont.

 I don't have any other snow reports from anywhere else in Vermont, but I know that nobody in the Green Mountain State got anything notable.  Way up in the northwest corner of Vermont, I managed to see a brief, very light snow flurry today. So the official total here from the Blizzard of '26 is a whopping trace.

It's going to stay cold now through Tuesday night as the departing offshore enormous nor'easter pulls down cold air from far to our north. It'll get into the single digits for the most part tonight, only reach the upper teens and low 20s tomorrow and then probably get into the single digits tomorrow night. 

A weak system could give us maybe an inch of snow Wednesday, but that doesn't sound scary.

I'll have more details on Vermont's weather future in tomorrow morning's post. Spoiler: No historic storms are in Vermont's near future