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. 

  

Some More Showers, Even Thunder Today, Adding To Needed Vermont Rains

After the rains in my back yard, St. Albans, Vermont 
on Tuesday. Got out there between the the rainfall
Monday and today to get a little fall cleanup done
Was nice to be in such beautiful surroundings. 

We have more rain in the Vermont forecast today, which is great for those of you, ( i.e. everybody)
who hates our deep northern New England drought. 

It won't be a huge dump of water, but any rain is good rain. 

The best rain was of course on Monday. Final rainfall totals are in. 

The best rains were along and just west of the central and northern Green Mountains, and in the northern Champlain Valley.  Some of these totals were really impressive.

Nashville, which is a section of Jericho, Vermont was the big winner with 3.79 inches, though I did receive an unofficial report of 4.25 inches out of Georgia, Vermont. 

Other big totals included 3.55 inches in Warren; 3.44 inches in Chittenden; 3.17 inches in Underhill and 3.16 inches in Hancock.

It was nice to see rivers with actual water in them after that rain. 

TODAY

The amount of rain we'll see today won't come anywhere near what we saw Monday. The National Weather Service is going for maybe a tenth of an inch south of Route 9 near the Massachusetts border a quarter inch give or take between Route 9 and Route 2 and perhaps a third of an inch north of Route 2.

But that's broad brush. This is going to be a showery type thing, so some places will get extra rain, other places will miss out. Kind of like a summer cold front. 

Total rainfall from Monday's storm. Heaviest rain was
in the central and northern Green Mountains and
northern Champlain Valley. A few spots got more
than three inches of badly needed rain 

We even have a chance of a few thunderstorms mixed in. It's kind of a dynamic storm even if its moisture supply isn't huge. Since it's a little chilly, a few storms might feature a bit of small hail.

Don't worry, if you do see hail, it would be the size of peas, not Volkswagens. So nothing damaging or scary. 

We've already seen some brief downpours in northwestern Vermont a little after dawn today. It's a sign the bulk of today's action will be between now and mid afternoon. 

We'll see a lull late this afternoon through most of tomorrow morning. We'll only see widely scattered light showers.

Showers will pick up again tomorrow afternoon. They will be light, though. Just chilly and annoying. We'll be lucky to see another tenth of an inch of rain.  It'll be cold enough on the Green Mountain summits for a little snow.

DRY TIMES AGAIN?

Unfortunately, we are yet to fully escape the weather pattern that encouraged this drought. Since at least August we have repeatedly had huge honking high pressure systems stall over us or in Quebec. 

At first, on Friday and Saturday, it will stay generally cloudy, with maybe a sprinkle or mountain snow flurry or two. Then, nothing. 

These highs have featured super dry air. They also deflect any storms that want to come our way, and eat up any moisture that wants to drift up toward northern New England. 

We have yet another huge honking high that will set up shop over us and Quebec beginning Saturday. That'll keep us in Vermont dry for at least a week.

One cold front will try to approach us next Thursday but that high will probably make those go poof before they get here. Then the big honking high will get reinforced. So after the sprinkles this Friday or Saturday, expect no rain until at least November 1.

That's a full week without precipitation. We've had longer stretches. And since it's late fall, the sun won't dry us out as fast as it could in the summer and early autumn.

Plus, long range forecasts are somewhat encouraging, leaning toward above normal precipitation for at least a little while in early November. 

The drought will linger for a long time yet. But fingers crossed, I'm hoping the drought peaked last week.  Maybe we'll slowly improve. 

The newest weekly U.S. Drought Monitor comes out tomorrow. It will reflect conditions through yesterday. I'll provide an update once it's available 

After A Stormy Vermont Thursday, A Delightful Fourth, And Then Summer Returns

The first round of strong to severe thunderstorms
approaching South Burlington, Vermont early
Thursday afternoon. The storms caused scattered
wind and hail damage throughout the state, and 
disrupted some pre-Fourth celebrations 

 That NOAA outlook for yesterday indicating Vermont and the rest of New England should watch out for severe thunderstorms certainly came true. 

Numerous reports of wind damage and hail came in from all six New England states, along with New York and New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. 

Here in Vermont, two rounds of strong storms hit, one early in the afternoon, the next toward evening. 

The evening round surprised me a bit because it was the stronger of the two, and came after cooler air had already started arriving. 

It shows that some summertime weather disturbances can really pack a punch, even if they're not really feeding on hot, humid air to power them. 

Two rounds of damaging storms blew through Thursday. 

The first round in the early afternoon mostly affected mostly northern Vermont, knocking down trees near Keeler Bay in the Champlain Islands and cutting power to areas in and around St. Albans. The early afternoon storm knocked over a tree onto a parking lot at the University of Vermont, damaging a car.

That first line of storms made its way down to Rutland County by mid-afternoon, dumping hail. Hail the size of ping pong balls pelted East Wallingford, and quarter sized hail hit Danby. I'm sure a few people there have dented cars this morning.  

The second batch of storms roared out of New York State, crossed Lake Champlain and basically traveled down Interstate 89 before cutting through east central Vermont.  Winds at Sand Bar State Park in Milton gusted to 58 mph.

 More trees and wires came down in parts of Burlington, and in Essex, Montpelier and certainly a few other places.

At one point Thursday evening, about 8,500 homes and businesses were without power in Vermont.

Burlington does its fireworks display on July 3 and a crowd had already gathered at the city's waterfront when this storm hit. The storm prompted a hasty evacuation as lightning crackled overhead. The storms moved on pretty quickly, so fireworks later in the evening went off without a hitch, however. Montpelier also cut off its Fourth of July festivities Thursday due to the severe weather. 

 That second round of storms brought some cold air down from aloft. Thursday evening was chilly!  Temperatures were only in the upper 50s in parts of the state in the hours before sunset. 

Overall, Thursday was one of the busiest and most disruptive storm days in Vermont's 2025 severe weather season

TODAY/WEEKEND

Today, the Fourth of July, will certainly not be one of the stormiest days of the summer. 

There are a bunch of so-called "fair weather clouds" out there. Air high above us is still chilly. The strong early July sun creates updrafts of air. Moisture in that rising air condenses into clouds once it hits the cooler air, so you get some clouds. 

The sun will be in and out all day. The sunniest area will be the Champlain and Lower Connecticut River valleys.  The cloudiest areas will be in the Green Mountain and Northeast Kingdom. But everyone should see at least some sun for the rest of the day. 

Towns holding fireworks displays this evening should be A-OK, with partly clear to clear skies and great visibility. You might want to bring a light jacket. Temperatures should drop from the 70s to the low and mid 60s after sunset. Those temperatures should bottom out in the 50s by early Saturday morning, with some 40s in the cold spots.

Saturday looks awesome with generally sunny skies, and temperatures in most spots reaching the 80s. 

We're still looking at a brief squirt of hot,  humid air Sunday. Many Vermont communities will make it to at least 90 degrees.   

Some Severe Storms Around Vermont/Northeast Today. But First Dry Weekend Since December?

Scattered severe thunderstorms with strong wind gusts
and large hail are possible mostly in the yellow
shaded area. As you can see, this includes Vermont. 

After Wednesday's pleasant weather - marred slightly later in the day by the return of some wildfire smoke - today's going to be sort of a head's up kind of scenario. 

A cold front, a pocket of cold air aloft and some other disturbances will coordinate with each other to   bring us some strong to locally severe thunderstorms. 

After that, we have some potentially big meteorological news for this coming weekend.  More on that later, but let's get into today first.  

THURSDAY STORMS

It's looking like today might be kind of a weird thunderstorm day. Usually, on most stormy days in the summer, you get a peak in activity during the late afternoon and evening, and that will be kind of the case today. Best chances of seeing a storm are between 1 and 6 p.m. today. 

But it won't be limited to just the usual afternoon and evening rumbles and lightning strikes.  Some storms will come through this morning, as the atmosphere is unstable enough so that we don't have to wait until the sun heats up the air to help create our storms.  

Already, as of 7 a.m. today, a cluster of showers and a smattering of lightning bolts were  over the southern and central Adirondacks, making a beeline toward mostly central and southern Vermont. More storms had already gotten going over western New York and southern Ontario and were heading east.  There was already a local downpour in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont as of 7 a.m. 

Later today, a few thunderstorms could linger after a  cold front passes through this afternoon, which is odd. 

 Usually, once your cold front has passed, so has your threat of thunderstorms. But trailing disturbances in the atmosphere, along with that chilly pocket of air aloft, could keep scattered non-severe but possibly locally strong storms going until until nightfall.  

The bottom line is they'll come through in hit and miss fashion all day.  The vast majority of New England, including all of Vermont, along with New Jersey and eastern New York has a level two out of five risk alert for severe storms today. 

As usual, most places won't see damaging winds or hail today.  

But some will, and it will be kind of random. The biggest threat is those locally strong winds that could knock over some trees and power lines.  The chillier air aloft opens up the possibility of an isolated instance or two of hail big enough to dent your car or damage your garden. 

You'll need to listen for possible severe storm warnings and be ready to get inside a sturdy building. Today is NOT the day to go out on the lake, or take a hike up into the mountains. Especially with all that lightning that'll be crackling around the summits. 

In many areas of Vermont, the storms won't technically be severe or particularly damaging, but they will contain dangerous lightning, briefly torrential downpours, gusty winds and hail.  A few "lucky" towns    won't see anything at all, and others will just have a few rumbles of thunder and a little rain. 

I'm not worried about any flash flooding. Most places should get a quarter inch or less of rain. Towns that really get nailed could see up to an inch. But those higher totals will be pretty isolated.

DRY WEEKEND?

Last weekend was the 28th in a row with at least some precipitation.  In all the records at Burlington dating back to the late 1880s, there was only one other time there were more consecutive weekends with rain 

That was 30 such weekends, starting September 1, 1934 and ending March 23, 1935. 

Records are made to be broken, but this time, it's looking more and more like that Depression-era record will stand.

After today's storms, and a very low chance of light showers over the Northeast Kingdom Friday, it looks like we'll have to wait until Monday for our next chance of rain. You never know a rogue shower could arrive in Burlington maybe Sunday night, but right now I doubt it.

The Details:

The Fourth of July weekend might turn out dry, but it will be changeable.

Friday the Fourth should be dry and cool for the season, with refreshingly low humidity. Friday evening should be clear, so Vermonters will have no trouble watching the fireworks. 

Saturday morning will dawn clear and comfortably cool, but by afternoon, you'll notice it heating up, We should get up into the 80s but the humidity still woh't be so bad.

Sunday looks HOT, with highs for many of us reaching at least 90 degrees, with increasing humidity. 

A cold front should begin to cut the hot spell short beginning on Monday. Or maybe Tuesday. There should be some showers and storms around early next week, but it's too early to provide details.  

Last Week's Austin, Texas Storm Super Wild, Super Weird

From Facebook, photo of damage at Austin Wildlife
Rescue after the massive supercell and oxymoronically
named large microburst in the city last week. 

 Texas is known for its, well, Texas sized storms.

But even by those standards, what hit the Austin, Texas area was absolutely wild.  I guess the "Keep Austin Weird" slogan applies to the weather there as well. 

A fast developing, giant supercell roared over the city on May 28.   It almost, but didn't quite produce a tornado. But it might as well have, given the damage it caused. There were also no other storms around it, just an isolated, big, bad one, Very bad,

It produces  one of the worst microbursts, one of the heaviest rainfall rates and some of the worst hail to ever hit Texas, and maybe the United States for that matter. 

MICROBURST

As the name implies, microbursts hit a relatively small area.  On average, they'll do their damage in a one to two mile diameter area. 

Microbursts, as noted,  are often are as dangerous as tornadoes, as the storm in Austin demonstrates.  Some microbursts carry wind gusts of 100 mph, which is the equivalent of an EF-1 tornado. (For comparison the tornado that hit in Middlebury, Vermont, in March, 2021, seriously damaging one home and causing lighter damage to several others, was an EF-1

The National Weather Service explains what causes these dangerous thunderstorm microbursts.:

Strong updrafts suspend a bunch water droplets in the upper portion of the storm. At some point, the updraft is no longer able to sustain all that stuff, so it lets them go like a clumsy waiter dropping a tray load of dishes. 

When the "tray load of dishes" hits the ground, all hell breaks loose, like it did in Austin, writ large.

The Austin area microburst, despite its name, was pretty huge.  

The damage path was about ten miles long, with a path ranging from one to 2.5 miles wide. Maximum sustained winds within the microburst were probably between 65 mph and 85 mph, with a few embedded higher gusts. The Austin-Bergstrom International Airport had a 77 mph gusts, reports KXAN.

REAR FLANK DOWNDRAFT

To make matters worse, the supercell had something called a rear flank downdraft in which winds reached up to 75 mph.  As KXAN reports:

The National Weather Service mapped out damage
from the May 28 supercell and big microburst.
Area in red is damage from the microburst, yellow
is from a real flank downdraft. The darker
the color, the worse the damage was.

"A rear flank downdraft is caused by pressure patterns within a supercell thunderstorm that force cool mid-level winds quickly down to the ground before getting pulled back into the rotating thunderstorm."

Rear flank downdrafts are common in in supercells, especially strong ones like that in and around Austin last week.

Like the microburst, the rear flank downdraft moved southeastward, in tandem with the microburst that was just to the north and east of the rear flank downdraft.

This downdraft and its 75 mph wind blew right through downtown Austin.  

DAMAGE

The wind, as you'd imagine, knocked down a lot of trees and power lines. About 180,000 residents lost power.  Winds of that speed tend not to seriously damage well-constructed homes, but it was enough to tear shingles off roofs and break windows  I'm sure several homes and other buildings suffered damage from falling trees

Windows and doors were reported broken by the wind at Austin-Bergstrom airport and the Texas State Capitol building in Austin. The canopy over gas pumps at an Austin service station collapsed onto cars beneath it whose owners were taking shelter from the hail. Thankfully, only minor injuries were reported. 

The largest oak tree in Austin's first Black cemetery toppled over and damaged several headstones.

The wind drove large hailstones sideways, damaging the siding on countless homes, Roofs, crops, trees and gardens were also blasted and wrecked.  

Intense flash flooding swept cars off roads and left at least one person dead. At least five others had to be rescued from submerged cars.

 The spot where the microburst first hits the ground is usually where the worst damage is.  In Austin's case, there might have been a train of microbursts, one after another. Or, the supercell thunderstorm that caused it had much more rain and hail to unload than most storms. 

It was also a single thunderstorm and not a line. While all hell was breaking loose on the north side of Austin and its suburbs, it was a pleasant evening with sunshine in the southern end of Austin.

Austin is weird. 

VIDEOS

Compilation of some of the storm scenes in Austin: As always, click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that,

More images, mostly of the flooding from the microburst last week in Austin: Again, click on this link to view, or if you see image below click on that, 

 

May Has Produced Some Dramatic Storm Videos, As Per Usual.

Cleanup starts after the devastating tornado in St. Louis
earlier this month. Photo by Brian Munoz via Facebook

Late April and May, living up to their usual stormy standards, has certainly produced some dramatic and sad moments across the United States.   

It's been busy and destructive this year, with particularly vicious, deadly storms striking St. Louis, Missouri and in Kentucky.  It's also been serious in other parts of the nation too.

This brings us to some videos of some of the worst, most dangerous and sometimes most tragic events of this spring. 

Following are some examples.

First,  a compilation of the tornadoes that hit Minnesota and Wisconsin May 15. Click on this link to view or if you see the image below click on that

Drone video of London, Kentucky of tornado damage. You can see how the core of tornado grinded homes into tiny little pieces. Click on this link to view or if you see the image below click on that

A harrowing news story of a family of seven in a London, Kentucky home that was picked up by the tornado with all of them inside and thrown across the street. Miraculously all seven just had minor injuries. Two next door neighbors died.  Again, click on this link to watch or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Another harrowing story of how a couple both lost arms while clinging to each other as the Kentucky tornado blasted through their house. Again, click on the link to view, or if you see the image below click on that:

Video follows the path of last week's tornado in St. Louis. Maps included show how densely populated the area that was hit was. Miracle only five people died in the city. Again, click on the link or if you see the image below, click on that:

Tornado and aftermath seen through a deputy sheriff's dash cam in Colorado. Click on this link or if you see image below click on that to view;

 

Tornadoes Getting The Spotlight This Year. But Hail Is Causing Even More Damage

 Tornadoes have been in the news a lot this year. 

Serious hail damage to a home in Wylie, Texas back
in April, 2016. Hail is one of the leading causes of
weather-related damage in the United States.

And no wonder. There have been 1,007 tornadoes in the United States through May 26 this year.

Sixty-two Americans have so far died in twisters so far this year. So you can see why tornadoes are a BIG DEAL.

As expensive as the tornado destruction has been - and it has been expensive - there's a severe weather phenomenon that's been happening a lot this year. That would be hail. 

Hail is usually one of the most expensive type of disasters yearly, and this is no exception. 

Tornadoes, as horrible as they are, have fairly narrow damage paths. Some are as much as mile wide, but most are much less than that. Tornadoes can travel over dozens or in rare cases hundreds of miles, but usually the damage path is only at most a few miles. 

Hail storms, on the other hand, usually cover a much larger footprint of real estate. 

Hail very rarely kills people and usually doesn't completely destroy a house. But hail damaged roofs and sometimes punctures through them. Hail breaks windows, hopelessly dents or shreds siding, damages and destroys cars, trashes landscaping and decimates crops. 

Especially in cases in which hail punctures roofs, homes can suffer severe water damage. (Torrential rains usually accompany the hail).

On top of all that, hailstones have more and bigger targets to inflict harm. Over the past few years, cities - including in the hail-prone Plains, Midwest and parts of the South - have sprawled outward. These metropolitan areas have miles and miles of suburban housing developments surrounding them. 

It used to be the chances were a bad hailstorm would miss a city since it was a small target. Now, not so much. As a result of all these factors and more, hails causes up to $15 billion in damage annually.

The insurance industry is taking notice. 

As NPR reports, insurance rates are up 35 percent from a few years ago in Kentucky and Nebraska  Rates are up 34 percent in Arkansas 32 percent in Minnesota and 27 percent in Texas, Colorado and Iowa.

Hail damage isn't the only reason these rates went up but it's certainly a factor. .Like in other types of disasters hail its prompting insurance companies to cut back on coverage and the costs the storms incur.

Per NPR:

"They're going to scale back coverage primarily on the roofs,' said David Marlett, managing director of the Brantley Risk & Insurance Center at Appalachian State University. He said they will now cover the value of a damaged roof rather the cost of buying a new one. "And they're going to attempt to increase rates to match the risk."

The jury is still out on whether climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of hailstorms, There is preliminary evidence that a warmer climate could produce larger hailstones. The larger the hailstones, the more damage they cause. 

I even imagine there will be insurance claims for hail this year in Vermont.  Hailstones in Vermont are usually too small to cause much damage, but sometimes there's exceptions.  Saturday May 17 was one of them. 

Hail up to two inches in diameter - a little bigger than golf balls - struck parts of southern Chittenden County, especially around Hinesburg, St. George and Richmond. 

I'm sure those caused at least some damage.

Videos:

Hail crashes through skylights of a Texas home earlier this year. Click on this link to view, or if you see image below, click on that.

Hail crashes through skylights at a Rice Lake, Wisconsin Walmart in July, 2023. As always click on this link to view or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Similar but even worse scene inside a mall as hail crashed through skylight in a Wyomissing, Pennsylvania shopping mall in 2014. Again, click on this link to view or if you see image below, click on that. 

Chaos in a home as hail crashes through windows in Carter Lake, Iowa on August 18, 2011. Again, click on this link or if you see the image below, click on that: 

Saturday Storms In Vermont Left Impressive Trail Of Damage, Flooding and Big Hail Stones

 OK, I guess I did jink it. 

Menacing, swirling clouds just ahead of a powerful
thunderstorm that hit St. Albans, Vermont 
Saturday afternoon.  Storm caused flood, wind and
hail damage across Vermont

On May 7,  I remarked in this blog thingy that Vermont so far this year has escaped weather extremes and destructive storms that have been a near constant in recent years in the Green Mountain State.

Not to mention many other places in the U.S. 

Then Saturday hit. 

We knew there might be some locally severe storms and maybe an instance of flash flooding or two. But Saturday's storms really, - unfortunately - over-performed.

As I'm sure you've heard by now, flash flood damage was pretty widespread in Vermont.  High winds also toppled trees and power lines, and hail up to the size of golf balls pelted some towns.

Wave after wave of storms came through, some in the form of supercells, others in lines and clusters of powerful rains and winds and lightning. 

I actually spotted at least two areas of rotation on radar. One was south of Burlington as a supercell passed through southern Chittenden County.  The other came a little while later over St. Albans and Georgia.

Neither incident came close to producing a tornado.  But my place in St. Albans, Vermont was under that rotation and it was a little unsettling to see green clouds and other menacing clouds moving in different directions.

There were plenty of storm reports in Vermont to go around. 

The supercell in southern Chittenden County and on into Washington County produced some impressive hail. Golf ball sized hail pelted East Charlotte and a section of Stowe between the village and Stowe Mountain Resort. 

Hail the size of quarters and even ping pong balls hit places like Richmond and Hinesburg. There was a lot of hail, too.  Video I saw on Facebook showed torrential hail, I think in East Charlotte sliding off a roof and forming a pile more than a foot deep on somebody's deck. 

That supercell, combined with other torrential thunderstorms before and after it, set off quite a bit of flooding around Charlotte and Shelburne. That flooding got worse in the Mad River Valley, where several roads were damaged or under water around Waitsfield and Warren.

Part of Route 100 in Warren was closed. A section of Main Street in Waitsfield washed out. Several other roads in and near the Mad River Valley were also damaged. 

Elsewhere in Vermont, flooding was reported around Montpelier. Not from the Winooski River, but just from downpours overwhelming storm drains and drainage ditches. Parts of Route 2 in Plainfield were under water. Route 14 in East Montpelier had to be closed for a time due to high water. 

The town of Hartford including White River Junction were hit hard as several streets were under water. Trees and power lines toppled throughout the town. 

I was also impressed by how electric these storms were.  Two storms passed through St. Albans, and both of them had loads of cloud to ground lightning and crashing thunder.  Haven't seen anything like that in a few years. 

As bad as the damage was, I don't think it was enough to have another disaster declaration in Vermont.  Besides, under the Trump administration, it's harder and harder to get federal aid. 

So, unfortunately, Vermont towns and municipalities, along with the State of Vermont that suffered road and infrastructure damage Saturday will probably just have to eat it somehow. 

Yeah, we didn't need Saturday's storm

OUTLOOK

The good news is we face no more severe thunderstorms for quite awhile. The bad news is it's going to keep raining for the remainder of this already very wet May. 

How wet has May been so far? An example is Montpelier. The entire month of May normally bring about 3.5 inches of rain. So far this month in Montpelier, they've had 5.35 inches, including 1.86 inches Saturday. 

Light but fairly persistent showers are expected today, with more scattered ones tomorrow. 

As we've been advertising, this week is going to be much cooler than it's recently been. Instead of 70 and 80s, highs will mostly be in the 50s all week, which is 10 to 15 degrees below normal for this time of year. 

The second half of the week looks particularly showery and cool.  Computer models are now arguing over whether we will have frequent light showers toward the end of the week or another soaker. Stay tuned. 

Videos: Nebraska, Iowa Hail, Tornadoes Wreck Towns

Gigantic hail propelled by high winds smashed out
the windows of this Fremont, Nebraska hotel and
pockmarked the exterior walls 

Last Thursday, a cluster of intense thunderstorms unleashed tornadoes, intense winds and gigantic hail on areas of eastern Nebraska and western and central Iowa.

There were at least 23 reports of tornadoes near Omaha, Nebraska.  One tornado in Iowa was 1.8 miles wide, which would hold the record for the widest tornado in Iowa history. 

Communities that avoided the tornadoes were instead bombarded by gigantic hail propelled by winds that gusted to hurricane force. 

The National  Weather Service said the storm in Fremont features hail up to the size of baseball accompanied with wind gusts to 82 mph. 

Some of the videos are wild, so we'll give you some samples in this post. 

Here's a Facebook reel of the chaos inside a home as hail stones crashed through windows, spreading ice and debris through the home's interior. Click on this link to view or if you see the image below click on that. 

Next video shows heavy amounts of hail pummeling Raymond, Nebraska. Click on this link to view or if you see image below, click on that:

Taken just after the storm, video shows the metal exterior of Mel's Diner battered, and a Rodeway Inn in Fremont, Nebraska with all the windows on one side busted out and its stucco walls pockmarked with hail damage as if shelled in a war. Parking lot is full of hail-smashed cars, too. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

 We're always wowed by the drama of storm videos, but we can't forget there are real victims. To bring you back down to Earth, here's a news video where a woman whose southwest Iowa house was damaged in one of the tornadoes notes it hit on the anniversary of her husband's death, and the same week her beloved dog died. 

I do hope things get much better for this lady. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Thursday Morning Update: New Weather Pattern Spells Trouble For Nation's Middle, But Lets Us In Vermont Off The Hook

This patch of almost ready for prime time daffodils
in St. Albans, Vermont survived Wednesday's day
long snow showers just fine. 

 Well, that was fun yesterday. 

It pretty much snowed all day, at least where I was, but it being well into April, it amounted to what I'd call white rain. 

In other words, the snow melted on contact, even grassy surfaces which still can tend to collect snow this time of year. It amounted to a bit of beneficial water for those new daffodils blooming out there. 

Go up slightly in elevation and the snow did stick, at least a little. 

I know it snowed pretty hard on the mountain summits of the central and northern Green Mountains, but I haven't seen many accumulation reports yet. Jay Peak got three to six inches of snow, less than the foot some forecasts had called for. 

For now, the snow is (mostly) done for the season. On to spring

NEW WEATHER PATTERN

After a relative lull, almost daily severe storms, floods
and tornadoes will strike the middle of the nation
from now probably at least into early May.

The weather pattern has shifted, which turns out to be bad news for much of the United States but good news for us here in Vermont. 

 Dangerous weather will hit parts of the nation almost daily going forward for the next couple of weeks.  

Here in Vermont, things mostly look benign, uneventful and mild enough to keep us happy for the most part. 

There's been a bit of a lull in our national severe weather and tornado season for the past week or so, after some terrible tornado outbreaks in March and early April. 

The severe weather, and flooding are now coming back. They might not be as intense as we saw earlier this month, at least not at first, but we're getting into the heart of tornado season now. So things will get active. 

Here's how it's setting up: 

Storm systems will keep developing just east of the Rocky Mountains and head into the Plains and Midwest. For now, none of these storms will be blockbuster huge, but they'll pull plenty of moisture fro the Gulf. 

That moisture, combined with the spin in the atmosphere created by the low pressure systems, and chillier air trying to come in from the north, will be more than enough to create repeated rounds of severe storms and flooding. 

It's hard to tease out who gets what more than a few days in advance. Today will start the trend with strong storms, maybe some "gorilla hail" and a tornado or two around Iowa and Nebraska.

Gorilla hail is a colloquialism coined by storm chaser Reed Simmer to describe hail that's at least two inches in diameter or greater. Two inch diameter hail is about the size of a lime.  Such hail is obviously dangerous and causes a LOT of damage to cars, roofs, crops and many other objects. 

In any event, the severe weather threat moves on to cover a broad strip from northern Texas through most of Michigan. Again, hail, high winds and maybe a few tornadoes will develop in this zone on Friday. 

Severe weather threats will then continue daily in different areas in the nation's middle and South. Some days will only have a few bad storms, others many. This state of affairs looks like it will go on at least into early May. 

Flooding looks like a sure bet, too with this weather pattern featuring such wet, warm air coming off the Gulf. In the short term, the greatest threat of dangerous flash flooding looks like it will be over the weekend in Arkansas and Missouri. 

VERMONT

This new weather pattern is a good one for Vermont if you don't like wild extremes.

That long series of Midwest storms will end up coming toward or fairly near Vermont, but by the time they get here, they'll be pretty unimpressive.  Most of the time, we'll  have risks of rain and showers every second or third day, but, unless a surprise or two enters the picture, these rainy periods will just be your typical spring showers. 

It looks like this weather pattern will also keep temperatures more or less close to normal or maybe a tad warmer than average for the remainder of April, at least on most days. Normal for this time of year is highs in the 50s to low 60s. 

Each storm might hold a minor surprise to make things interesting, but don't expect big bouts of severe storms, flooding or other super  dangerous stuff. 

This should lead to a long spell of Vermont weather that for the most part will be uneventful, but with maybe some quick surprise moments of relative excitement from time to time. Excitement might be too strong a word, because I don't see anything gobsmacking coming toward us for awhile. 

In general, this weather pattern will keep temperatures near normal around here for the next couple of weeks, with highs in the 50s and 60s. Not bad.  Rainfall will be on the light side, though with springtime showers and thunderstorms possibly thrown in from time to time, there might be some locally heavier downpours or other excitement from time to time. 

Because there will be a series of fronts coming through, there might well be some quick excursions into much above normal temperatures, and back to chilly readings, too.

The first example should arrive this weekend.  As the first of those disturbances arrives, there could be some loud but not severe thunderstorms Friday night, especially the further north and west you go in Vermont. 

There could be some decent downpours with a couple storms, but most places north of Route 2 should only receive a quarter inch of rain, with less than that the further south you go.

Depending upon how much sun breaks through Saturday, many spots could also top 70 degrees. A few computer models put us well into the 70s, so we'll see.

By Sunday,  though, it will be chilly again with below normal highs in the 48 to 54 degree range and a pretty hard freeze by Monday morning. 

Beyond that, the forecast gets fuzzy, so we'll just leave it at that. Except to say there's no more snow in the forecast, except for maybe a the tippy top of some of the highest mountains. 

Vermont (Mostly) Dodges Another Storm Bullet As Big Hailers Strike New England/New York

You gotta watch those thunderstorms that come in straight from the north. 

A thunderstorm near Sheldon, Vermont earlier this summer.
Severe storms and lots of hail hit parts of 
central and southern New England Monday but
the region is nearing the end of its summer
severe storm season. 

Often the weather systems that cause storms to move north to south can create more havoc than the traditional west to east moving thunderstorms we often see in the summer. 

Given the cold air aloft, Monday's storms were impressive hailers, covering the ground with tons of quarter sized or bigger stones in several communities in central and southern New England, and in parts of the southern Adirondacks and upper Hudson Valley of New York. 

Some of this hail was big enough, and powerful enough to probably keep insurance adjusters busy the rest of the week. 

We in Vermont largely sat out this icy storminess, though far southern Vermont had some moments. Parts of southeastern Vermont was under a flash flood warning for a time. Video on social media showed lots of half inch diameter hail,  pouring down on a property near Readsboro, Vermont. 

Half inch diameter hail was also reported at Woodford State Park, east of Bennington. 

Elsewhere, things did get out of hand. Video from somewhere in Essex County, New York - that's the large county in the southeastern Adirondacks on the other side of Lake Champlain from Addison County Vermont - showed inches of hail covering the ground with obvious damage to plants, and reports of damage to cars and trees blown down by wind. 

Another social media photo showed so much hail on a road in Hancock, New Hampshire (east of Keene) that it could have used a snow plow. 

The storms extended all the way down to Bourne, Massachusetts on Cape Cod which was hit by large hail and flooding. 

Northern Vermont entirely escaped the storms. Some scattered storms rolled southward along and east of the Green Mountains during the day but nothing severe hit up there. The Champlain Valley actually had a lovely day.

Before dawn, though, isolated storms dumped up to two inches of rain over the Lake Champlain Islands, and caused briefly strong winds in Georgia. 

LOOKING AHEAD

Things are much calmer today as that weather system has departed.  We'll have one more sunny, warm summer day today before the next cold front sweeps through late tonight and tomorrow morning. 

Nothing scary with this next front except for maybe brief heavy downpours in spot. 

Cooler, drier weather follows. These increasingly cool gushes of air as we approach September is a sign that  Vermont and New England's rough summer severe thunderstorm season is beginning to wind down. 

We can still see severe thunderstorms for the next few weeks, of course. But as we head into autumn, it gets harder and harder to see the very warm to hot, humid air that can be fuel for strong thunderstorms. 

As the cold fronts come in, you're going to be less and less likely to see strong thunderstorms ahead of them and more likely to see just a period of rain instead. 

Given the flooding we had in Vermont, and the severe storms and tornadoes that repeatedly raked New York and New England this summer, it really is probably good riddance to those intense summer storms. 

Bumpy Weather Today For Vermont: Strong Storms, Smoke And Humidity

Lighting crackles over my St. Albans, Vermont
house Wednesday evening. We'll do it again today
with scattered storms, mostly east and locally
strong, and also a batch of wildfire 
smoke to make it all the more stressful. 

 Wednesday was a sometimes noisy preview of what Vermont can expect today. 

There was a little smoke in the air, it was a bit humid, and some thunderstorms really made themselves felt in a few spots.  

Today in the Green Mountain State, we'll crank that up with thicker smoke, more numerous and possibly more intense storms in a few spots than yesterday, and higher humidity than on Wednesday. 

Wednesday's storms mostly put on a show in northern Vermont, especially the Champlain Valley. A couple  were borderline severe, with quarter sized hail reported in Georgia and penny sized hail in St. Albans Bay. 

At my place on the eastern side of St. Albans, just outside the edges of that initial severe, I had two lightning-filled storms. The second was stronger, with gusts to about 35 mph and a few pea-sized hail stones. 

Wednesday's storms were interesting too. I watched all afternoon as a cluster of storms slowly headed south from Quebec, passing by Montreal in the late afternoon and descending into Franklin County toward 6:30 or 7.  

They remained pretty intense after crossing the border into Vermont until entering Chittenden County, where they started to quickly fall apart. But then, even though we'd lost the sun that would maintain instability, new storms formed super quickly in Franklin County and headed south. 

A cold pool of air aloft over northwest Vermont was able to keep the storms going.  The lightning show was pretty impressive.

Today, Quebec will be gifting us with more storms than yesterday and a big gulp of smoke. Thanks, Canada! 

TODAY

We've still got an upper level low pressure off to our northeast that's keeping a flow from the north aloft. Meanwhile, near the surface, higher humidity is coming in from the south. 

Another spoke of energy from that upper low to our east will come south today, and the combination will set us up again for more storms.

There were already a couple spot showers in the Northeast Kingdom as of 7:30 a.m today, and those will increase as the day goes on. 

This piece of energy is stronger than last evening's and will come in this afternoon, right at peak heating. That sets us up for more pretty rambunctious storms. We're under a level one marginal risk for severe storms today, says NOAA's Storm Prediction Center. That means we'll at least have some isolated incidents of damaging winds and hail.

The storms this afternoon will be most concentrated along and east of the Green Mountains, especially in the Northeast Kingdom.  I know, I know, flood fears, after the summer the Kingdom has had. .It doesn't look like today's storms will have rain intense enough to cause any real, new water damage, which is good. 

Even though the storms will be most concentrated in the NEK, they could pop up in hit or miss fashion just about anywhere this afternoon and evening, and a handful could be briefly strong just about anywhere. 

Smoke

That north flow is also grabbing a batch of thicker smoke from Canadian fires and will bring it south into Vermont today. Much of the smoke will be aloft, but some of the smoke will be near the surface as well by this afternoon. Air quality was good in the Green Mountain State this morning, but will probably deteriorate some this afternoon. 

In any event, you will see an increase in haze and you night smell something like a campfire where someone added little garbage into the flames. 

If you have issues that affect your lungs, it might be wise to stay indoors with air conditioning today.  One note: Sometimes, smoke can suppress thunderstorms a bit. I don't know whether that will have any effect on the storms today. 

OUTLOOK

Friday will be calmer: Just mostly sunny through some smoky haze, warm and humid. There might be some isolated showers and storms over the mountains during the afternoon and evening, but they will be very few and far between if they form at all.

A very slow moving storm that I referred to yesterday as coming in from the Great Lakes will give us an unsettled, humid weekend.  Showers are possible both Saturday and Sunday, but more likely Sunday. A few of them could be heavy rainers. That state of affairs will continue on Monday before things slowly begin to improve. 

Scary: Hail Rips Off Front Of Plane With 179 People On Board

Hail ripped the nose off this plane
and broke the windows on the 
cockpit when this plane encountered
a nasty hailstorm Sunday on
approach to Vienna, Austria. 

An Austrian Air flight with 173 passengers and 6 crew managed to make a safe landing in Vienna, Austria Sunday despite a hailstorm that severely damaged the plane mid air. 

The flight was on approach to Vienna when it encountered the large hail. The hail stones ripped the nose off the plane, turned the cockpit windows into a thick spiderweb of cracks and damaged other parts of the plane. 

The pilot declare a mayday and the plane was cleared for an emergency landing.  Passengers said there was a fair amount of alarm on the plane as the hailstorm also included lots of turbulence. And obviously a lot of noise. 

Airlines usually try to fly around thunderstorms if at all possible, not only because of the hail risk but because storms can cause sharp downdrafts that can cause crashes.  

It's possible the storm developed quickly, but then again you'd think a thunderstorm producing that much hail  would have been noticed. An image from Flight Aware via Fox Weather shows the flight path of the plane superimposed on a weather radar image of central Europe. 

Weather radar showed a line of thunderstorms just south of the Vienna airport with this flight appearing to skirt the western edge of what appears to be a more intense thunderstorm cell. 

According to a statement from Austrian Airlines to CNN:

"Airbus A320 aircraft was damaged buy hail on yesterday's flight OS434 from Palma de Mallorca to Vienna. The aircraft was caught in a thunderstorm cell on approach to Vienna, which according to cockpit crew was not visible on the weather radar."

I hope whatever European version of the National Transportation Safety Board looks into this one to prevent it from happening again.   I used to hear about these airline/hail encounters occasionally, but this is the first time I've seen something like this in the news in quite awhile. 

I'm glad there were no injuries with this one and that the pilots were skilled in landing the plane. Judging by photos of the hail damage, this could have been so much worse. 

 

Hail Of A Year In U.S. Damaging Ice Balls Worse Than Usual This Year

A 

 Last past Sunday, I published an account of a terribly destructive hail storm in and around Denver, Colorado.  

This giant hailstone landed in Texas
last Sunday. 

That was one of many hail storms in a nasty, busy hailish here in the United States. (Yes, I invented a new word, so sue me).

As the Washington Post reports, spring is a busy time for hail, as it is severe weather and tornado season. This year seems to be even worse than usual.  

That makes sense. The weather pattern has featured extra doses of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms this spring. It follows that we'd have more hailstorms in that pattern, too. 

WARMER PLANET, MORE ICE BALLS?

Paradoxically as it might seem, a warming planet might be making hail storms worse than in the past. 

Hail forms when big thunderstorms create big updrafts that keep ever-growing balls of ice adding more layers of water that freezes. Finally, the hail stones get too big for the updrafts to keep them up there, so they plummet to earth. 

The stronger the updrafts, the longer the hail stays up there, getting bigger and bigger. Which is why these giant things come crashing down sometimes, smashing up cars, dinging and puncturing roofs until they leak and causing other havoc. 

The Washington Post picks up the story:

"As temperatures warm along Earth's surface, those updrafts may be getting stronger - and that may allow hail to grow larger before the winds can no longer keep it aloft.

The warmer the air, the more moisture it can hold. And when thunderstorms develop, a greater contrast between hot, moist air close to the ground and cold, dry air overhead can supercharge the upward winds needed to produce hail."

The Gulf of Mexico has also been abnormally warm all year so far. That means south winds blowing from the Gulf inland into the United States can grab more moisture from those waters to help intensify thunderstorms across much of the nation.

MORE TARGETS

Another big reason hail has been getting a lot more expensive is because they have a lot more targets to hit. 

Big hail storms tend to strike in narrow streaks, much like tornadoes. The areas affected by hail storms are wider than those hit by tornadoes. While hail might fall in a ten or even 20 mile wide path, the worst of the hail - with the biggest stones and the greatest amount of them, only tend to fall in paths one to three miles wide. 

By comparison, the widest tornadoes are 1 to 2 miles across, but those mega-twisters are extremely rare.  If there's a lot of open country, a streak of wannabe destructive hail can thread the needle and avoid towns and cities. 

Back in the old days, cities and towns were pretty compact. Now, those suburbs spread out all over the damn place and they keep spreading outward. That's so many more opportunities for hail stones to crash down on cars, roofs, windows, siding and such.    So the costs and the insurance claims skyrocket as a result. 

On top of the, climate change might (or might not, the jury is still out) be spreading big hail northward and eastward into more highly populated areas that could really get nailed. 

The reason I said the jury is still out on that question is because, as the Washington Post reports, climate change might be in general reducing wind shear in severe thunderstorms. Wind shear is changes in wind speed and direction with height. Hail storms tend to thrive when the wind shear is higher. 

Scientist hope to launch an intensive research project during next spring's storm season to help answer the questions about how climate change affects hail and other severe storms 

RECORD BIG HAIL

Last Sunday in Texas, storm chasers near Vigo Park, Texas found a hail stone that was 7.25 inches in diameter. If verified, this spiky hailstone would set the mark for the largest hailstone on record in Texas. The old record was 6.4 inches in Hondo, Texas in 2021.

For the record, the Texas hail monster wasn't the biggest ever seen in the United States. That honor goes to an 8-inch diameter hail stone that landed in Vivian, South Dakota (right in the middle of the state) on July 23, 2010. For comparison, a bowling ball is 8.5 inches in diameter.

For Vermonters reading this, our record big hailstone is pretty small in comparison. A supercell thunderstorm on July 16, 2009 unloaded a 3.3 inch diameter chunk of ice on Westford. That's about midway between the size of a baseball and softball. 

We even had our own bouts with hail this season in Vermont, though the episodes were relatively minor. Hail struck areas in eastern Franklin County back on May 21. The hailstones weren't big enough to cause a whole lot of damage, except to gardens and perhaps some farm crops. 

And of course, we had that half dollar sized hail down in Waltham, Vermont Friday, and a few other reports of penny sized hail the same day.  

Some hail also fell across Franklin County on April 28 as a batch of thunderstorms rumbled through. 

So far, knock on wood, Vermont is yet to see any hail that's too damaging. The severe weather season is young, though. 

It's nearly impossible to predict a risk of hail more than a few days in advance. Any thunderstorms we see in Vermont over the next day or two will have at worst harmless pea sized hail. Most, if not all storms will contain no hail at all because they won't be strong enough. 

Friday's Weather Was Bumpier Than Expected, Somewhat Less Wild Today

Looking north from Burlington early Friday afternoon at
some towering thunderstorm clouds that were over
Franklin County at the time. The haziness you see
is some rain falling nearby from another 
thunderstorm off a little to the west. 

 The thunderstorms that erupted Friday turned me into a bit of a liar.

If you read my post yesterday morning, I said there would probably be some thunderstorms around, but they wouldn't be particularly intense.  

For most of us, that turned out to be true. But the storms more numerous than I imagine.  

Worse, some of them were definitely on the strong side, borderline severe in some cases,  dumping heavy downpours that prompted at least one flood warning, hail up to the size of half dollars and a few wind gusts up to 40 mph or more.

The half dollar sized hail, 1.25 inches is diameter, was reported in the Addison County town of Waltham. Photos on social media also showed a patio in Vergennes covered with hail. 

For some reason, thunderstorms tended to repeatedly form near and just north of Plattsburgh, where hail to the size of quarters was reported.   

 Those New York storms occasionally made inroads into northwestern Vermont, where parts of Franklin County got hit pretty hard.  Penny sized hail was reported in Sheldon.  A flood warning was issued for the area around Sheldon, Berkshire, Franklin and Enosburg since the downpours lasted longer there than in other areas of the state.

I haven't seen any reports of serious flood damage, though

Here in St. Albans, I received two inches of rain from the downpours that hit Thursday evening combined with the thunderstorms that rumbled through Friday afternoon.  Although the thunderstorms diminished in the evening, some places continued to see heavy bursts of rain well into the night. 

I heard the roar of torrential rain on the roof a little after 11 p.m. last night. I checked the rain gauge and that was good for another 0.8 inches on top of the two inches we'd already received.

WHY IT HAPPENED

 It was essentially a second cold front that caused Friday's turbulent weather. The first one Thursday night flushed out most of the warmth and humidity, but not all of it. 

Meanwhile, an upper level low, which is essentially a pool of chilly air aloft, was moving toward us from Ontario. The leading edge of this cold pool formed into something of a new cold front. That, in turn created instability, in conjunction with the sun's heating, to produce the storms. 

Also, as that upper level low approached, the air aloft was cooling. That increased the contrast between the surface air and the air above. You could tell, as the downdrafts from Friday's thunderstorms from late morning to early afternoon pretty dramatically dropped temperatures as they passed through. 

Those downdrafts created gusts as high as 40 mph in a  couple spots. I noticed Burlington gusted to 33 mph as a nearby, dying thunderstorm exhaled a gust front through the city. 

The cold air aloft Friday also made it easier for the storms to manufacture hail, since a deep layer of the upper atmosphere was below freezing. 

TODAY AND BEYOND

That cold pool of air will be sitting nearly overhead today and Sunday.  That's already creating enough instability for some showers this morning, The strong June sun will heat the lower atmosphere despite the presence of quite a few clouds. The upper air is very chilly. The contrast will keep showers going and intensify them a bit by afternoon. 

There won't be anything quite as dramatic as Friday, but you'll still see some action. Some showers will contain rumbles of thunder and brief downpours. It's even easier for the storms to make hail today and Sunday, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if a few of the stronger showers produce pea sized hail.

It could rain at anytime now through Monday, but it won't rain constantly. The best chances of showers will be noon to 9 p.m., with the heating of the sun. If there's breaks in the clouds, at least the sky will be pretty, with those billowing, towering clouds around.

With the cold pool overhead, it'll be hard for even the intense June sun to warm us up much through the clouds. Highs should stay in 60s daily today through Monday. A few warmer valleys might sneak up into the lower 70s. 

The upper level cold pool will depart by midweek, allowing things to dry out and warm up a little. At least temporarily.

There are signs something else might come through late next week to maybe bring more rain, but it's too early to figure out if it will really rain then, and if so, how much. 

Latest Very U.S. Expensive Storm: Hail Bombards Denver Area

This is not an aerial view of a Denver suburb after a January 
winter storm. Instead, it's the morning after an epic
hail storm hit the area. It took all day for that
hail to melt. 

 Hailstorms late Thursday and early Friday strafed the Denver, Colorado area, likely causing hundreds of millions or perhaps over $1 billion in what has proven to be a terribly destructive, stormy spring in the United States.  

Some of the hail was the size of baseballs. That, and the fact that the hail covered such a wide area makes this the worst Denver area hailstorm in 35 years. 

Hail like this is the kind of storm that doesn't completely destroy homes. But if such a storm strikes a populated area like Denver, all the broken windows, smashed cars, ruined siding, damaged roofs and other property losses can quickly add up. 

That's how you get $1 billion or more in damage from hail . 

The damage from the hail was readily apparent in and around Denver.

Numerous cars at Denver International Airport had their back windows blown out, windshields hopelessly cracked and an array of dents all over the vehicles. The hail even tore some door handles off of cars. 

The hail was so deep in some neighborhoods that when dawn broke Friday, it looked like the region suffered a heavy snowstorm and not hail. During the storm, hail accumulated to six inches deep with drifts to 12 inches deep in the hardest hit areas, which put a halt to traffic on the roads. 

In the hardest hit neighborhoods, hail coated the ground for much of Friday, making it look like there'd been a big late-season snowstorm.  Most of the leaves on trees were stripped off, as was paint from walls, bannisters and railings, as you can see by clicking on this link to a news video. 

Another news video (click here) shows a hail drift at least a foot deep on a back patio, hail covering the street and the entire neighborhood. Most of the cars had broken windshields and back windows. 

It seems like it's been Colorado's turn lately to endure severe weather. Last week, the city of Greeley, about 60 miles north of Denver, suffered millions of dollars in damage from a thunderstorm that flooded large swaths of the community. 

The Greeley storm combined lots of hail and heavy rain to clog storm drains and send water coursing into cars and homes. 

Although the pace of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes that dominated the month of May has slowed somewhat, severe weather is going to remain an issue for the foreseeable future. 

This afternoon, there's a threat of severe thunderstorms and a few tornadoes from southern Manitoba in Canada  all the way through the Plains states from North Dakota and Minnesota to Texas. 

The risk diminishes somewhat starting tomorrow, but pockets of severe weather are likely every day somewhere in the United States in the upcoming week. 

Wednesday Was Odd Weather Day Here In Vermont While Tornadoes Continue To Pummel Elsewhere

 It was quite a hit and miss day in Vermont Wednesday when, as expected, a few strong or at least strong-ish storms passed through a few areas.  

Storm clouds over St. Albans, Vermont Wednesday 
afternoon were all bark and no bite, but some areas
of the state had gusty thunderstorms with small hail.

During the afternoon, a front was draped across far northern Vermont. I noticed the temperature popped into the upper 60s in Burlington, while it stayed in the low to mid 50s less than 30 miles to the north in St. Albans.

That contrast, along with some pretty good instability in the air, helped create a couple waves of strong thunderstorms across northern Vermont, immediately to the south of the colder air dammed up along the Canadian border. 

The storms prompted the National Weather Service office in South Burlington to issue some special weather statements in Vermont and one severe thunderstorm warning in the Northeast Kingdom.

I don't see any damage reports but I'm sure some places saw some gusty winds and at least small hail.

Another storm crossed south central Vermont, again probably with gusty winds and small hail.  

As you'd expect, rainfall was hit and miss. The storms skirted just north of Burlington, so they only had a total of 0.08 inches of rain Wednesday. I'm sure towns other towns that got the storms closed in on a half inch of rain at least 

The afternoon started sunnier and warmer in southern New England so some storms there were indeed severe.  I saw several reports of quarter sized hail in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 

LOOKING AHEAD

The forecast over the next few days in Vermont have trended somewhat drier, but there will be a chance of showers probably daily through next Tuesday at least.

However, none of these days look like a washout. Earlier forecasts has steady rain for most of the day Friday and possibly Sunday. Now it looks showery. 

It will all be hit and miss, but I doubt we'll have the kind of local downpours we saw Wednesday. It'll be on the cool side through the weekend, but nothing extreme for this time of year.  Highs will reach the 50s to near 60 daily today through Sunday, then trend somewhat warmer next week.  I don't see any frost in the forecast for the next week at least. 

TORNADOES CONTINUE 

At least 13 more tornadoes touched down Wednesday, mostly in Tennessee and Missouri, and I think more will be added to the list as National Weather Service meteorologists analyze damage swaths in the coming days.  

The tornado and severe storm threat rolls on today,
mostly in the south. Areas in yellow and 
especially orange are most at risk. 

This brings the total number of tornadoes in the United States to 89 since Monday. Through Tuesday, some 639 tornadoes had been reported in the U.S. so far this year, so we're ahead of normal. 

Sadly, three more deaths were reported in Wednesday's storms, though it's unclear whether all of victims died in tornadoes or severe thunderstorms. Seriously flash flooding also hit parts of Tennessee.

The southern storms continue to roll on this morning, 

Already, severe storms and likely tornadoes have been reported in and around Huntsville, Alabama overnight. People were being advised to avoid downtown Huntsville early this morning due to storm damage. 

Today, the tornado and severe thunderstorm threat will extend along a broad band from central Texas, across the Gulf Coast states all the way to the Carolinas. Already, as of 8 a.m. tornado watches were up for northern sections of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, including the Atlanta metro area.