Not Much Flooding Yet In Vermont, But Threat Continues

The weather in Vermont early Monday morning was all over the place. Steady south winds in a few places, like Bennington and St. Albans, were keeping temperatures in the 50s to low 60s in those areas before dawn.  

Through Wednesday morning, some of roads you normally
take to and from work might be flooded in Vermont
and surrounding states. Be prepared to take some detours.  

In valleys, where the wind is skipping over the low lands and winds are calm temperatures have dropped into the 30s.

Shortly after dawn, the wind will have scoured out the chilly air in the valleys and pretty much everyone in Vermont and northern New England will be headed toward the 70s today.

As we've been saying, that will increase the pace of snowmelt from the mountains. Then the rains of Tuesday will add to that even more.

So far, despite some relative warmth and showers on Sunday, rivers and streams have pretty much been behaving. There have only been reports of minor flooding. So far we have:

• Minor flooding along the Coventry River near Barton, Vermont

• Minor flooding along the East Branch of the Ausable River in the eastern Adirondacks of New York. 

• Minor flooding, which could intensify to moderate level flooding, along the Scroon River in the southern Adirondacks of New York.

• I noticed some field flooding and a couple road closures in Rutland and Addison counties along the Otter Creek Sunday, which is a very frequent occurence in the spring. 

The flooding in the region will get worse today through Wednesday, but as I said yesterday, the good news is it won't turn into a cataclysm like Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.  It won't be nearly that destructive. Still, there's reason for plenty of caution.

The forecast for warmth today hasn't changed. Neither has the forecast for around an inch of rain Tuesday as the slow moving cold front trudges through.

Normally, an inch of rain isn't THAT big a deal, but with rivers already near flood stage and lots of snow melt, that's enough to drive water up. So, the flooding could go from minor to moderate intensity, meaning there's a risk the water could get high enough to damage homes and businesses in a few areas.

Tuesday afternoon and night, temperatures will crash dramatically from summer to winter levels, with a dusting of snow likely in the valleys and a few inches possible in some of the mountains.

In fact, the commute to work Wednesday morning could be icy in spots, as temperatures sink down well into the 20s. Also, Wednesday morning, the flooding will not have ended yet as the runoff continues flowing down main rivers like the Otter Creek, and Winooski, Lamoille and Missisquoi Rivers.

Some of your usual commuting routes near these rivers will likely still be blocked by floodwaters Wednesday morning.  So places like North Williston Road, and maybe Route 128 in Chittenden County will have some problems through Wednesday.

While the flooding, or risk for flooding continues through Wednesday, remember that cheesy but important note the National Weather Service always talks about when roads flood: "Turn Around, Don't Drown."

At worst, driving into a flooded road can get you killed. At best, it would make you a laughing stock as your car stalls in the high water that you were too stupid to avoid.