Vermont Big Storms Moving Out; Autumn-Ish Weather Arrives As Planned

The Shelburne News in Shelburne, Vermont
had this photo of the burning Old Dairy Barn
this morning. The fire might have been
started by lightning. Photo from
Twitter via NECN and Shelburne News

Boy, that was a humdinger of a thunderstorm that went over my St. Albans, Vermont house around 4:30 a.m.

It wasn't severe, but there was TONS of lightning.

There was a severe thunderstorm warning out for my area during that storm, but there's no damage immediately around my house.  Trees were reported down, though, on power lines in Grand Isle and Franklin, towns that are pretty darn close to my house.

But there was damage. The worst - and saddest - might have been in Shelburne, Vermont.

The historic and beautiful Old Dairy Barn at Shelburne Farms, built in 1891,  burned to the ground this morning, the Burlington Free Press reports.

Though the cause of the fire has not yet been determined (It was still burning at 10 a.m. Sunday as I write this) the thought is the blaze might have been started by one of many hundreds of lightning strikes that hit Vermont this morning as the squall line went through.

More than 4,000 homes and businesses across Vermont had no electricity earlier this morning because of the storms. Fallen trees brieflly blocked roadways in Northfield and Jay, among other places.

Yesterday, it seemed like there was the possibility of a tornado or two forming in northwestern New York, especially in the St. Lawrence Valley, but I've seen no reports of twisters, so that's good.

Trees - some starting to turn color, bend in gusty, cool
winds this morning after a sharp cold front
moved through. Damaging thunderstorms hit
Vermont earlier in the morning. 

As I write this, the strong storms were moving into eastern New England and will no longer be a bother by this afternoon.

It was cloudy, breezy and much cooler across much of Vermont after the storms. September is finally here, a week and a half late.

Burlington already set its high temperature for today. It was still a whopping 81 degrees at 12:01 a.m. this morning. It's in the 60s now, and won't get much past 70 this afternoon, even as skies clear.

Tonight will get into the 40s for the first time since early June.

After a brief return to summer - 80 degrees on Tuesday - and even stronger cold front arrives Wednesday with more showers. After that, it'll be really cool for a couple days.

Just low to mid 60s Thursday afternoon, and the first frost of the season in sheltered cold mountain valleys in Vermont and surrounding states looks like an increasingly safe bet Friday morning.