Flooding, Ice, Blizzard-Like Conditions In Vermont This Saturday Morning

Amy Kolb Noyes posted what appears to be significant
and damaging ice jam flooding in Johnson, Vermont amid
Saturday morning's snowstorm. 

UPDATE: 11 a.m.:

Extensive flooding is reported around Johnson, Vermont due to ice jam flooding.

Route 15 in the area is closed, and photos on social media show flooded buildings amid swirling snow in the Johnson area. An emergency shelter has been opened by the
Johnson, Vermont fire department.

Evacuations are also reported due to ice jam flooding around Swanton, Vermont.

Rainfall Friday was particularly heavy in the Lamoille River basin, which includes the Johnson areas. Nearby Eden received 2.82 inches of rain - an incredible amount for January.

Many other weather stations in and near the northern and central Green Mountains had two inches of rain or more. Between that, and the record warm temperatures Friday and the snowmelt, it's understandable now why the flooding turned out to be worse than expected.

Stay tuned for more details.

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION

It's not every day in Vermont in which there are flood warnings on many of the state's major rivers, while blizzard-iike conditions are hitting parts of the state, and ice is weighing down trees in other parts of Vermont.

Yep, in case you haven't noticed, it's wicked bad out there this morning, as expected.  There are floods, there is zero visibility in snow, the roads are horrendous, and you should just stay home until it gets better later today.

Heavy snow falling on St. Albans, Vermont Saturday
morning, one day after it was 60 degrees.

As of 8:30 a.m. Saturday, it was snowing hard at my house in St. Albans, in northwestern Vermont. Conditions are easily the most challenging they've been since the epic Pi Day blizzard last March 14.

Yes, there's much less snow than that March three-foot epic, but visibility is down to near zero in heavy snow and blowing snow. Snowfall rates now in the Champlain Valley are going at one to two inches per hour, which is a lot.

Roads are practically impassable. Nobody is even trying to make it up the steep hill in front of my house. The wind is gusting to about 35 mph and the temperature is down to 12 degrees. It was 60 degrees just yesterday afternoon. Now, it's absolutely brutal.

The heavy rains and record warm temperatures have led to ice jams on many area rivers, including the Winooski, Lamoille, Mississquoi, Otter Creek and others. Amid all this snow and ice, some Vermont roads are close by the ice jams and flooding, including Route 2 near Montpelier and Route 78 near West Swanton.

There are reports of an emergency shelter opening up in Swanton today, in case some homes are surrounded by ice jams, so it is pretty serious out there.

Hard to see (click on picture to make it bigger, but this
web cam grab from 9:25 a.m. Saturday morning shows
near zero visibility on Interstate 89 in Georgia, Vermont,
with a police vehicle helping a motorist that had
slid off the road. 

The intense snowfall rates in western and northern Vermont this morning will taper off later this morning and this afternoon, so just hang tight until then. It's worth it just to hunker down and wait it out.

Amid the chaos outside, thank goodness the power outages aren't too, too bad. As of 9:15 a.m., about 1,300 homes and businesses were without power, mostly in central and southern Vermont.

The overall forecast remains the same. The snow will taper off and end tonight, save for a few mostly mountain snow showers. We are definitely back to the Arctic deep freeze, with subzero lows tonight and highs only in the single numbers Sunday.

But hey, at least the skiers and winter sports fans got some of their snow back.

Speaking of which, it's still looking questionable during the upcoming Tuesday to Thursday time frame. It definitely looks like it's going to snow, but the computer models, as they were yesterday, are still arguing over whether it will be a lot of snow, or just a little.