Update On Loud Storm Headed Our Way

A really active day is coming on Friday, with possible flooding and areas
of strong winds. Orange areas on this map can expect wind gusts
exceeding 45 mph. Those small hot red areas in the mountains
and western slopes of those mountains might see gusts over
60 mph, which could cause some damage. 

As previously advertised, expect a really active, noisy day on Friday.

Before we get into that kind of nasty weather, today might be the most gorgeous day of this December in Vermont. That's not saying much, given how it has been quite cloudy and chilly so far.

However, today will feature some sun, especially this morning before clouds from the warm storm that's coming cover the Vermont sky.  

And it will be mild. Many of us will get at or just above 40 degrees. Not bad for the Dark Days of December.

Not much has changed in the forecast since yesterday. Severe storms and tornadoes are expected in Florida today and this evening in eastern North Carolina.

Flood watches are scattered from Florida to Maine, with the main areas of flood alerts being from the Mid-Atlantic States into New England. Vermont is included in this flood risk zone. 

The only real winter weather with this so-called winter storm will hit northern New Hampshire, northern Maine and to a lesser extent the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Freezing rain will slicken roads in these spots early Friday. The surge of warm air is extensive enough that most of us won't see much in the way of ice.

For us in Vermont, the main show will be Friday, which will be wet and windy. The flood watch is continued, as temperatures soaring into the 50s along with moderate rain and rapidly melting mountain snow should get rivers up and running.

As I said yesterday, this won't be a mega-flood, but still worth paying attention to. Please don't be an idiot and drive onto flooded roads. I imagine there will be some low spots that get flooded Friday into Saturday.

River ice isn't too thick yet, but there is enough so that there might be some ice jams and local flooding as the rain and warmth break up that ice on area rivers.

The main story might be the wind. It's looking more and more likely that there will be some strong gusts, especially along the western slopes of the Green Mountains. The worst of it looks like it will come Friday morning starting before dawn and lasting into the early afternoon. Winds in much of western Vermont look like they'll gust to 50 mph or so.

That's enough to bring down some branches, trees and power lines, so be aware of that. I also think there could be some very localized much stronger gusts in the immediate lee of some of the mountains

This might be places like east and southeast of Rutland, areas around Ripton and Bristol, and up near Cambridge, Underhill and  Bakersfield. These will be very local strong winds but still worth noting.

Temperatures will fall during the day Saturday as cooler air comes in behind the storm. Rain showers will go over to snow showers in the afternoon and evening, but don't expect much in the way of accumulation.

There's a chance a weak system might spread an inch or snow across much of Vermont on Christmas Eve, which would let us eek out a white Christmas, but don't count on it. It's not much of a storm, and there's still a chance it won't amount to anything at all.