This 'N That" Frost, Wind, Lake Flooding Vermont; Much More Serious Weather Elsewhere

Spring blooms enjoy a rainy midday Tuesday
in South Burlington, Vermont.

There's kind of a mishmash of weather heading our way in Vermont over the next few days, with a mix of minor hazards to deal with over the next week.

We're not facing anything all that extreme for this time of year, but there are still definitely a few things to watch.

Even if you don't like all the weather that's coming to the Green Mountains State, remember, it could be a lot worse:

The Plains, Midwest and South are still getting pummel by severe storms, tornadoes and especially flooding. Lots of it.

Let's first deal with Vermont's stuff.   

Today will be the brightest, sunniest day in the forecast. It will also be chilly for this time of year - only in the 50s. Which sets the stage for a freeze tonight.

A frost advisory is up in the Champlain Valley tonight and early Thursday morning as low temperatures sink to around 32 degrees by tomorrow morning. If you've got sensitive plants out there, bring 'em indoors. I don't believe it will be cold enough to nip all those early season perennials that are up. They should be able to take it

The only reason frost alerts are not up for the rest of Vermont outside of the Champlain Valley is because frost and freezes are still pretty common there in early May. People outside the "banana belt" should understand that it's too early for a lot of garden plants anyway.

The next thing to deal with in Vermont is wind and rain, forecast for Thursday night and Friday. For now, about an inch of rain is in the forecast for that storm, which won't be enough to get the rivers flooding in Vermont again.

But here's the problem: Lake Champlain is still above flood stage. Strong south winds will once again  "tilt" the lake so water piles up on the northern end. Because of this tilt, the water up toward Alburgh will briefly rise to near 101 feet.  The strong winds will also create three to four foot waves, which would cause erosion and damage on exposes shorelines. So watch out for that.

The lake has been slowly receding this week, but the expected rain Friday will probably temporarily halt that slow ebbing and maybe even briefly reverse it, notes the National Weather Service office in South Burlington.

The next storm after that has a lot of uncertainty with it, but it looks like it will be a cold storm. So cold, in fact, that the mountains could get some snow out of it Sunday night. Stay tuned on that one.

MIDWEST, SOUTH STORM UPDATE

I suppose the good news is there so far haven't been quite as many tornadoes this week as there could have been. Sixteen reports of tornadoes, mostly in Texas and Oklahoma, came in yesterday.  Today and today won't bring a super wide outbreak of twisters, either. But there will be some.

The bad news is the Midwest and South are stuck under this stormy pattern, and flooding continues to break out in new areas and persist in others.

There was tons of flash flooding around Houston, Texas Tuesday. Sugar Land received 10 inches of rain. Lots of people had to be rescued from cars that got caught in the flash flooding. It could get worse. Another seven to 10 inches of rain is forecast over the next seven days in eastern Texas and a large chunk of Louisiana.

Large parts of Kansas are having pretty much the same problem as Houston. Flash flooding has hit wide areas of that state, including in the Wichita metro area.