This 'n That: Extra Vermont Rain; Arizona Tornado? And Karen Wildcard

Possible tornado just north of Phoenix, Arizona yesterday. Photo via KTAR

I guess I just had to ask for it.

In yesterday's post, I mentioned we could use some rain here in Vermont. I was pessimistic that we'd get all that much.

Then lo and behold, the skies delivered some decent rains. 

Yesterday's cold front overproduced in much of central and northern Vermont, dumping a half inch or more of rain on many towns. Burlington clocked in with 0.90 inches.

My unofficial rain gauge in St. Albans, Vermont, collected a decent 0.70 of an inch. A little more rain was falling at the time I measured.   Some areas in the upper Connecticut River Valley received more than two inches of rain.

There was no flooding of note in the heavy downpours, and the rain was helpful.

I am a bit interested in a low topped strong to severe thunderstorm that moved through Saratoga County, New York, across southern Vermont and into New Hampshire last evening. It occasionally showed signs of rotation, but radar samplings weren't all that good because of mountains that got in the way of the beams.

There were reports of trees down in Saratoga County, New York, so that whole thing was vaguely interesting.

Speaking of tornadoes in odd locations, a possible tornado struck near Willcox, Arizona yesterday, injuring three people. Video showed a definite funnel which looks like it touched down. The likely Arizona twister was part of a severe weather outbreak in that state yesterday that also brought quite a bit of flash flooding.

All this was caused by moisture from what was Tropical Storm Lorena, which formed and later dissipated near Baja California last week.

Those tropics are active.  In the Atlantic Ocean, we've got three storms. One of them is a wild card that I will get to in a second. But I want to go in alphabetical order. 

Tropical Storm Karen trying to get its act together
this morning south of Puerto Rico

Tropical Storm Jerry is spinning and struggling out there, well northeast of the Bahamas. It's got 60 mph winds but those are forecast to diminish.

 Jerry will continue sputtering away to the northeast out over the open ocean and seems to pose no threat.

Now the wildcard: Tropical Storm Karen. There have been a lot of questions over how well it would survive, and if so, what would happen.

If it dissipated as it headed north toward Puerto Rico, then there would be no worries as it headed north toward Puerto Rico.

But of course Karen started to get its act together again last night. So Puerto Rico is under the gun for tropical storm conditions soon. Oh, and Puerto Rico had an earthquake last night. Luckily, not a lot of damage with that one.

Karen is pretty weak, with sustained winds of just 40 mph earlier this morning, but it is currently expected to strengthen.

Once Karen gets north of Puerto Rico, things could get even more interesting. The National Hurricane Center's thinking is that if Karen stays on the weak side, it would stagger off to the northeast and dissipate like her brother Jerry is doing.

However, there's another big ridge of high pressure building again in the western Atlantic Ocean. This type of setup forced Hurricane Dorian to stall with devastating results in the Bahamas, then head toward the United States, sideswiping the Southeast.

If Karen remains relatively strong, history could sort of repeat itself. Although if it stalls, it looks like it would be over the open ocean. Still, Karen could eventually pose a threat to the United States. We'll have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Lorenzo has formed in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean. The bad news is it's expected to become a wicked strong hurricane. The very good news is at least at this point, it looks like it will recurve to the north and not bother the Caribbean or the United States.