Calm Winter Weather Causing Air Pollution Issues In Vermont

The lovely city of Rutland, Vermont is in a bowl-shaped valley,
which makes it prone to inversion-caused air pollution problems
in the winter. Other Vermont valleys are similary at risk.

It's a very calm week, weather wise in Vermont. Most of us, including me, enjoy this.

Temperatures are moderate, there's no precipitation, and you want to get outside. It's really perfect winter weather.

Or is it?

When it's this calm, inversions often set up in the winter. That's when there's a warmer layer of air aloft which acts as a lid. That keeps pollutants from blowing away. Instead, soot, particulates or whatever accumulate in the air, especially in valleys.

This usually isn't such a problem in the summer. At that time of year, the sun is strong. The sunshine blasts onto the surface of the Earth, including in Vermont valleys. That leads to updrafts, which basically mixes the air, breaks up inversions and dilutes pollution. A lot of that pollution gets caught up in winds aloft, and blows away. Good riddance.

In the winter, the sun is much weaker. There's no blasting of heat to cause updrafts. So the warm air stays in place aloft.  And down in our Vermont valleys our wood stoves, our pellet stoves, our cars and whatever else belches into the air. And it has nowhere to go.

Which is why the National Weather Service in Burlington, Vermont has issued an air quality alert for Rutland County until 11 p.m. Friday.

The area around Rutland is notorious for this in the winter. Rutland City, and surrounding towns, are essentially at the bottom of a bowl, surrounded by mountains. So, when there's an inversion, exhaust from all our stuff goes into the air, that pollution just sits there, which everyone around Rutland gets to breathe.

Oh joy!

This pollution is mainly in the form of particulates. These particulates are usually tiny bits of soot. When we breathe that soot, the particulates go into the tiniest passages of our lungs, where they can get stuck.

The level of pollution in valleys like those in Rutland County probably won't majorly hurt young whippersnappers and generally healthy people.  By the way, this problem isn't limited to Rutland County through Friday.

As the National Weather Service notes, other populated Vermont valleys, like in the Barre-Montpelier area, parts of the Connecticut River valley and other areas of Vermont surrounded by mountains, the air isn't going to be so great through Friday

But for people who have health problems, especially those with lung disease, have cardiopulmonary problems or are elderly should stay indoors. For instance, my mother, age 90, has COPD and lives in West Rutland. She needs to stay indoors until this problem goes away.

This problem will go away on Saturday. Some storminess is coming in, which would tend to increase winds and disperse the particulate pollution.

Vermont has a pretty well deserved reputation as being environmentally friendly. But we're far from perfect, and we are completely capable of sinking into air pollution problems.

Flooding In Vermont Today, Severe Weather Influenced It

USGS data from early this morning showed the Otter Creek in
Center Rutland Vermont zooming rapidly upward past
flood stage early this morning. 

Early this morning, flash flood warnings and flood warnings were in effect around Rutland County and southern Addison County, Vermont, with other flood warnings extending northeast of there.

Overall, the flooding in parts of southern and central Vermont is, if anything, worse than anticipated.

A line of thunderstorms that was earlier part of an area of severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings made it into western New England, including southwestern Vermont earlier this morning, enhancing the rain and making Rutland and Windsor Counties so far at least, the epicenter of flooding from this current episode.

The thunderstorms weren't severe by the time they hit Vermont - no high winds and certainly no tornado threat. But they retained their heavy rain and up to two inches of rain fell on saturated ground and melting snow in just a short period of time.

There are flooding reports coming out of the area. A driveway is washed out along Route 4A in West Rutland. My sister Lynn, who lives in West Rutland said three thunderstorms blustered through overnight, each containing very torrential rain. She confirmed reports that Route 4 was under water near the West Rutland Price Chopper supermarket. Lynn also said water appeared to be flowing into a basement on Route 4A.

Route 133 in Middletown Springs was blocked by floodwaters, as was a section of Route 30 in Wells.

Also, Route 7, a major commuter route, was closed this morning by flooding at Post Road in Rutland Town. Route 107 was  closed by flooding in Stockbridge, as was Route 100 in Rochester.

Since that batch of heavy rain was heading northeast early this morning, flooding will probably worsen during the morning in parts of central and eastern Vermont. We'll have to watch Windsor, Washington and Orange counties in particular. Listen for flood and flash flood warnings, and do what the warnings say. Don't drive over flooded roads!

Not everyone in Vermont saw flooding. As usual, it was hit and miss. For instance, where I live in St. Albans, Vermont, it certainly rained overnight. But there was no sign of flooding around my place. The little brook that runs past my house had a healthy flow, but it was far, far below the level where it would cause trouble.

The rain will become more showery as the day progresses, but there still might be pockets of briefly heavy rain after that mass of thunderstorms exits eastern Vermont later this morning.

I think by then, the threat of flooding on smaller streams will begin to diminish, but runoff from the rain and melting snow will keep the larger rivers rising. With all that heavy rain in Rutland and Bennington counties this morning, the Otter Creek will be a problem.

USGS data this morning shows the Otter Creek rising extremely fast and it had past flood stage by early this morning.   We'll need to watch other rivers across Vermont today for flooding as well.

The National Weather Service early this morning also issued flood warnings for the Mad and Dog rivers in central Vermont, which were rapidly rising toward flood stage early this morning.

The best guess is most of the major rivers in Vermont such as the Lamoille, Winooski and Missisquoi will crest this afternoon and tonight.

By the way, there will probably be some snow showers again in the high elevations overnight, but accumulations won't amount to too much. Tuesday will be a windy and cool day.

After a break in the weather midweek, we'll have to watch another potentially very wet storm toward the end of the week and the weekend. It looks like we in Vermont might get even more into the warm side of the storm than is the case with today's system.

That raises the possibillity of more thunderstorms with heavy rain instead of a more gentle, steady rain. It's not set in stone if this will happen. Things could definitely change. But there's at least the potential for another flood threat at the end of the week.

SEVERE WEATHER

Those thunderstorms that caused havoc in the southern half of Vermont this morning were part of a line of severe storms that got going in the Ohio yesterday and moved to the East Coast this morning.

There was a very damaging tornado in Shelby, Ohio, and numerous tornado warnings and reports of wind damage in Pennsylvania, western New York, New Jersey and on down the coast to Florida. There was even a tornado warning in Philadelphia for a time early this morning.

There was also a report of wind damage from thunderstorms as far north as Warren County, New York, which is immediately to the west of Rutland County, Vermont. As of 6:30 this morning the thunderstorms were causing an enormous amountof lightning in southern New England. Luckily, those thunderstorms should move east of Boston by the time the Boston Marathon starts today.

It still looks like there will be another widespread outbreak of severe weather and possible tornadoes in the middle and southeastern quarter of the nation Wednesday through Friday.

Some videos:

Tornado=wrecked fire station in Mississippi



New view of Franklin, Texas after Saturday's tornado

Surprise Wind Storm Blasts Parts Of Vermont; Widespread Damage Reported

Tree against a house in Rutland during Friday's high winds
Photo by Jennifer Holdren via WCAX-TV

A howling windstorm unexpectedly slammed parts of Vermont, especially around Rutland County late Friday afternoon and evening, prompting widespread power failures and quite a bit of damage.

More than 15,000 people lost electricity in Rutland County alone. Many, many trees fell. Lawn furniture blew away roofing shingles peeled off roofs and power flashes lit up the sky as lines and transformers failed.

As of 5:30 a.m. this morning, at least 10,000 customers were still without electricity in Vermont.

At least two houses were damaged by falling trees in Clarendon. 

Winds gusted as high as 74 mph in Wells, Vermont. South Pomfret had a gust to 61 mph and Mendon reached 56 mph. Based on damage reports, I bet other areas without anemometers made it past 60 mph.

Other areas of the state reported high winds as well: Many trees were down near Exit 3 on Interstate 89 a little northwest of White River Junction.

The wind extended north along the western side of the Green Mountains all the way north to Chittenden County, where roads were blocked by fallen trees in Jericho and Underhill.

The storm was a surprise: No wind alerts had been issued ahead of the storm, though the National Weather Service in South Burlington issued wind advisories, then high wind warnings and special weather statements as the gusts escalated.

The weather pattern that caused the damaging winds Friday does happen occasionally in Vermont. In fact some of these storms are worse than Friday's  like an even more destructive storm in Rutland on April, 2007.

Strong low pressure for this time of year was heading north toward the eastern Great Lakes. Air flow was from the east and southeast. The wind climbed over the mountains, then descended down the west slopes of the Green Mountains.

The winds gain momentum as they come over the mountains and descend down the west sides of the mountain slopes. That's how ou get your strong winds.

Often - and I think this is what weather forecasters expected - is a layer of stable air near the surface deflects the high winds to a couple thousand feet above the surface, so most people don't get the winds.

This time, the wind managed to have enough momentum to roar down the west slopes of the Green Mountains and slam into populated valleys near the base of these western slopes. So you got your high winds.

Adding to the trouble was the season. This type of storm is most common in the winter or early spring, when there are no leaves on the trees.

Trees are beginning to leaf out now. Each leaf acts like a little sail, pulling on tree branches as the wind hits them. This adds to the wind stress on the trees, making them more likely to break.

On top of that, it's been wet lately, so the ground is soft and mushy. That makes it easier for trees to get uprooted during strong winds.

This kind of storm is almost always pretty localized. A few miles away from the western slopes of the Green Mountains, everybody was probably saying, "What storm?" As Rutland and Underhill gusted away last evening, winds were dead calm at my house in St. Albans,  Vermont. The highest wind gust all day Friday in Burlington was just 19 mph.

For different reasons involving the same storm, there could be a little more wind trouble in Vermont this afternoon.

The storm is to our west now and the Champlain Valley will channel and focus southerly winds heading up the valley. Winds could gust to 35 to 40 mph or so, and that could mean some broken tree branches and maybe a few more power failures.

It won't be nearly as chaotic as Friday, but there still might be a little wind trouble ahead this afternoon.

No Tornado In Vermont Tuesday, But Supercell Thunderstorm Was Super Impressive, Super Damaging

From the National Weather Service: Storm damage
in Addison County, Vermont. Add caption

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service in South Burlington, Vermont spent the day Wednesday exploring Addison and Rutland counties, Vermont, along the path of an intense supercell thunderstorm that prompted tornado warnings on Tuesday.

The scientists found no evidence of a tornado, but did find an impressively large area of wind and especially hail damage.

Judging from what the National Weather Service said, and eyewitness accounts, this might be one of the most damaging single thunderstorms Vermont has ever seen.

Squall lines with multiple thunderstorms have probably on occasion caused more damage in Vermont, but this single supercell, which formed in the New York Adirondacks around 2:30 p.m. and dissipated in far southeastern Vermont around 6 p.m. is one for the record books.  

Hail broke these windows on Merchants Row in downtown
Rutland, Vermont. Photo from mychamplainvalley.com 

According to the National Weather Service report on the storm issued Wednesday evening, a three mile wide, 20 mile long swath of wind damage was noted from Bridport to Sudbury.

Within that swath, there was 40 to 60 mph winds, but in some spots in this area, downbursts caused winds of 75 to 85 mph.

A barn was damaged, as were some silos, and a utility pole snapped. Many, many trees toppled.

As the storm marched southeastward in to Rutland County, the wind tapered off, but the hail really became intense.

The chaos in Rutland, Vermont during the supercell thunderstorm
Photo by Kell Giffin, via NECN.  

There's no way to know for sure, but it might have been one of the worst hail storms in Vermont history.  

The hail started in Bridport, and continued in an incredibly long 35-mile swath to south of Rutland.

In many places, the hail was quarter to golf balls sized. In Proctor, newly leafed out trees are bare again, since an incredible volume of falling hail took the leaves off the trees.

In Rutland, many, many cars were dented, windows are shattered and gardens ruined.

In Cornwall, so much hail fell during the storm that some was left on the ground 24 hours after the storm passed. Photographs and videos taken during the storm in Rutland showed the ground totally white with hail, and visibility near zero in thick falling hail and rain. The images looked as if they were taken in an intense winter blizzard.

Flash flooding for the intense hail and downpours caused flash flooding in Rutland, damaging cars, homes and buildings as basements flooded.  

The menacing supercell thunderstorm rolls
into Shoreham, Vermont Tuesday in this
image from WPTZ-TV.  

So yes, Vermont has gone without a tornado since May, 2012, but this storm in Addison and Rutland counties was one for the record books. And the insurance adjusters.

It will be interesting to see if anybody tallies the dollar amount of damage from the storm. I'm guessing it could go into the millions of dollars.

Here's a video of the storm and its aftermath in downtown Rutland, Vermont. Note the shredded leaves on the sidewalk from the hail, the accumulated hail, and especially the flash flooding:






Another video of the intense hail in Rutland, Vermont yesterday:

We're Not Sure If There Was A Tornado In Rutland, Vermont Today, But YIKES!

This afternoon, I did something that a native Vermonter like me rarely does: I called my relatives around Rutland, Vermont to see if their houses had been blown away in a tornado.  

From @bakingmama via Twitter: A likely wall cloud over
Rutland, Vermont. A tornado warning was in effect
for the city at the time the picture was taken.  

It turns out my parents and my sisters didn't get caught in a tornado, but there might have been a twister in or near Rutland.

A supercell thunderstorm moved northwest to southeast across Addison and Rutland counties, and radar showed strong rotation over Rutland County.

Photos on Twitter showed a structure in the thunderstorm as it arrived in Rutland City that looked to me like a wall cloud.

A wall cloud is a low, ugly, rotating cloud in supercell thunderstorms that often, but not always, produce tornadoes.

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service in South Burlington said they would head down to Rutland County on Wednesday to see if any wind damage down that way was due to a tornado.

There's no question the Rutland region suffered damage in the supercell. (Almost all supercells cause storm damage, with or without tornadoes)

Winds of 74 mph were reported in Bridport. There have been reports of damage to the Price Chopper supermarket in downtown Rutland.

Much, much hail fell around Rutland. Many of the stones were golf ball sized or maybe even a little bigger. I'm sure a lot of gardeners are bummed about the damage. And maybe some car owners as well.

Lots of hail in Rutland today as a supercell
thunderstorm with a tornado warning swept through.
 

An odd weather pattern contributed to the formation of the Rutland County supercell and the possible tornado.

Southwesterly wind brought in some moderately humid air into southwestern Vermont, which is not odd for this time of year.

A cold front was approaching Vermont, again not weird at all. What was weird is the the cold front was coming in from the northeast. Usually, cold fronts come in from the west or northwest.

The cold front coming in from the weird direction apparently caused winds to shift direction with height in the atmosphere over Vermont.

That must have been the ingredients to set the the Rutland County supercell spinning, and setting off a possible tornado.

The so-called backdoor cold front continued to cause odd, sometimes somewhat dangerous weather in Vermont into the evening. Flash flood warnings were in effect in far southern parts of the state.

Where I live in St. Albans, the weather in the evening abruptly turned chilly, and we had a strange combination of dense fog and thunder.

This is the second time this month the National Weather Service in South Burlington has had to issue a rare tornado warning in Vermont. A couple of Saturdays ago, radar detecting spinning in a storm over central Vermont.

That storm did cause some wind damage near Craftsbury, but an investigation by National Weather Service meteorologists showed the damage was caused by a microburst, not a tornado.