Matt's Weather Rapport is written by Vermont-based journalist and weather reporter Matt Sutkoski. This blog has a nationwide and worldwide focus, with particular interest in Vermont and the Northeast. Look to Matt's Weather Rapport for expert analysis of weather events, news, the latest on climate change science, fun stuff, and wild photos and videos of big weather events. Also check for my frequent quick weather updates on Twitter, @mattalltradesb
Traffic cam of Interstate 80 in Laramie, Wyoming. Yes, this was taken this morning, June 9
It's June 9. Practically summer.
Imagine waking up to this on your morning weather report:
Winter storm warning....Heavy wet snow. Additional accumulations of 2 to 4 inches, Total accumulations of 5 to 8 inches. Winds gusting as high as 35 mph....Impacts: Some power lines and numerous tree branches will be down. Roads will be slushy and snowcapped, and icy in spots especially over bridges."
That was the state of affairs in Laramie Wyoming this morning, as very odd weather continues to hit the West and parts of the northern Plains.
Snow fell from Washington to Montana and south to Colorado over the past couple of days. Snowfalls in the Rocky Mountains happen almost yearly in June, but this one is more extreme than usual, that's for sure.
Ski resorts in much of Colorado had fresh powder this morning. Snow plows were clearing slush and ice of Interstate 70 in Loveland Pass, Colorado, west of Denver.
This is all part of a very stormy pattern over the north central United States. The remnants of Cristobol continue moving through the Midwest toward the western Great Lakes and Canada, carrying a flood threat with it.
A separate storm that will eventually merge with former Cristobal is creating an odd wind storm in Kansas and Nebraska. Winter and early spring storms often carry widespread 60 to 70 mph wind gusts with them, but those storms don't happen in June.
This one IS happening in June with forecasted wind gusts in that 60-75 mph range. Leafless trees in the winter don't fall as easily as ones with leaves. The leaves act like little sails in strong winds, which will pull down a lot of branches and trees in the central Plains today.
By the way, a few tornadoes are also likely today in parts of eastern Kansas and Nebraska, and in Illinois and surrounding states.
Back in Laramie, meanwhile winter redux will come to an abrupt end later this morning. They're expecting a high temperture of 57 degrees there today under increasing sunshine. That's still chilly for this time of year - normal highs this time of year in Laramie are around 70 degrees - but at least the snow will melt quickly.
Some videos:
Nighttime video of snow laden trees and power flashes from branches falling on lines in or near Laramie:
In a rather high elevation spot in Colorado this morning:
From 9 News: A severe thunderstorm associated with a derecho knocked this billboard down on a Denver building Saturday.
As we forecasted yesterday morning, weather is definitely going off the rails in different parts of the nation this weekend, and that trend will continue for the next few days.
We here in Vermont will pretty much be an island of tranquility in the weather department, but that won't be the case elsewhere.
The most remarkable weather event Saturday was a long lasting derecho that got going near the Arizona/Utah border and raced north and northeastward during the day through the central and eastern Rocky Mountains and on into the western Dakotas.
Derechos are relatively rare events and almost unheard of in the Intermountain West. Yes, I know we just had a derecho in Pennsylvania and New Jersey last week, but they still don't happen all that often.
On average derechos happen once every year or every other year in much of the Midwest and South. On the East Coast, you average one every four years or so. In the Intermountain West, there have maybe been a handful over the past several decades.
The one that swept through yesterday was a doozy, too, judging by wind reports. Just a sampling:
110 mph near Copper Mountain, Colorado
94 mph Butte County, South Dakota
92 mph near Cactus Plateau, South Dakota
85 mph, Four Corners, Wyoming
There were numerous reports of gusts above 75 mph, including in metro areas like Denver.
Meanwhile, Florida got in on the action, thanks to Tropical Storm Cristobal. Most of the heavy weather with this system was east of its center. This mass of storms spun off at several tornadoes in Florida, including one that passed through Orlando.
MORE ROUGH WEATHER COMING Tropical Storm Cristobalwill splash ashore around Louisiana later today. Storm surges and flooding is already happening in Louisiana and Mississippi, and that will continue the rest of the day.
However, the bigger drama from Cristobal will come over the next few days, as its remnants head north through the Arkansas, Missouri and into Wisconsin by Wednesday.
It won't really be a tropical storm by the time it hits the Great Lakes, but it will manage to intensify. It'll form into a mean storm for this time of year over or near Lake Superior. Expect reports of wind damage, battering waves and erosion on the lakes and maybe some flash flooding.
VERMONT CALM
All this weather action will pretty much miss Vermont. The fact that Cristobol will be going by to our west will give us a squirt of warm to hot, and windy weather midweek, but nothing extreme. Not a lot of rain is in the forecast either. A cold front associated with the remnants of Cristobol might bring a few showers and thunderstorms late Wednesday night and Thursday.
WPTZ-TV's web cam captured this lightning strike at around 2:30 this morning over Plattsburgh, N.Y. Thunderstorms roamed through northern New York and northern Vermont early this morning, bringing much needed rain. Hat tip to WPTZ meteorologist Ben Frechette for posting this one.
The weather headlines this weekend are dominated by which is forecast to make landfall late Sunday night in or near Louisiana.
Storm surges three feet deep or moreare expected in much of coastal Louisiana, and heavy rains will add to flooding woes. The wind won't really be the problem. The water will be the issue.
As bad as that all sounds, it's the Rocky Mountain states and the western Plains that have even more action this weekend.
They'll have it all. Depending on where you are, wildfires are possible, so are strong winds not associated with thunderstorms, blowing dust, thunderstorms, possible tornadoes and even a snowstorm in a spot or two.
A strong cold front associated with a powerful upper level low pressure system in the Pacific Northwest are causing all this havoc.
Ahead of this storminess, strong south winds over the New Mexico and the High Plains of Colorado will gust to 65 mph. This could cause some tree and power line damage. It could tip over high profile vehicles on highways.
Worse, it could make any wild or range fires in New Mexico and Colorado spread really quickly and become dangerous.
Heading back to Colorado and Utah, the problem up in the mountains today is not too little rain, like in the Plains east of Denver, but too much. The strong cold front out there will set off some thunderstorms with heavy rain.
That'll trigger flash flooding, especially in a lot of those narrow slot canyons in Utah.
All this is an extremely busy weather pattern for early June. Severe storms and tornadoes are relatively common, as are flash floods this time of year. But this variety of weather, from winter weather, to tropical storms, to high winds, fires and those tornadoes, is pretty wild for what is generally a relatively mellow time of year in the weather department.
Up here in Vermont, we're missing out on the extremes, which is OK. Thunderstorms blustered through northern parts of the state early this morning. My unofficial rain gauge in St. Albans captured 0.55 inches of much-needed rain from the early morning storms. Burlington only got 0.04 inches as the storms mostly missed them.
Scattered showers and storms will continue today and this evening, off an on, as a series of weather fronts and boundaries move through. Any thunderstorms that get going today should not be severe, but a few might be gusty. Eastern and southern New England have a slightly better chance of a few strong to severe storms today.
After a cool Sunday and Monday, it will warm up to summertime levels again by mid-week. I'm not sure it will hit 90 again. It did manage to get that warm in Burlington Friday. We've already had three days this year that have gotten to 90, which is at least half our normal alotment for the entire summer.
On average, most 90 degree days in Burlington hit in July and August.
Radar image of a dangerous storm heading into southwestern Vermont last evening. Where the blue line and arrow is drawn in, the apex of the backward "C' shape likely had damaging straight line winds. The red box was a tornado warning as radar detected some spinning in the northern part of this storm.
The severe weather in the Northeast materialized pretty much as expected yesterday, cutting a swath through western and central New York and finally through central New England.
A tornado watch was in effect for this event, and some of the storms were definitely rotating. However, it's unknown whether any tornadoes touched down.
I'm sure National Weather Service offices in Albany, New York and in Massachusetts and New Hampshire will look into this.
The most interesting and dangerous cluster of storms got going north of Utica, New York. It promptly triggered a tornado warning. A house in the path of this tornado warning lost its roof in the storm, but it's unclear if it was a twister or straight line winds.
The storm continued to cause damage, and occasional tornado warnings as it moved eastward into Saratoga, Washington and Warren counties of New York, just west of the Vermont border. There were a lot of trees down, some damaged houses and roads blocked by debris. At least 36,000 people lost power in that area,according to the Glens Falls Post Star.
The Post Star posted a photo of what they said was a tornado in Wilton, New York, but I'm not convinced by the photo. It could also be a downburst or a hail shaft, in my opinion.
The Glens Falls Post Star displayed this photo taken by Adam Colver of what they said is a possible tornado in Wilton, New York. (Behind the red brick part of the building). This feature in the storm could also be a shaft of falling hail or a microburst.
The line of storms then moved through Bennington and Windham counties, triggering tornado warnings around Sunderland, in southwestern Vermont, and the Brattleboro/Dummerston area in the southeast.
Again, it's unclear whether there were any actual tornadoes. The rotation on radar images in this storm did not look particularly intense. But this area is pretty distant from radar sites, so the quality of the storm images wasn't great.
There were reports of trees and wires down along the path of this storm and particularly where the tornado warnings went off. But this damage could easily have been caused by straight line winds and not anything tornadic. If it was a tornado (which I kind of doubt) it would have been a fairly weak one.
The cluster of storms moved on into southwestern New Hampshire. I think slightly flatter ground there helped the storm intensify, and damage to trees and even buildings was greater than in Vermont.
Further north in Vermont, there were strong to severe storms from about Middlebury to Montpelier to Bradford and points south, exactly as forecasters expected. There were reports of some trees and wires down with these storms. The storms in central Vermont were not tornadic. No tornado warnings were issued for this area, and there is no evidence of any kind of spin up that I could see.
Further north, in the quote, unquote more stable air, the parent storm system created a pretty good punch. The line of heavy downpours, with some embedded thunder, managed to produce a wind gust to 47 mph in South Burlington. That's not severe, but still was kind of impressive.
The same storm system did more good than harm around my area in St. Albans, Vermont. I got 0.88 inches of rain, with most of it coming within an hour during gusty showers. We needed the rain, so I'm grateful that came through.
There's no severe storms in the forecasts now, but the predictions are pretty uncertain as to what will happen with our weather over the next few days.
A storm system will set up and sort of sit and spin over the central Appalachians over the next few days. An early season subtropical storm seems to be forming off the coast of Florida and will get absorbed by that sitting and spinning storm
Meanwhile, fair weather high pressure will want to sink into northern New England from Quebec. This will want to clear the skies over us. So which wins? The rain to the south or the fair weather tothe north? Hard to tell, but as it looks now, we might get a period of rain Monday, then things will start clear out for the rest of next week. No promises, though.
Also, don't worry about any new outbreaks of late season chill if the Canadian high pressure system wins. Yes, it is from Canada, but it's not a cold batch of air. Also, this fair weather system is, or will be, sitting over southern Quebec.
That's far enough south so that the warm May sun will keep raising the temperatures within this zone of fair weather, The upshot for us is we'll get near normal, to perhaps slightly above normal temperatures by the end of the upcoming week.
Screen shot of construction workers hunkering down on a roof
as sheets of plywood fly by during a severe thunderstorm in
Nashville, Tennesee on Sunday.
A month or so after a terrible tornado, a wicked severe thunderstorm rolled through Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday.
There wasn't a tornado this time, but it didn't matter. The National Weather Service office there recorded a wind gust of 72 mph during the storm, and I'm sure a couple places around the metro area reported winds of around 80 mph.
So yes, it was very dangerous.
National Weather Service in Nashville saw the storm coming and issued warnings well in advance, telling people to get indoors or else.
Anyone should have been wise to heed the warnings. The storm proved once again that a severe thunderstorm warning is as serious as a tornado warning.
At least one person died in the storm, and there was a lot of property damage. The Tennessean reportedat least 100,000 people were left without electricity from the storm, which is nearly double the number left without power in the tornadoes awhile back.
Quite a few buildings and houses were damaged or destroyed, and it seems like a zillion trees blew down.
Then there were the four roofers. I don't know if they didn't hear the storm warnings or just didn't heed them but they kept working as the dangerous storm approached.
A house was under construction in South Nashville, and the roofers were hammering plywood on what would become the three-story structure's roof.
They must have seen and heard the storm coming, as everyone in the neighborhood scurried inside as the skies darkened. But the roofers kept working, apparently wanting to get this Sunday job done as fast as possible.
As you can see in the video at the bottom of this post, that was a mistake.
The storm hit in dramatic fashion with a wall of wind and rain. Several large sheets of plywood flew off the construction site, narrowly missing the roofers. One of those sheets of plywood might have actually hit one of them, judging from the video.
The roofers lay down, and at least one of them fell through an opening in the unfinished roof ito the room below. Meanwhile, blinding sheets of rain, mixed with roofing shingles, pieces of gutters and siding and tree branches continued to race by in the wind.
Holt said she could hear the men screaming in terror,
Luckily the storm was a fast mover and soon tapered off. She saw the men climb down after the storm eased and they were OK.
'We talked to them they were right here and said do you want to come in and take shelter. They wanted to get in the car and get out. So they were fine,"Holt told WSMV.
Yeah, but they were lucky they didn't get clobbered by one of those sheets of plywood. Coulda killed them.
When you hear a severe thunderstorm warning (None expected this week in Vermont, that's for sure!) get indoors and stay there until the danger passes. These storms can be super dangerous.
Huge tornado near Soso, Mississippi Sunday. Photo via Twitter, @ConnorWx
As of early this morning, at least 18 people have died in that long anticipated tornado outbreak in the South, and things were still very rough as dawn broke Monday.
As of around 7 a.m. this morning, a destructive, very long squall line stretching from Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and the Florida panhandle was unleashing dangerous thunderstorrms with embedded tornadoes.
That risk will continue there until the squall line moves off the coast later this morning. Another line of severe thunderstorms, and maybe a few tornadoes, might form toward noon or early afternoon, we'll see.
The death toll was rising this morning and I worry it will continue to do so. The 18 deaths would mean 51 people have died in tornadoes in the United States so far this year, and we haven't even hit the peak of the severe weather season yet. On average 69 peopl lose their lives to U.S. tornadoes annually.
Just looking at the radar images yesterday last evening was terrifying enough. Judging from those images, two strong tornadoes, one following the other by less than an hour, too parallel paths through the Soso, Mississippi area.
Those radar images showed pieces of debris thrown 30,000 feet into the air, then raining down over a 60-mile radius. Soso appears to have been in the path of a monstrous supercell thunderstorm that dropped a string of tornadoes across southeastern Mississippi.
Other destructive tornadoes caused lots of damage around Monroe, Louisiana and near Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Weather Channel said five people were killed when a tornado struck a mobile home park near the Tennessee-Georgia border.
The storms then continued into northern Georgia. Radar picked up what appeared to be a tornado passing within about a mile of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
The orange stripe uo usee on this map is from early this morning. The orange stripe is all severe thunderstorm warnings. The red spots are tornado warnings.
Flooding was widespread as well, with all of northern Alabama under a flood warning this morning. Flash flooding was occuring across the central and southern Appalachians, with reports of downtown Roanoke, Virginia under water.
Once that squall line goes offshore, the action shifts to the Great Lakes and Northeast during the day today. No tornadoes are expected up in places like New England, but forecasts for strong winds still hold.
High wind warnings and wind advisories cover most of the nation east of the Mississippi River except for parts of Florida, northern and central Vermont, and parts of New Hampshire. Even in those areas without advisories, winds will be strong enough to knock over a few trees and power lines.
As you can tell, this powerful storm behaved as expected, which is too bad. I think every meteorologist out there would have preferred a forecast bust.
However, I'm sure days of alerts and warnings leading right up to the severe weather saved lives, since people were made aware of the danger before it hit.
Weather will always throw a few curves and surprises at us, but forecasting continues ot improve. This storm was a great example of some spot-on predictions.
Video:
An overview news report helps capture the extent of at least part of this outbreak:
Tornado warnings were already flying this morning in northeastern Texas. This is the beginning of several waves of thunderstorms going across the Deep South this morning.
All of these storms will be dangerous, but forecasters are in particular watching central and southern Mississippi early this afternoon. There, according to NOAA's Storm Prediction Center,supercells are expected to develop, the move across Alabama later in the afternoon and Georgia toward evening.
These are the storms that are most likely to set off strong, especially dangerous long lasting tornadoes. It's not certain whether these strong tornadoes will actually happen. But there is that risk.
Amid all this, torrential rains and flooding are a very good bet across much of Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. There's going to be a lot of damage and heartache in the South this Easter Sunday, unfortunately.
It's now becoming apparent Monday won't be that much better. The rough weather will have ended in the Deep South, but there will be trouble along the entire East Coast from Maine to Florida.
Severe thunderstorms are likely with a risk of tornadoes, will run from Pennsylvania to Florida, with thehighest risk of stronger, longer lasting twisters in Virginia and the Carolinas, along with southeastern Georgia. There's a chance that some of the Carolina tornadoes could be as bad, or nearly as bad as the ones expected in the Deep South today.
Even in pretty big severe weather outbreaks like this, most people in the affected zone will come out of this fine with little or no property damage. But people need to be weather aware in these zones, so if they are unlucky enough to be in the target of a severe storm or tornado, they can take cover.
In New England, there will be few if any severe thunderstorms, but strong, damaging winds will come through. Wind gusts could easily reach 70 mph in the New York City metro area and in the southern half of New England.
Further west, gusts in the 70 mph range are also expected in western New York. These kinds of winds will bring down lots of trees and power lines in heavily populated areas. There's going to be a lot of power outages, and probably more than a few houses and buildings smushed by falling trees.
Southwest winds will be so strong that Lake Erie will tilt, with water piling up on the northeast corner of the lake near Buffalo. Water levels will fall as much as seven feet on the western end of the lake, and rise by at least five feet near Buffalo. Battering waves will make things worse.
VERMONT IMPACTS
Vermont will be a relative island of calm amid all this but that doesn't mean we'll avoid trouble. While the highest winds will probably go by to our west and east, we will still get strong gusty winds.
Ahead of the powerful storm's strong cold front, gusty south winds will strike especially the Champlain Valley. We'll all get a pretty good slug of rain, with still a risk of some flooding up in the Northeast Kingdom.
When the cold front sweeps through in the afternoon, we'll get heavier, but relatively brief downpours, with maybe some scattered thunderstorms embedded.
The worst winds will come in right after the cold front. In Vermont, many places will have winds gusting to near 50 mph. That's enough to topple some trees, especially since the soil is wet and loose this time of year, and with all the rain expected Monday. Branches and power lines could go, too, so be ready for that!
Things will calm down somewhat by Tuesday. It'll still be kind of windy on Tuesday, but not gusty enough to cause more problems.
Here's a video of the hail in Del Rio, Texas. I like the comment from someone in the video, "Insurance adjusters, beware." Indeed!
The question of the weekend in the Deep South is where there
be more of these types of highly visible but also highly
destructive tornadoes, or.....
Meteorologists around the nation, but especially in the Deep South are still watching what could be a terrible severe weather outbreak unfold this weekend.
Not to be glib in a situation like this, but it's an April classic, at least as the overall weather set up is.
A strong - and strengthening storm will move from the Plains to the Great Lakes Sunday and Monday. There's going to be another snowstorm on its northwest flank from the central Plains up into Wisconsin and Upper Michigan.
Strong, destructive windsand shoreline flooding are forecast for most of the Great Lakes.
But the real, most worrisome situation is the threat for tornadoes, some maybe long lasting and strong, especially Sunday. As readers of this blog thingy know, forecasters have been watching this situation for days now, and there are no signs so far that anybody can rest easy.
The first hint of trouble came Friday with a swarm of supercell thunderstorms in western Texas that produced some gigantic hail stones, as loud and enthusiastic storm chaser Reed Timmer discovered.
The Sunday threat covers a huge area from eastern Texas to the Carolinas and from the Gulf Coast to the Ohio River. The main bullseye for the worst of it continues to look like it will be Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, at least as things stand now.
The question is not whether severe weather develops, it's what form it will take. The worst way it could develop if a bunch of rotating supercells form, with each one being on its own, not part of any squall lines.
If that happens, you get these wide, long lasting and intense tornadoes that cause the most extreme damage, and are the most life-threatening since they are so strong.
....or something like this not quite as strong, but still dangerous
and also hard to see coming rain-wrapped spinup tornadoes
Things could instead develop into messy lines and cluster of thunderstorms. That's still really bad, because there would be embedded tornadoes and very serious straight line winds.
But most of the time, the tornadoes in this scenario, while still extremely dangerous, are not the high end super bad ones you get with those more isolated supercells I talked about above.
The tornadoes in these "messy" clusters have their own hazard, however. These are usually hidden within curtains of rain. Human nature sometimes prompts people to look for the tornado that's threatening them before taking shelter. Usually, you can't see this type of tornado coming.
Though there are guesses, I don't think anyone really knows how this will develop until it gets going. There will probably be those messy lines and clusters of storms, and discreet, big tornado ones, but nobody is sure which style will predominate.
Some of the same areas most at risk for tornadoes and damaging winds also have a substantial flood risk. At last check, most of Tenneessee and the northern halves of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia in particular are under the gun for heavy downpours and flash floods on Sunday.
It's already been a tremendously wet year in these areas and the expected three to six inches of rain Sunday and Sunday night will only trigger more flooding.
VERMONT IMPACTS
Here in Vermont, there will certainly be no tornadoes, but the storm will give us a few problems, albeit minor compared to what will go on in the South.
The storm will bring a quick slug of fairly heavy rain through on Monday. The National Weather Service is foreasting perhaps a half inch to an inch of rain.
That doesn't make me too frightened about any flooding, but we'll have to watch the Northeast Kingdom. The mid elevations and mountains got quite a bit of snow from that last storm Thursday night and Friday. Averill, way up in the northeast corner of the state, got a foot of snow out of that one.
The lingering snow, and snow from previous storms on the mountains in the Northeast Kingdom, will do a lot of melting amid the rains coming up Monday, so there is the risk of some high water. They'll need to watch the flood prone Passumpsic River for this one.
The big story in and near Vermont with this one will be the wind. There will be gusts over 40 mph ahead of the cold front Monday morning and early afternoon. Once the cold front passes, the winds will really crank, especially in northern New York, the northern Champlain Valley, and I think eastern slopes of the Green Mountains.
Winds could easily be strong enough to damage trees and power lines Monday, so we should keep that in mind.
Storm total map for snow accumulation, updated early Friday morning. Snow could reach a depth of more than a foot across the northwest. Strong winds will blow the snow around, too. This comes after freezing rain and sleet early this morning.
On this February Friday in Vermont we're faced with a storm in which forecasts issued early this morning for your area will probably be at least a little wrong.
However, any little inaccuracies don't really matter with this storm.
The bottom line is, it's a very ugly out there an it will get even uglier as the day wears on. This is totally a day that you will either want to work from home or just call in sick, if possible.
You won't want to be out in the roads anywhere in or near Vermont today.
In most of the state and surrounding areas, you will experience sleet, freezing rain, then heavy snow, blowing snow, whiteouts, strong winds and plunging temperatures.
The combination, at least in my opinion, makes this just about the worst type of storm to be caught out in.
The overall forecast scenario for this storm is the same as last night with one big question: What will be falling from the sky and when? That will have a big influence on how much ice accumulates on roads, trees and power lines. It will also determine whether you get only a few inches of snow at your house or a foot and a half. We do know precipitation, whatever it is, will come down really hard at times.
There are big timing questions as to when mixed precipitation will go over to snow in any one spot in Vermont today. If it changes over even an hour later than forecast, you get more ice, but much less snow accumulation. If the change comes an hour or two earlier than predicted, you get a few inches of extra snow.
It's really impossible to time the changeover super accurately with this type of storm.
Like I said, though, it doesn't really matter what falls from the sky at any given minute today. No matter what, it's beyond lousy.
THE DETAILS:
Ice accumulations in central Vermont might be enough to break some trees and power lines. (Red areas especially).
Overnight, the mixed precipitation, though light, made it northward all the past the Canadian border.
At my house in St. Albans, we had a glaze of freezing drizzle overnight. As of 5:30 a.m., that changed to heavier showers of mixed sleet and freezing rain.
Snow was increasing in northern New York as of 6 a.m. today. Radar indicated the rate of snowfall was rapidly increasing over northwestern New York.
As this heavy band of precipitation becomes established, it will intensify and move east into Vermont. It will bring sharply colder air with it, changing mixed precipitation to snow over northwestern Vermont first. Then the snow will head south and east across the state.
For this morning's commute, things will go from iffy to much worse as the morning wears on. The best guess from the National Weather Service in South Burlington is that snow will reach the Burlington area by around 9 or 10 a.m. today, Montpelier around noon, and early to mid afternoon in southern Vermont.
As of 6:50 a.m., at least, this scenario seems pretty accurate, as snow was beginning to mix in with the sleet and freezing rain up here in St. Albans, the northwestern corner of Vermont.
As this changeover happens, the rate of precipitation will increase as this storm, already strong, really cranks up. Whatever falls from the sky will come down pretty hard. This type of storm often sets up narrow, intense bands of precipitation on its northwest flank, which we will be in. So, one town might end up with say, 15 inches of snow, while a community just 20 miles to the west or east gets maybe six inches.
Before the changeover, ice could accumulate on trees in power lines in south central Vermont enough to create some power failures, so be ready for that. In the north, there won't be enough ice to cause many problems in tha regard, but high winds later today could be an issue.
The intense storm center will move over western Massachusetts and into coastal Maine this afternoon. If you have a barometer, check it out this afternoon. It will be awfully low. Strong storms usually create strong winds, so you'll feel that later today.
By the time the wind begins to howl by this afternoon, it will have snowed quite a bit in northern Vermont, and many areas in northern Vermont will see snowfall rates of one or two inches per hour. That's very heavy snow. Those strong winds, gusting as high as 40 mph risk causing whiteout conditions this afternoon and evening. Yet another reason to not go out.
By the way, this winter storm is not just a Vermont issue, of course. Southern Quebec, northern New York, much of New Hampshire and most of Maine also face heavy snow, strong winds and ice.
Back here in Vermont, It'll be rough this evening, but snow will taper off and end overnight, as it gets very cold. If you're digging out Saturday morning, dress for it. The day will start with temperatures of near zero degrees.
A common sight around parts of Montana amid high winds Saturday.
Photo from the Great Falls Tribune.
While we in Vermont were still under calm winds and murky skies, let's just say itwas pointless to wear a hat in much of Montana on Saturday. And in much of the West this weekend for that matter.
Up in Montana, parts of the state often get strong chinook winds, which are warm, dry downslope westerly or southwesterly winds off the Rocky Mountains.
However, the wind definitely got ridiculous in Montana Saturday, with gusts in th 80 to 90 mph range in some towns during the worst of it.
Yeah, definitely hang on to your hat weather.
At Great Falls, Montana, winds gusted to more than 40 mph for 29 hours straight. The wind gusts there peaked at 82 mph and for several hours gusted to 60 to 70 mph or more.
The warm winds melted what little snow was on the ground. The hurricane forced gusts caused dust storms and blowing smoke from rapidly spreading rangeland fires. The dust and smoke blocked visibility on many open highways, leading to a number of crashes, KRTV in Great Falls reports.
The high winds closed Route 87, a major highway in the region. And of course there the reports of trees and wires down everywhere.
The downslope winds also created record warmth in some areas of Montana, with highs getting into the 60s.
The wind shifted into the north and died down a LOT Saturday night. But it got colder and started to snow. A more typical February deal up there.
The high winds shifted into the Southwest on Sunday. Gusts last night were expected to be as high as 90 mph in the high mountain passes east of Los Angeles. Widespread gusts of 50 to 60 mph were blowing across much of the desert Southwest.
All that wind out west is a hint that the weather pattern is changing to a stormier one. Already, a snowstorm has blossomed in the central Rockies, including in the Salt Lake City area, where they could see up to ten inches of new snow.
This stormier pattern will eventually get to us in Vermont late in the week. It's still too soon to say how much precipitation we're going to get, or what kind.
Here's a news clip from KRTV in Great Falls regarding Saturday's wind:
On top of everything else, a massive dust storm ripped through parts of southeastern Australia this week.
I"m going to need to re-name this blog, "Australia Weather Rapport" since all the extremes and action, not to mention the politics of weather are happening Down Under.
Sure, those super destructive, super scary bush fires are still a threat. Summer isn't over in Australia yet.
But this week, new extreme weather decided to enter the mix. These included massive dust storms, massive hail storms and some serious flash floods.
No doubt some of the storms were extremely welcome. After all, they doused some of those fires. A win! Yet with all the damage Australia has suffered in the past couple of months, the hail, the wind, the floods, the dust, just added that much more devastation.
Who knows what will happen next in Australia? As the several dramatic videos below show, I'm sure Australians just want their awful summer of 2020 to end.
Here's an overview from The Guardian:
The Australlian Capital of Canberra was especially hard hit with hail as supercell thunderstorms rolled through. Sydney got nailed, too. Here's a News 9 report:
Not a nice day at this Canberra outdoor restaurant:
Aftermath of hail in Canberra makes it look like they were hit by a New England style winter storm:
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Australia, check out this kabob/dust storm in part of New South Wales this week: This wall of dust was reportedly was 180 miles long as it rolled over the region. When the dust storm hit the town of Dubbo, winds reached around 66 mph.
This popular tourist attraction, a sea stack in Lake Superior, collapsed in high water and windy blizzard this past week. It's a symptom of heavy damage due to persistent very high water levels in the Great Lakes.
Residents around all of the Great Lakes have been struggling really for two or more years now with high lake levels.
Unusually heavy, persistent precipitation has been going on basically for the past five years in most of the Great Lakes watershed, keeping the water levels high.
Also, several winters in the past five years have had greater than normal ice extent on the lakes.The ice greatly slows evaporation and evaporation is one of the main ways water levels in the Great Lakes can decline.
These lakes are much bigger than say, even Lake Champlain, so water levels in the Great Lakes change slowly. It takes a long time for them either to rise or fall. Small lakes like Champlain can flood, but the water will go down within several weeks after a flood event.
The Great Lakes have remained stubbornly high. This time of year brings storms with very strong, gusty winds, so shorelines have been eroding steadily, with very damaging results.
It'll probably get worse. Great Lakes water levels do usually fall in the winter, but melting snow and spring rains make them rise again in the spring. So the first half of 2020 might turn out to be especially destruction in all of the Great Lakes, especially if it's wet.
Here in Vermont, there's absolutely no telling how high Lake Champlain will get next spring. Right now it's a little higher than average for this time of year due to a wet fall and early winter. But whether there will be any spring flooding really depends solely on how much snow and rain we get this winter, and how wet the first half of spring is.
Back in the Midwest, just six or seven years ago, Great Lakes water levels were at unusually low levels, due to increased temperatures in the region. Water evaporates more readily when it's warm than when the water is chillier.
Scientific American says more wild weather patterns, largely brought on by climate change, might be making this a "new normal" in which water levels seesaw up and down to more extreme levels than in past decades.
Here's a couple recent Great Lakes videos:
This is a recent CBC report from the Canadian side of Lake Erie:
Here's a Lake Michigan park and walkway being pummeled and wrecked by waves recently:
When the national map of the National Weather Service home page is
very colorful, you know it's stormy and there are lots of hazards.
This year, just in time for the Thanksgiving travel week.
Our stormy Thanksgiving week continues apace in the United States as two large storms continue to have a big impact on travel and in some cases, just the day to day life for people.
Fellow Vermonters might be asking me what the hell I'm talking about, since the weather Monday was so mellow, and nothing special is going to happen today in the weather department.
(Burlington, Vermont made it to 50 degrees Monday, which is no big deal for this time of year, but still the hottest day since way back on November 4.)
But, as noted yesterday, two big storms are affecting other parts of the United States, so us Vermonters are kind of getting spared this time.
The first storm coming across the United States is a strong one, the second one even worse.
I guess my in-laws over in Yankton, South Dakota are going to have a white Thanksgiving, since they are under that winter storm warning. Expect four to nine inches of snow there, with winds of up to 40 mph. Ugh.
For us in Vermont, this first storm won't be too bad. We'll get a decent slug of rain Wednesday afternoon and night. Falling temperatures on Thanksgiving will change the rain to snow showers, but accumulations won't be all that much -- maybe a couple inches in the mountains.
It will be quite windy Wednesday night and Thanksgiving with this storm, so there might be isolated power outages. But it won't be anything close to what we had to deal with in thatepic Halloween storm a few weeks back.
Then it's that "historic" storm in Oregon. A powerhouse of a tempest is coming ashore in Oregon today, with hurricane force gusts along the coast and heavy inland snows. In many areas of Oregon and northwestern California, this has the makings of being among the worst storms in decades. Power will be out for some people in that region through Thanksgiving.
This storm will remain very powerful as it crosses the Lower 48 between now and Sunday. Expect severe weather in the South, and blizzardy weather in the northern Plains and lots of wind in between.
For us, this storm has an uncertain future. Some computer models have the storm producing another snowstorm for Vermont on Sunday. Other models take it too far south to give us much of anything, and a few models take it far enough north to give us mixed precipitation.
This tree fell on my husband Jeep in my St. Albans, Vermont yard,
likely totaling the vehicle
I spent last night as a storm refugee for the first time I can remember. Then again, the storm Thursday night and Friday was among the worst I can remember, at least for Vermont as a whole.
At least in my opinion, it was the Green Mountain State's most destructive storm since the epic floods of Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. Between the flooding - record river crests in at least two spots in northern Vermont - and the damaging winds, this one will probably have parts of Vermont declared a disaster areas.
For me and my husband Jeff, things aren't nearly as bad, as it is for some people, mind you. My house is intact, but it lacks electricity. Falling branches pulled the wires and electrical box from the house and messed with the wiring system in the house, so we had to shut off the brakers. We hope to get things fixed within the next few days.
Plus a large tree fell on Jeff's Jeep, and it's probably totaled. With all that going on, we moved into a La Quinta Inn motel room for the night. I'm wrote most of this missive Saturday morning from the "comforts" of this motel room.
Our situation is an inconvenience that is being resolved super quickly. I was surprised and delighted when I checked on my house at 8:30 a.m. today to find Green Mountain Power already there repairing our electrical line. They have so much work to do after this store that I was very impressed with GMP's responsiveness.
There are other Vermonters who are sorting through flood damaged homes and businesses, trying to navigate washed out roads, figuring out what to do now that the culvert under the driveway, and the driveway itself is gone. It will take awhile for some people to recover from this. (Had we not replaced a culvert with a larger, sturdier one this summer, Jeff and I would have lost our driveway too in this storm, along with the other trouble we had.)
This was a much more serious storm than anyone expected in Vermont. Its effects are wide ranging, causing damage from near the Gulf Coast to Quebec. The storm had its birth in the Rocky Mountains, where it caused unseasonable snows and all-time record lows for October. The storm contributed to the strong winds in California that fanned those wildfires.
Technically, the storm was a nationwide disaster.
You usually can't trace a direct line between a storm and climate change. You can't say this storm was "caused" by climate change. You can say this storm was consistent with climate change. The storm was probably influenced by climate change and there's a very good chance climate change made this storm worse than it otherwise might have been. If there wasn't climate change maybe the wind with this storm would not have been strong enough to knock the tree onto Jeff's Jeep. Who knows?
From WVNY: Significand flooding in Richmond, Vermont Friday.
This tempest was a product of a wonky jet stream, which many scientists see as clue that climate change is messing with weather patterns. In a sense, this is so far the biggest direct impact climate change has had on me so far.
The rainfall was particularly, oddly heavy, especially in northern and central New York, most of Vermont and southern Quebec. Here in Vemont, the storm dumped 5.26 inches of rain on East Berkshire and 4.85 inches on Enosburg Falls. After the heavy rains of the previous week, it's no wonder the Missisquoi River reached a record high crest at North Troy,'
In the Lamoille River watershed, 4.8 inches of rain fell on Fletcher, raising that river to a record high crest in Jeffersonville. This was no ordinary Vermont flood.
In an ominous way, this type of heavy rainfall makes sense. The atmosphere can hold more water when its warmer, meaning potential precipitation is heavier. Sure, this might have happened anyway. Vermont's worst flood on record, in 1927, happened this time of year, too. But these heavy rain events are getting more frequent. Parts of the Green Mountain State were declared a disaster area due to some serious flooding just this past April.
This storm had quite a one/two punch as the winds caused serious damage, as I said all up and down the East Coast and into Quebec. The damage was certainly noticeable here in Vermont, including at my St. Albans house, as mentioned.
Up to 50,000 people lost power in Vermont. That figure was 900,000 in Quebec, making this the worst power outage in the Canadian province since the famous ice storm of 1998. A man died around Montreal when, while taking a photo of a fallen tree, another tree fell on him,CBC reported.
The wind in Vermont was almost as destructive as the flooding. At some points Friday, at least 50,000 homes and businesses were without power in Vermont. Before dawn this morning that figure had fallen to roughly 28,000, including at yours truly's house. With numbers that big, it will take a long time before everybody has electricity. I bet some people will be out for a week or more.
Elsewhere, the wind collapsed a large barn up in Maidstone, Vermont. A section of Interstate 91 was briefly closed when a fallen tree blocked both southbound lanes. The storm also cut off internet access in much of Burlington.
The temperature gyrations with this storm were incredibly remarkable, too. Again, I won't say climate changed "caused" this temperature weirdness, but it probably influenced it. Climate change can lead to bigger extremes.
True, out in the Rockies, on the cold side of this storm, they had a nearly unprecedented cold snap for this early in the season. Some cities hit all-time record lows for October. But as Vermont was in the throes of the storm, temperatures rose to a record highs in places like Burlington, where it reached 71 degrees late in the evening of October 31, despite the fact the sun had long since set and it was raining.
The dew point, a measure of how much moisture is in the air, reached the humid levels of a muggy July night.
Very often, an emergency brings out the best in people and that was the case here. For instance, in Burlington's Intervale, vegetable farms put out a call on social media to help quickly harvest carrots and other crops before the Winooski River flood arrived to ruin the vegetables. More than a dozen people showed up to save the day.
Even Vermont Gov. Phil Scott got into the act. A tree blocked a road along his route Friday, so he pulled a chainsaw out of the back of his truck and removed the tree.
As is typical with big storms, we're getting something of a break from the rough weather. A series of small little storms will gradually sink us into winter conditions over the course of the next week, at least for awhile.
But we are in a "new normal," as the cliche goes, so we'll experience more wild storms, more temperature extremes and more weirdness, both here in Vermont and everywhere else. As my experience shows, even when it's not that bad, this is tiring and expensive. But here we are.
Some videos:
The Winooski River racing through the city of Winooski:
During the Halloween night storm, a tornado touched down west of Philadelphia. Here's a damage video:
Winooski River to go into rare, serious major flood stage today
in Essex Junction, Vermont
We've got some serious flooding going on around Vermont and neighboring areas this morning as last night's storm really poured an unexpectedly huge amount of water down on us.
There is quite a bit of flooding going on statewide, but the worst of it seems to be north of Route 4 and from from the east slopes of the Green Mountains through the Champlain Valley into parts of northeastern New York.
By the way, this storm ain't over. It won't rain much more, but high winds are now a problem. I'll get to that further down in the post.
Since I'm in the heart of this flood zone, I am now incredibly happy we had a very sturdy new culvert installed under the driveway this past summer. The little brook that goes through there went wild last night, but a quick property tour with the dogs this morning revealed no damage. The culvert and the surrounding rocks held perfectly. There's no water in the basement, either.
Missisquoi River at North Troy also going into major flood stage today.
This will flood houses in East Berkshire.
Not so for many people around the state. Reports were obviously still sketchy as of 6:30 this morning, since this happened overnight when a lot of people were sleeping. But I'm sure a number of houses and other properties are flood damaged this morning.
We do know a lot of roads are closed due to flooding. Vermont rivers like the Winooski and Missisquoi that had been expected to cause minor nuisance flooding today are now going into major flood mode.
Water from the Missisquoi will go into homes in East Berkshire today, if they haven't already.
For these two rivers, they will probably be at their highest level since 2011's Tropical Storm Irene.
I bet there's damage to buildings along the west slopes of the Green Mountains, especially around Jonesville and Richmond along the Winooski River, which is going into major flood. Most of Route 2 will be under water today from Bolton to Essex Junction.
Road closures are too numerous to count. My road, Route 36 in St. Albans, is usually busy but strangely quiet this morning. I found out why: Route 36 is closed by flooding around ten miles east of my house.
There was also significant flash flooding overnight in urban areas like Burlington, Winooski and St. Albans, so I'm sure there's at least some wet basements in those towns.
Part of the employee parking lot of Gardener's Supply in Burlington was
flooded when I arrived at work this morning. First time I've seen that.
The parking area for retail customers is high and dry so anybody
who wants to shop today still can.
Street flooding along Williston Road in South Burlington trapped at least one car. Video from WVNY/WFFF showed high water on Riverside Avenue in Burlington, with flooding possibly entering businesses there.
The rain has tapered off, so the urban street flooding has subsided.
Nighttime flash flooding is especially dangerous, because motorists don't see high water or missing bridges or washouts until it is too late. So far, I have not heard of any serious injuries or deaths. Let's keep it that way.
I'm sure we'll have updates on the extent of the damage as we go through the morning.
Rainfall has been something else for sure. Burlington was deluged with 3.3 inches of rain, making it the second wettest October day on record.
The flooding was made worse by a lot of rain before this storm. Including last night's deluge, Burlington picked up 8.5 inches of rain this October, easily making it the wettest October on record.
Damaging floods can occur at any time in Vermont, but it's somewhat unusual to have a bad one in the late autumn. (That said, the worst flood in Vermont history happened on Nov. 3-4, 1927.)
HIGH WINDS
Aside from the ongoing flooding, high winds will be a problem today. As of 6:30 this morning, about 16,000 utility customers were without electricity. The winds will blow pretty hard regionwide, but the strongest gusts will be in northern New York and to a slightly lesser extent the east slopes of the Green Mountains.
Those areas are already where the most power outages are. Watertown, New York was already gusting to 61 mph early this morning with gusts to 56 mph on Burton Island in Lake Champlain.
Winds will taper off later today, which is good news. Also, I'm not seeing any signs of any new big storms in the near future. Just little ones. And a trend towards colder weather, too.
Expected to p wind gusts with the upcoming storm. Widespread gusts
to 60 mph are expected in northern New York. The 45-50 mph
gusts in Vermont might be a little underdone in this map. There could
be local gusts to 60 mph or more in some downslope areas.
The forecast for the upcoming storm hasn't changed too much, but word to the wise: Charge up all your devices today. Your power just might go out.
It was very mild and damp this morning ahead of the storm. The temperature just before dawn in Burlington were at 58 degrees, not that far from normal for that time of day in July.
Most of us will stay very mild today as the storm approaches. An exception might be parts of far northern Vermont and the St. Lawrence Valley of New York, where a stalled weather front is keeping things a little cooler.
The drama comes in tonight with a steadier rain developing this afternoon while winds pick up this evening. Channeling in the Champlain Valley will probably increase gusts to over 40 mph. Meanwhile, the western slopes of the Green Mountains are in for probably the hardest blow since the huge wind storm of October, 2017.
On some of those western slopes, winds tonight could gust to 70 mph, at least in a few locations.
The south winds will briefly pump very mild air into the region. Amid the wind and rain this evening, temperatures in much of Vermont will stay in the 60s. Burlington has a shot of breaking the record high for the date, which is 69 degrees.
To our south, in a broad area of the Mid-Atlantic States, a powerful squall line is expected to develop. ahead of the cold front in this very warm, humid air. That's expected to cause widespread damaging thunderstorm winds and scattered tornadoes. Some forecasters think a couple of the tornadoes down there could be rather strong.
We here in Vermont are north of the worst of that squall line. However, in this type of autumn storm, a thin squall line can develop along or just ahead of the cold front. The National Weather Service in South Burlington says computer models suggest such a thing happening overnight.
As windy as it will be down here in most places near the surface, winds will be absolutely screaming at hurricane force perhaps several thousand feet overhead. This thin line of storms can in places "grab" some of those high level winds and bring them to the surface. In a few spots, this squall line will then cause some brief damaging wind gusts.
I think for many if not most of us, the strongest winds will come with that squall line/cold front. The strong winds with the front won't last long, but they'll pack a punch.
The wind is really coming from everywhere with this storm isn't it? After the cold front goes by early tomorrow morning, temperatures will really crash. Readings are likely to fall 15 to 20 degrees within an hour or two after the cold front passes.
After the front, strong southwest winds will get going. It'll be the worst up in New York's St. Lawrence Valley and parts of the Adirondacks, where many gusts will probably go over 60 mph there. A high wind warning is up for that region.
In Vermont, winds will be a bit lighter, but still strong. There will probably be gusts to over 50 mph in lots of places, with a continued risk of power outages. Winds could gust as high as 60 mph in some of the eastern slopes of the Green Mountains.
We're still expecting a lot of rain tonight from this storm. Almost everybody will see one to two inches of rain, with a few spots getting more than that. Minor flooding is still expected along some rivers, and a flood watch is still in effect.
This kind of strong storm is relatively common in the fall, especially in October and November in the Great Lakes and Northeast. It's an example of the "gales of November" illustrated in the famous song"The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald." It's about a fatal shipwreck on Lake Superior during a savage 1975 storm.
In some ways, I am looking forward to tonight's storm. Not that I want damage and power outages and such. It's Halloween, so it will be an appropriately dark and stormy night, as they say. There will probably be lots of creepy noises in the wind.
To get you in the mood for tonight, here's what I think is the perfect musical accompanyment for such a stormy night:
Widespread rainfall of near two inches is expected with the
upcoming windy storm Thursday into Friday.
This is essentially an update to yesterday's post, with more details about a pretty stiff storm about to sock us here in Vermont, and a nearly unprecedented wind event (and possibly fire event coming to southern California today.
Let's start locally. It's already been breezy in parts of Vermont, especially the Champlain Valley, as I drove through a blizzard of falling leaves amid 30 mph wind gusts.
That's just a foretaste of what's to come. Yep, we are going to get a lot of rain and wind. There's a risk of both flooding and damaging winds Thursday night and Friday in and around Vermont.
I suppose way out ahead of the main storm there could be a couple light showers this afternoon, but they're nothing to worry about.
The main show arrives tomorrow. At first, it'll just be showers, but a steady rain will move in during the afternoon as winds increase.
It's tricky to predict how strong winds will get while it's raining. There will be strong winds aloft, but rainfall can sometimes prevent those winds from mixing down to the surface.
There will be locally strong winds. Meteorologists at the National Weather Service in South Burlington think channeling effects in the Champlain Valley could bring gusts to 45 mph there.
Worse, the southeast flow could bring strong downslope winds to the western slopes of the Green Mountains. There's definitely a risk of gusts in the 60 to 70 mph range, with maybe a couple locally higher gusts along the western slopes of the Green Mountains Thursday night.
That will be Round One of the wind. More on Round Two at the moment.
Between the wind and the rain, it's not going to be a great night for trick or treating. Overnight, this noisy storm will likely produce a lot of rain. Most of the state should get one to two inches, with locally three inches possible.
We've had a lot of rain lately, so the soils are saturated. This amount of rain is probably enough to cause some flooding. It won't be an Irene-style epic flood, but even minor flooding is something to pay attention to. People always tend to try to drive across flooded roads and that's such a bad idea. This should be obvious, but whatever.
It seems the rivers most at risk of some flooding are the Mad and Winooski and Other Creek in Vermont and Ausable in New York. But any water way could flood, and small streams could wash out dirt roads.
Newly fallen leaves can form little dams in streams. When these dams eventually break, you get rushes of water that can take out culverts or wreck gravel roads.
Friday morning, the storm's sharp cold front will whip through, which will shut off the heavy rain. (Lighter showers will continue here and there.)
This cold front opens the door for more strong winds, this time from the west. Gusts in favored areas could reach 55 mph. Most of us will gust over 40 mph Friday.
Overall, there's already a high wind watch up in northwestern New York and those wind watches, warnings and advisories will almost certainly spread across most of Vermont.
Obviously, the large upcoming storm won't just affect Vermont. The entire Northeast is due for a big blast of wind, rain and power outages with this storm.
Not everybody will lose electricity, but there will be outages. Make sure your devices are fully charged by Thursday evening, just in case.
CALIFORNIA WIND/FIRES
It seems like we've been talking about the California wildfires for weeks now, though it's only been days.
Meteorologists are predicting one of the strongest Santa Ana winds on record in southern California. This will be combined with a relative humidity of well under 10 percent. Santa Ana winds and fire weather occur every autumn in southern California, but not like this.
Every time there's a real fire risk, something called a red flag warning is issued. This happens a lot in southern California in the autumn, so the National Weather Service in Los Angeles worried that people would just dismiss it as just another background noise weather alert.
To shake people out of their complacency, they're calling this one an Extreme Red Flag Warning. "Conditions are as dangerous for fire growth and behavior as we have seen in recent memory," the NWS warned.
Unlike most Santa Ana wind events, the weather won't be particularly hot this time. Normally, the air rushing down the hills in Santa Ana winds compresses, which heats it up. The air mass triggering the winds is so cold that this warming won't be very pronounced.
Unfortunately, that doens't matter. Between the winds gusting to 80 mph on the ridgelines and in some canyons and 60 to 70 mph elsewhere; and the relative humidity running in the single digits, you can imaging how fast a fire would spread. I don't think any human could keep up with it.
So, millions of people in southern California are on edge, wondering if they will be the ones who have to flee in a flash because of a fire.
The winds are so strong this time that even outside fire zones, the National Weather Service is saying people should stay out of forested areas and away from trees. They could topple easily in such strong winds.
I guess we here in Vermont should count ourselves lucky that we're only going to get lowland flooding, a few toppled trees and power failures.
