As Expected, Severe Storms Roll Through Vermont; All Over Now

 Thunderstorm menacing Colchester, Vermont Friday evening. 

The forecast for Friday was pretty much nailed.

We were told several rounds and clusters of thunderstorms, some severe, would roll through Vermont during the afternoon and evening, and that's just what we got.

Despite my speculation that they might upgrade the slight risk of storms to enhanced, the level of activity pretty much exactly matched the criteria for the "slight risk," which is level two out of five in the alert level.

Slight risk means a few storms would become severe, but most of the area would be unscathed, and that's pretty much what happened.

Still, there were pockets of fairly substantial damage.

Poultney, in southwestern Vermont seem to take the brunt of the damage as two severe storms hit that down. The first, in mid-afternoon, knocked down numerous trees and cut power in South Poultney in the mid-afternoon.

Thunderstorm structure over Georgia, Vermont Friday evening

A second severe storm hit Poultney around 6:30 p.m., taking down many more trees and power lines.

Elsewhere, I saw photos on social media of a damaged barn in Westford. Numerous trees were down in places like Cambridge, Sheffield, Island Pond and Barton.

Down in Glens Falls, New York, there was a tornado warning. The storm produced a very pronounced wall cloud, a type of rotating storm structure that often produces a tornado.  However, no tornado is known to have touched down in that area.

At least most of us received some much needed rain.  I wouldn't call it the quality, slow, soaking rain we could have used. Instead, there were gullywasher downpours.

There was a lot of available moisture for these storms, so many of the downpours were especially heavy.  I know there was some street flooding in Burlington, and I saw a little bit of that in Milton and Colchester, too.

Burlington received just under an inch of rain from this storm. My unofficial rain gauge in St. Albans, Vermont caught 1.3" of rain, most of that in a torrential downpour that hit around 8 p.m.

Overall, the damage patterns, the downpours and the fascinating thunderstorm cloud structures out there made this pretty much a classic Vermont summer severe storm weather day.

The calm after the storm last evening in Georgia, Vermont. The
sun was trying to break through with light rain still falling
after a torrential thunderstorm has passed. 

As you got up this morning, I'm sure you noticed that wonderful change in the air.  It is so much less humid.

Today is a transition day, as we still have another cold front to get through later.

The front might be enough to set off a few more evening showers, but they will be light and scattered.  We certainly won't get any more loud thunderstorms to frighten the dogs.

That second cold front, as previously advertised, will bring us a shot of pretty chilly air for the last day of May and the first of June.  Clouds might, just might protect the cold spots from frost Sunday and Monday night, and the rest of us will get chilly, but not frosty.

Highs Sunday and Monday will barely make it to 60 degrees, as opposed to the low 70s we usually see this time of year. As far as I'm concerned, low 60s during the day are a LOT better than the mid-90s we saw n Wednesday.

There will be a warming trend later in the week, but it won't be anything extreme.  We'll probably get into the seasonable 70s.

We won't be getting much more rain, either.  There might be some light showers here and there during the week, but very soon, it's back to irrigating dusty gardens, I'm afraid.

Warmth Means Plants Blooming Too Early In Much Of Nation

Areas in dark read are up to 20 days early with spring budding and blooming
this year, says the National Phenology Network. 

Another burst of warmth is hitting the eastern United States today, bringing forecast temperatures to the 60s as far north as here in Vermont.

A warm winter and early spring has brought early blooms to much of the nation, especially the East and South.

In Vermont, we're far enough north so that we only see budding lilac trees, a few crocuses and sprouting daffodil shoots so far. That's awfully early, but these early signs of spring are not enough to endanger any fruit crops or anything else for that matter.

Which is good, since nighttime temperatures during an expected chilly snap this weekend will be in the single numbers and teens.

Elsewhere, there is concern for crops further south. There's fears that this year will be like 2012 and 2017, which also brought very early spring conditions. In those years, frosts ultimately came, nipping things that had started to blosssom to early in the eastern half of the nation.

A tree blossoms in my St. Albans, Vermont back yard last May.
The way things are going, the  tree will probably bloom
much earlier than usual this spring

Washington DC's famed cherry tree blooms are expected to peak in about a week, which is nearly a week ahead of normal.

Also, according to Scientific American, this year,  "Spring leaf out - the appearance of tiny leaves that signal the start of spring - arrived 24 days early for places like Washington"

And, according to the National Phenology Network, Boston is 23 days ahead of schedule for early spring leafout progress.

Long range forecasts, for what they are worth, predict generally above normal temperatures going into early April at least in the eastern United States. But even a warm pattern can be interrupted by a quick blast of frigid air from Canada.

Remember, it only takes a few hours of subfreezing air to cause damage to tender fruit tree blossoms.

In any event, I guess this year's early spring in terms of weather matches the astronomical calendar.

Astronomical spring began late last night, March 19, which is the earliest that has happened since 1896.

Post-Storm Vermont: Getting Colder, Unfortunately As We Head Toward Winter

Looking pretty barren in my yard now where that nice willow tree
fell over and smooshed Jeff's Jeep on Friday. 

I'm sure you felt a chill in the air yesterday as you picked up the mess left by the massive Halloween storm in Vermont and surrounding areas.

It's only going to get worse.

Part of that is, of course, just the natural trend toward colder and colder weather as we make our way through November.

Another part is a change in the weather pattern that will bring chillier and chillier shots of polar air into the Northeast in the coming week.

The weather today through Wednesday actually won't be all that bad for November. With highs in the 40s to around 50 most days and lows in the 20s and 30s, that's pretty close to normal. It's just a shock to the system after a mild (albeit sopping wet) October.

Of course this moderate chill isn't great for people who still have no power, or whose houses were badly damaged in the storm. More than 8,000 homes and business in Vermont still had no electricity Sunday morning, according to Vermont Outage Map, but crews are making pretty quick progress with power restoration.

The power at my house is back on, but the furnace has to be reset before we can turn it on. So it was a little chilly in the house when I got up this morning. We will have a guy over by the middle of the week to fix it, as things look now.

That's a damn good thing, considering the weather will take a much harsher turn toward cold from Thursday onward. A strong cold front will come through, and by the weekend, high temperatures for most of us will be in the wintry low 30s with lows in the teens.

RIP willow tree in my yard. This is what it looked like
before Friday's storm 

The cold front on Thursday will likely bring the first snows of the season to Vermont's valleys, but at this point, it doesn't look like there will be much accumulation. But for those of us who can't yet get an  appointment to install snow tires, even a little snow on the road is bad news.

Social media, at least in weather geek circles, is rife with speculation about a larger snowstorm around Friday.  It's true that some computer models are envisioning a quick hitting storm with several inches of snow, others aren't.  

To be honest, it's way to soon to be guessing about the weather on Friday and Saturday. We know it will be cold then, but I would wait until at least Wednesday to take any forecasts of a Friday snowstorm seriously.

The weather pattern does seem to favor wintry cold shots into the Northeast through mid-month, however.  Like last year, it looks like winter will start before we get a chance to finish our autumn chores.

Plus the mess many of us have to clean up from last Thursday and Friday's storm doesn't help. But of course we just have to deal with it, right?